The Ascension of Christ and Permanent Ecclesiogenesis: A Contribution to Pneumatological and Eschatological Ecclesiology

Andrzej Napiórkowski

doi:10.21697/ct.2021.91.3.03

Published: 2021-10-05

Vol. 91 No. 3 (2021)

The Ascension of Christ and Permanent Ecclesiogenesis: A Contribution to Pneumatological and Eschatological Ecclesiology

Andrzej Napiórkowski

Collectanea Theologica

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2021.91.3.03

Abstract

What is the Ascension? Is it merely a narrative of a post-paschal community? In what spatio-temporal reality has it been fulfilled? How should we understand its placement in time: forty days after the Resurrection, and ten days prior to the Descent of the Holy Spirit? The Ascension should be analyzed integrally in connection with the mystery of death and the Resurrection. This paper presents an attempt at deepening New-Testament ecclesiogenesis while also moving away from the narrowed understanding that the Church emerged solely as a result of the words, deeds and person of Jesus Christ. On the one hand, it is a reference to the five stages of the Church's emergence as an event of the entire Holy Trinity in the still-unfinished history of salvation. On the other: it is a presentation of the typically ignored of the Ascension, which is usually reduced to the event of the Resurrection of the glorious Lord. Analysis of the Ascension – performed in the light of ecclesiogenesis – leads to uncovering the pneumatological and eschatological components, which are most interesting in reference to the multi-dimensional establishment of the Church and its mission.

Keywords:

Ascension, ecclesiology, pneumatology, ecclesiogenesis, eschatology

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Napiórkowski, A. (2021). The Ascension of Christ and Permanent Ecclesiogenesis: A Contribution to Pneumatological and Eschatological Ecclesiology. Collectanea Theologica, 91(3), 75–94. https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2021.91.3.03

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Andrzej Napiórkowski

anapiorkowski@wp.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3480-1178

Affiliation:

The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Andrzej A. Napiórkowski, a Pauline, In 1988 he graduated from the Papal Academy of Theology in Cracow as a M.A. in philosophy (specialization: psychology). In May 1989 he became the licentiate of philosophy. In 1990 he received the title of M.A in theology. The title of his Master's thesis was Ujęcie nieomylności Kościoła przez H. Friesa w świetle eklezjologii fundamentalnej A. Langa. In 1991 he became the licentiate of theology. The title of his work was Ujęcie wiary przez magisterium Kościoła i w “Istocie katolicyzmu” Karla Adama (M.A. in philosophy, Ph.D. in theology).

Specialistic studies in Germany (Tubingen, Regensburg) A. Napiórkowski completed with a doctorate degree at the Department Of Theology at the University of Regensburg based on the dissertation Schrift-Tradition-Kirche. Glaubensquelle in M.J. Scheebens theologischer Erkenntnislehre (Frankfurt a. M. 1996, ss. 295). The habilitation on the basis of the paper Bogactwo łaski a nędza grzesznika. Zróżnicowany konsensus teologii katolickiej i luterańskiej o usprawiedliwianiu: (Kraków 2000, ss. 404).

Since March 2001 a chairman of ecclesiology at the Department of Theology at the Papal University of John Paul II (PUJP II) in Kraków. From 1^st October 2004 he received the position of a professor at the Theology Department of PAT in Cracow and in 2006 he received the full title of professor. He lectures Ecclesiology, Ecumenism, Fundamental Theology and Mariology. Since 2020 director of Institute for Fundamental Theology, Ecumenism and Dialogue.

The area of his research may be placed in the following five thematical domains: 1. Ecclesiology; 2. Anthropology and Christology; 3. Mariology; 4. The problem of freedom, grace, justification in the Catholic – Lutheran dialogue; ecumenical issues in the general aspect; 5. pastoral and occasional subject matter.