Kirchliche Gemeinschaft und ihre sakramentale Grundlage

This article addresses the question of what the sacramental basis of ecclesial communion is. This was done primarily in dialogue with voices from the ecumenical tradition. First, it was established that there is a (broad) ecumenical-theological consensus that the church is understood as a community and that this community has a sacramental character: it is a medium for God's presence in the world. In a second step, the author asks what this understanding implies for communion between churches. He emphasizes that the sacramental dimension of this community implies the common embodiment of the Missio Dei in the world, as well as a common path of sanctification, which can also create space – e. g. for tolerating ethical differences. The third part of the contribution deals with the eschatological orientation given with a sacramental understanding of the Church. It appears that this orientation implies both a space for transformation (and even conversion) within the Church, and the more political-theological insight that the embodied imagination of another world, which is a sacramentally understood Church, also contains a space for the transformation of society.