Panel:
"Critical Perspectives on Douglas Farrow's
Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology
and Christian Cosmology"
Canadian theologian Douglas Farrow has written a challenging and important book on an often neglected theme in Christian theology, the ascension of Jesus Christ "into heaven". Farrow's work is not only destined to stand for some time as a definitive statement on the doctrine of the ascension; it is also a call to renew ecclesial practices and doctrines through meditation on this doctrine. Drawing on a wide range of sources in biblical, historical and recent systematic theology, Farrow studies the doctrine of the ascension in its context in the biblical narratives, and uses it as an angle of approach to such issues as christology, ecclesiology, cosmology (understood broadly as "the attempt to see the world as an ordered whole") and the presence - and absence - of Christ in the Eucharist. Farrow's work shows particular affinities with the thought of Irenaeus and Calvin. He offers trenchant critiques of a variety of recent christologies and ecclesiologies. This panel will provide critical perspectives on Farrow's book from the points of view of New Testament scholarship, patristics, and contemporary Roman Catholic ecclesiology.
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