Fifteen years ago, Gerard Mannion and Lewis Mudge edited The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church containing thirty-eight articles over 684 pages. T&T Clark's Handbook of thirty articles has an almost entirely new cast of editors and authors: only Nicholas Healy contributed to both. The tone and the feel may reflect the difference between a “companion” and a “handbook.” The articles in the Routledge volume read like constructive syntheses of the authors. The articles in this T&T Clark volume lean toward collections of information that more objectively define the subject matter. Whereas the Companion addressed the church, the Handbook directly focuses on the academic discipline of ecclesiology.

The Handbook is divided into three parts: part 1 outlines the “Scriptural Foundations” of the discipline of ecclesiology in four articles, including one on the Old Testament. Part 2 presents in fourteen articles the varieties of historical and confessional traditions that represent the pluralism of ecclesiologies. Part 3 bears the title “Theological and Critical Explorations” as it takes up some linkages to other Christian doctrines and a series of issues that are actively discussed in the discipline of ecclesiology. A brief comment on each of these parts will help to describe the work.

Part 1 of the Handbook provides exposition and commentary on the biblical resources foundational for the discipline of ecclesiology. The pluralism reflected in the rest of the work almost requires a serious consideration of the common source of Christian theology despite the deep differences among the ways of using and interpreting the biblical background.

Part 2 of the Handbook collects a dizzying array of ecclesial traditions, rationales, and organizational structures. It represents Roman Catholic ecclesiology at three stages of its development: patristic, medieval, and post Vatican II; and Orthodox ecclesiology in its patristic and modern forms. It then moves to the early modern and later traditions and families of Protestant ecclesiology, ending with an overview of ecclesiology in the present-day “majority world” with special emphasis on Africa.

Part 3 of the Handbook deals with important questions that arise in the discipline of ecclesiology. For example, four articles address the way ecclesiology relates to dogmatics generally and the specific doctrines of trinity, christology, and pneumatology. The scope widens from there to address ecclesiology and liberation, gender, politics, ethics, ecumenism, and the Christian life. A lively issue that was not singled out for focused reflection is how ecclesiology deals today with world mission, conversion of the nations, and dialogue with other faith traditions. The lack of this discussion shows that the many church traditions would handle these questions differently.

The Handbook has a distinctive style that has implications for its use. It is a contribution to the academic discipline of ecclesiology, and as such it has an objective, academic style. Some of its articles, especially those covering the many forms of the church, read like objective summary reports. The editors did not impose an obvious standard form for the articles, but they all situate the origins of denominations and wider families of traditions. The articles reflect consciousness of history and context. They also assemble a great deal of objective information about the ecclesial traditions in a short space. The articles are complemented by extensive bibliographies of works consulted in each chapter. This makes this volume an indispensable reference book for the study of the Christian church today.

The book and most of the articles in it would be less applicable to general use in courses that introduce the study of the church. Too much is presupposed in the concise delineation of the subject matter. By contrast, this work would be very useful in a doctoral seminar on the church where the scope of the sources and the definition of the topics would provide a common source of reference and, with other texts, give rise to a deeper understanding and the exchange typical of more advanced courses.

In sum, the Handbook is a significant contribution to the discipline of ecclesiology, and it offers a significant amount of information about the church, the churches, the study of the church, and the resources for exchange within the discipline.