[2] It most often refers to the conviction of certain Reformed Protestant theologians that the Christian Church must continually re-examine itself in order to maintain its purity of doctrine and practice.
The first term was used by Hans Küng[6] and other ecclesiastical reformers of the Catholic Church who were influenced by the spirit of Vatican II of the 1960s.
Hebr 2,17), Ecclesia in proprio sinu peccatores complectens, sancta simul et semper purificanda, poenitentiam et renovationem continuo prosequitur":[7] "While Christ, holy, innocent and undefiled knew nothing of sin, but came to expiate only the sins of the people, the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal.
"[8] This latter usage appears in a 2009 pastoral letter by Bishop R. Walker Nickless that encourages a hermeneutic of continuity in Catholic teaching and practice.
[9] The phrase (without the est) is also put into the mouth of the fictional Pope Gelasius III in Mary Doria Russell's 1998 novel Children of God.