Ecclesial Theology

Sometimes you read post titles that seem topically mundane and surprisingly they turn out to be quite motivating. Such was the case for me with this post on Reformation 21 by Gerald Heistand Ecclesial Theology and Academic Theology: Why We Need More of the Former.
Here's a few excerpts:

Ecclesial theology then, is rich, scriptural theology covering the entire Christian life; Christian living, ecclesiology, ministry, exposition of Scripture, church history, dogmatics, etc., --anything relevant to the mission and life of the church. And it addresses these issues not merely as an academic exercise--a raw quest for knowledge--but with the conscious and preeminent aim of building the church. It unapologetically purposes to advance the glory of Christ.

Here's a few works the author considered ecclesial theology:

Athanasius--The Incarnation of the Word
Augustine--Confessions, On Grace and Free Will
Luther--Galatians, Bondage of the Will
Calvin--Institutes and commentaries
Baxter--The Reformed Pastor
Edwards--Freedom of the Will, etc.
Bonhoeffer--The Cost of Discipleship
Stott--The Cross of Christ
Piper--Desiring God

Ecclesial theology is theological reflection written to the thoughtful, theologically informed, historically aware, biblically literate, ecclesial community. It's as intellectually robust as sound academic theology, but is driven by ecclesial concerns.

Heistand calls for a return of the Pastor-Theologian and I agree. I would take it a few steps further and extend the call to the Elder-Theologians, Deacon-Theologians, Ministry Leader - Theologians, Sunday School Teacher- Theologians, ... you get the idea.

Lastly, I really enjoyed this quote:
Luther didn't change the world because he was a successful academician. He changed the world because he wrote as a robust, theologically informed, intelligent, prophetic Christian.

Well worth the read despite my initial, erroneous misgivings about the title.