What Is The Church?

Peter Leithart's brief observations on "What Is The Church?" have resonated with some thoughts I've had lately. Instead of viewing biblical descriptions of the church as metaphors that serve as "raw material for theological reflection," Leithart states that these descriptions are actually the fundamental descriptions of the church. This seems to tie directly into Leithart's view of the church as "an alternate polis," but I'll probably have to mull this over some more.