Bread as a Symbol of Faith: Unity, Social Nature & Moral Character - Essay Sample

Introduction

Organizational design and leadership philosophy in faith communities are determined by particular theological metaphors. Bread is viewed among the faith communities as an apt symbol that can be used for many reasons. People of bread show how bread is used to symbolize the Christian church. Vondey uses bread to represent the social nature that is embraced by the people of God as well as their moral characters. Bread also signifies churches' visible unity and pure nature (Vondey, 2008). The use of bread is recorded in scriptures as a sustaining food due to the efforts that are being put in place its preparation. Since the time of Jesus Christ, bread was a renowned food, and its use was majorly on major rituals such as Passover that occurred many years. This paper focuses on exploring and describing how a particular theological metaphor, like bread, shapes, and influences organizational design and leadership philosophy in faith communities.

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The development of people's culture from some forms of bread shows that it an excellent tool for evangelism across the world. People of Bread relate the theological requirements and the concept of a church's mission into one whole focus (Bruni, 2019). Original scriptural references show that most teachings were dependent on the symbol of bread which Jesus uses to affirm his teachings to the disciples. In His teachings, Jesus occasional break bread as symbol companionship, which is associated with hospitality and charity (West, 2016). Vondey also offers a clear and comprehensive idea which relates the image of bread symbolize church (Bungert, 2017). The breaking of bread among the faith communities utilizes an inventive concept that bread is an ecclesiastical modern theology tool (Brantlinger, 2016). The establishment of bread as a great image which reconfirms useful church tradition and biblical texts shows that leadership in the communities of faith can be traced from such episodes (Moe, 2017). The conviction which is associated with bread as a traditional image also shows that it signifies life, morality, and unity, which are essential in shaping organizational design. For instances, bread provides a comprehensive framework which the ecumenical ecclesiology can use to maximize their precedence over most of the denominational divisions, which might plague the modern church (Witte, 2017). The rationale creates a hegemonic correlation between several important aspects, which are theology related.

Additionally, bread is used to uncover the meaning and significance of the Lord's Supper as can be recorded today. Most communities of faith have exploited the metaphorical representation as recognizes it as the only central Christian liturgy element (Graham, Walton & Ward, 2019). Biblically, the story bread reveals moral responsibility and social nature, which is associated with the people of God, the pure nature, church's mission, eschatological vision as well as ecumenical purpose. Vondey affirms that every visible church has a social character, ecumenical, and communal life as well as cultural engagement, which are pertinent in reshaping leadership philosophy and organizational design (Tangen, 2018). Companionship, which involves the sharing of bread, is regarded as a way of creating a pleasant correlation between philosophical leadership and the organizational design (Steers, 2019). Moral character relates to repentance and dependence on God for the restoration of faith.

Conclusion

In conclusion, organizational design and leadership philosophy depends on theological metaphors such as bread to shape their relationship with the morals of the faith communities. Bread acts as a symbol of the church and plays a vital role in balancing different Christian aspect for the expression of God's love. It represents the correlations, which is an exhibit by the faith communities in determining the role of each person among them. The rationale also determines meaning correspondences, which can be used to build a steady viewpoint in most of the biblical teachings.

References

Brantlinger, P., (2016). Bread and circuses: Theories of mass culture as social decay. Cornell University Press.

Bruni, L., (2019). The Law of Daily Bread. In The Economy of Salvation (pp. 139-142). Springer, Cham.

Bungert, M. K., (2017). The genius of Women: Giving Meaning to Lay Ecclesial Leadership.

Graham, E., Walton, H., & Ward, F. (2019). Theological reflection: methods. SCM Press.

Moe, D. T., (2017). Theological Metaphors of Teaching Mission in An Age of World Christianity in the North American Context.

Steers, J. S., (2019). Science and Theology in Religious Education and Faith Formation with Children and Youth: Towards a Post-Foundationalist Approach. Science.

Tangen, K. I., (2018). Leadership as Participation in the Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke-Acts. Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 27(2), 284-306.

Vondey, W., (2008). People of bread: Rediscovering Ecclesiology. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. ISBN-10: 0809145596

West, C. (2016). Breaking bread: Insurgent black intellectual life. Routledge.

Witte, J. (2017). Law, Religion, and Metaphor. Risiko und Vertrauen/Risk and Trust: Festschrift fur Michael Welker zum, 70, 177-195.