includes bibliography

The Reality of the Church
Fundamental Characteristics of its Origin and Life
The Theology of the Church
Theological Guiding Ideas of the Church and Their Basic Unity
The Essential Features of the Church
The Mystery of the Church

Throughout the first Christian community the great acts of Jesus were the central reality. And the New Testament as we know it today is simply the record of those acts and of the life of the earliest Christians confessing their Lord. There was no break between the living witness and the written expression of it. This awareness of prescriptural intimacy between Master and disciple is an indispensable first step in understanding the nature of this first Christian community. For it is only if one is aware of this intimate bond that one can go on and examine the actual texts of the New Testament which relate to the nature of the Church.