Ecclesial Learning and the Limits of Kenosis in the Life of Doctrine

Keywords: ecclesial learning, kenosis, doctrinal theology, magisterium, divine pedagogy

Abstract

By rethinking the role of kenosis in the life of Christian doctrine, this thesis seeks to bridge the rift between kenotic ecclesiology’s proponents and detractors, with their respective concerns for receptive learning and doctrinal clarity. This rift has cut across academic and ecclesiastical circles in response to revived interest in the motif of Christ’s self-emptying or kenosis. Drawn from the verb κενόω (‘to empty’) in Phil. 2:7, the concept of kenosis has broad theological potency, from highlighting dynamism and movement in Christology to foregrounding sacrificial humility in Christian ethics. The motif’s evident appeal suggests kenosis should be taken seriously as a potential resource for resolving real theological difficulties. However, kenosis also generates theological difficulties when applied to ecclesiology, where it is touted as a normative paradigm for the life of doctrine. 

Kenotic ecclesiology presents Christ’s self-emptying as a call to continual conversion and transformative ecclesial learning, renouncing authority and treating all doctrinal formulations as inherently tentative. This radical receptivity necessarily limits magisterial confidence, requiring the Church to be ready to relinquish even doctrines and identities hitherto seen as essential. And while not all advocates of ecclesial learning accept kenosis as an ecclesiological framework, the spectre of kenotic ecclesiology and its doctrinal implications leads some critics to reject ecclesial learning outright as incompatible with the Church’s responsibility and authority to teach. This opposition seems to create a dilemma between dismissing kenosis from ecclesiology to safeguard doctrinal integrity and sacrificing doctrinal authority and clarity to preserve the ecclesial learning urged by kenotic ecclesiology.

In this thesis, I interrogate this apparent dilemma by asking whether the kenotic motif can be deployed within ecclesiology to provide an account of the life of doctrine which balances and synthesises both the need for ecclesial learning and the Church’s mandate to teach. I adopt a kind of second naiveté towards kenotic ecclesiology, neither defensive of nor hostile towards it, as I engage its advocates and critics. The bulk of this exploration unfolds through immanent critiques of three interlocutors: Michael Ramsey, Donald M. MacKinnon, and the Groupe des Dombes. ‘Thinking through’ these sites of kenotic ecclesiology, I expose disjunctures between their use of kenosis and their broader theological commitments. I then explore how their animating concerns might fit together within the scope of divine revelation, offering resources for developing a more balanced account of kenosis in the life of doctrine.

Through this investigation, I demonstrate that when grounded in fundamental theology, the kenotic motif can be understood as a model of the one integrating movement of divine love. A kenotic ecclesiology derived from this revelatory construal of kenosis balances learning and teaching as mutually constitutive movements in the life of doctrine, mediating the Triune life of God manifest in the life of Christ. In addition to opening new avenues for renewed dialogue on kenosis and ecclesial learning, this thesis offers a needed clarification of the methodological relationship between fundamental theology and ecclesiological claims.