The Church Militant, Latent, and Triumphant

The terms church militant, triumphant, and latent are used to describe a threefold distinction in the church of Christ. The one church of Christ can be described as she exists throughout history in three different states. A threefold distinction in the church was often used by the medieval church theologians. However, they spoke of the church militant, triumphant, and dormant. According to Rome, the church dormant was that aspect of the church that supposedly suffered in purgatory between their...