The Church as Herald

I’m up to chapter five of Avery Dulles’ book Models of the Church on the Church as Herald. I think he presents the model well, the Church proclaims the Word of God and is where it is encountered but it is only the sign and not the actual Kingdom of God itself.  Dulles chooses the right theologian, Karl Barth, as its proponent. But then he does the typical neoorthodox fashioning of Karl Barth, building on his ideas with those of Rudolph Bultmann and Hans Kung. To me this muddles the whole thing and misrepresents Barth’s ecclesiology by lumping him together with people he would not have agreed with. So I have mixed feelings about the chapter, but it makes me want to read more of Barth’s actual work. Alas, too much going on to enter in.