In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of doctrine about the Church itself as a community and about the churches own view of its mission and role.
That means that ecclesiology looks at the role of the church in salvation, at its origin, its relationship to the historical Christ, its discipline, its destiny (see Eschatology) and its leadership.
In addition to describing a broad discipline of theology, ecclesiology may be used in the specific sense of a particular church or denomination’s character, self-described or otherwise. This is the sense of the word in such phrases as Roman Catholic ecclesiology, Lutheran ecclesiology, and ecumenical ecclesiology.
