In Models of the Church, one of the twentieth century's most beloved theologians defined the basic function of the Church while assessing its different roles in the lives of believers and its mission on earth. Avery Dulles carefully studied the writings of contemporary Protestant and Catholic ecclesiologists and sifted out six major approaches, or models, through which the Church's character could be understood: as Institution, Mystical Communion, Sacrament, Herald, Servant, and in a later addition to the book, Community of Disciples. A balanced theology, he contends, must incorporate the major affirmations of each. The method of models or types, observes Cardinal Dulles, can have great value in helping people to get beyond the limitations of their own particular outlook and to enter into fruitful conversation with others...Such conversation is obviously essential if ecumenism is to get beyond its present impasses.
