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Title: Did Jesus Found the Church? Which Church?
Author(s): COLLINS, Raymond F.
Journal: Louvain Studies
Volume: 21    Issue: 4   Date: winter 1996   
Pages: 356-364
DOI: 10.2143/LS.21.4.542242

Abstract :
In a recent issue of Louvain Studies Adelbert Denaux asked the intriguing question, 'Did Jesus Found the Church?' On first reading, he correctly pointed out, the question is simple. On further reflection, the question is not as simple as it seems. Each of its key elements requires a nuanced reflection since no one of its three terms is univocal – neither its two nouns, “Jesus” and 'church,' nor its verb, 'found.' The object of the question is 'church,' a subject that demands further reflection. Denaux rightly acknowledges (p. 28) the ambiguity of the term and the experiential component attached to its connotation in human discourse and suggests that, instead of thinking 'from the Church to Jesus,' we ought to think 'from Jesus to the Church' (p. 29). His reflection is quite on target. It nonetheless begs the issue of the terminus ad quem, the church.


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