Subsequent to the introductory chapter, the second section of the thesis sought to analyse Hans Kiing's use of faith as an overriding methodological rationale for his theology. To demonstrate this the chapter began by introducing the concept itself, delineating it by describing its fundamental nature and distinguishing features. The explanation of the concept did not only help one to avoid speaking about a central principle in the abstract, but it further demonstrated the actual perspective from which it is used in the thesis. This was considered necessary because, among other things, the description of the concept would ultimately enable one to substantiate claims that the theologian under consideration offers some patterns for a contemporary redemptive community, which was the main concern of the previous chapter of the thesis.
It would be inadequate to simply ascribe the hermeneutics of faith as an interpretative standard in Kiing's theology without looking briefly at history, identifying some examples yielded by the development of theology as a discipline. One discovered that even in those epochs where faith as an interpretative principle did not occupy centre stage, it was not totally supplanted by other hermeneutic tools. When we eventually came to the question of how Kiing uses faith as a hermeneutical principle in his
ecclesiology, we highlighted two fundamental issues. On the one hand, we observed that Kling as a result of the nature of his hermeneutics deliberately links the ultimate origins of the Church with the Christ event, an event whose efficacy and relevance is made accessible by the faith of the believing community. On the other hand we noted that Kling regards the Church as an object of faith because it is a reality which is constantly acted upon by the Spirit of God who sustains her and creates fellowship among the faithful. However, the fact that faith is used by Kling in conjunction with another subordinated interpretative tool of historical criticism as well as with other theological sources, avoids the possibility of his theology being turned into a Fideism.
The third chapter of the thesis attended to the question of how the faith of the community acts as an overriding principle in Hans Kling's ecclesiology and as a result shapes his understanding of the fundamental structure of the Church. In this chapter therefore, we underscored the value of responding to God's call in Christ for the formation of the Church. After considering some of the factors which contribute to the complex nature of the reality called Church, we came into a conclusion that models of the Church can be very useful tools for studying Church. In the course of this analysis we insisted that models are not exhaustive but only lay bare to the inquirer particular aspects of the redemptive community. To this extent we observed that not even Biblically excogitated models can claim being comprehensive in their presentation of the Church. For this reason they, like all ecclesiological models, are open-ended. We then turned our attention to an analysis of the actual mystical models that Kling uses to describe the nature of the Church. Taking particular cognisance of the overriding theological rationale in his ecclesiology, we highlighted in the context of this analysis how the faith of the community, shapes his understanding of the Church as, the Body of Christ, People of God and Temple of the Spirit and also how the notion of diakonia pervades Kling's understanding of the nature of ecclesiastical office. Subsequent to this, we noted how Kling's overriding theological principle influences his particular understanding of the marks of the Church.
The next chapter was a careful evaluation of some aspects of Kiing's theology. We realised that there are both strengths and weaknesses with the hermeneutical position Kiing operates from. To arrive at this conviction, we first highlighted the way in which Scripture is understood and used as a theological source by the theologian. The influence of Vatican 11 both in terms of methodology and use of this theological source was also noted in the chapter. Another important observation made in the course of this evaluation was the presence of strong ecumenical and missionary overtones in Kiing's ecclesiology. The last section of the chapter focused on the weaknesses identified in Kiing's theology. The rationale for doing such a critique was that we wanted to avoid claiming that Kiing has the last word on the subject, in as much as he has some paradigms worth emulating in the present Church. To this extent we realized that fundamental paradigmatic examples cannot be obtained through a naive uncritical evaluation of a theological position. We noted that an overemphasized hermeneutics of faith has the tendency to ignore that the Church, as an event taking place in history, is open to be studied and criticized by others operating from a completely different hermeneutical position. We also concluded that in as much as Kiing's theology uses Scripture quite extensively in its formulations, he seems to have a special preference for Paul. For this reason he can be challenged that there is a sense in which his use of this theological source is eclectic. An observation was also made regarding Kiing's choice of Biblical models. To this extent we concluded that they sometimes have the tendency to speak about a world not familiar to twentieth century minds, and for this reason their heuristic function is undermined. We noted that mystical models in particular are not very clear about the relationship existing between the spiritual and the visible aspects of the Church. We also noted the inherent danger of deifying the Church whenever they are used. As a critique of the scholar, we also raised an issue about the possibility of the hermeneutics of faith getting hijacked by the personality of the theologian.
The penultimate section of our analysis, (chapter 5) attended to the second primary task of this thesis by attempting to identify the actual paradigms yielded by our inquiry into the nature of Kiing's ecclesiology, while not withstanding the alleged weaknesses
inherent in Kling's hermeneutical posItIOn. The first set of examples were clearly concerned with the paradigmatic nature of the hermeneutics of faith as an overriding principle in authentic and responsible theologising. The chapter noted the fact that a theology operating from a hermeneutics of faith will inevitably privilege Scripture as an important source for theologising about the Church. We also noted how the CPSA learns from Kling to engage with its context responsibly, and in so ,doing seek to account for the interface African culture creates with Anglican Spirituality and theologising. We have also noted a number of other contextual realities where the CPSA will be able to engage effectively if it takes its cue from the way Kling does his theology. To this extent we observed how the CPSA can learn from Kling's theology about such things as its prophetic ministry in a post-apartheid era in South Africa, the discovery of the role of lay people in the Church, the ability of the Church to face the AIDS pandemic etc.