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Ancient Voices: the Church Fathers in Ecumenical ANCIENT VOICES: THE CHURCH FATHERS IN ECUMENICAL CONVERSATIONS Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theology By Brian R. E. Peterson, M.Div. and S.T.M. Dayton, OH May, 2012 ANCIENT VOICES: THE CHURCH FATHERS IN ECUMENICAL CONVERSATIONS Name: Peterson, Brian R. E. APPROVED BY: ________________________________________________ Dennis M. Doyle, Ph.D. Co-Director Professor of Religious Studies ________________________________________________ Maureen A. Tilley, Ph.D. Co-Director Professor of Theology (Fordham University) ________________________________________________ Brad J. Kallenberg, Ph.D. Faculty Reader Associate Professor of Theology ________________________________________________ William L. Portier, Ph.D. Faculty Reader Mary Ann Spearin Chair in Catholic Theology ________________________________________________ Michael Root, Ph.D. Faculty Reader Professor of Theology (Catholic University of America) ii ABSTRACT ANCIENT VOICES: THE CHURCH FATHERS IN ECUMENICAL CONVERSATIONS Name: Peterson, Brian R. E. University of Dayton Co-advisors: Dr. Dennis M. Doyle and Dr. Maureen A. Tilley A common feature of the Ecumenical Movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is bi-lateral or multi-lateral dialogues. In these dialogues, two or more Christian churches arrange for meetings between representatives of each side in order to discuss how they can work toward the commonly accepted goal of “full visible unity” between the sides. This dissertation will examine the U.S. Lutheran-Catholic dialogue (hereafter, L/RC) which began in 1964 and is on-going. When churches hold these dialogues they use many sources in their conversations as they strive for ecumenical convergence, consensus, or agreement. One of the sources used in dialogues, and especially in the L/RC, that has not received any significant attention to date is the church fathers. This dissertation will examine how the L/RC used the fathers and in what capacity the fathers were an aid to the L/RC’s ecumenical work and in what capacity they were not. iii As the goal of the Ecumenical Movement is the church’s “full and visible unity,” it should not be surprising that the vision of the church which has the most theological purchase at the moment is known by a cognate of unity, namely communion ecclesiology. In large part, communion ecclesiology has been based on the church fathers, and this has been the case in many different Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestant churches represented in the World Council of Churches, as well as Lutheranism and Catholicism, all of which are examined as part of this dissertation. This relationship between communion ecclesiology and the fathers is critical for my present work because it is here that the exploration of the church fathers’ place in ecumenical conversations becomes a viable and needed subject of research. Indeed, my main contention is that communion ecclesiology is both based in large part on the fathers and provides a framework for ecumenical conversation in which the fathers can be used to help forge ecumenical rapprochement. In the case of this dissertation, the relationship between communion ecclesiology and the fathers illumines how the L/RC used the fathers. It is the combination of the manner in which the fathers are used along with what the fathers actually said that is a real hope for the ecumenical movement. The L/RC used the fathers in two general ways: as sources for constructing historical background to a dialogue topic and as sources directly in the constructive ecumenical argument of a dialogue round which provided convergence, consensus, or agreement. As the L/RC increased its focus on communion ecclesiology as a vision of the church, the more explicit did it uses the fathers, and to greater effect. Most importantly, the fathers proved most helpful when the L/RC addressed issues of apostolicity, i.e., how the churches retain the mission and identity of iv the church from the time of the Apostles. v Dedicated to my wife, Terri, who has been with me throughout this endeavor and deserves laudations for her willingness to be longsuffering as I wrestled this project to completion. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank first my co-advisors, Drs. Doyle and Tilley. They have been wonderfully patient with me as I wrote and re-wrote numerous times. Their caring persistence and determination were critical in making this project come to the final shape it has taken. I will never forget their effect on me as a scholar and a writer. I would also like to thank Dr. Root for his friendship from when we both first moved to Ohio well over a decade ago now and for his continued interest in what I have been reading, thinking, and writing about over the years. Drs. Kallenberg and Portier deserve recognition for their roles as my teachers and conversation partners during my time on campus, and as readers of this dissertation. No acknowledgement would be complete without attention to one’s family. My mother and father, and my wife and children have all waited a long time for this to come to a completion, and put up with me the whole while. Thank you. And finally, I would like to say thank you to my former teachers, some now colleagues, but especially the students at Trinity School at Greenlawn. These students have been more inspiration than they realize. Teaching them and being educated along with them in our school’s community of learners has been a work of great joy. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . iii DEDICATION . vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vii LIST OF TABLES . xi 1. THE CHURCH FATHERS IN ECUMENISM . 1 Introduction . 1 The Plan for this Work . 4 The U.S. Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue and Some of Its Participants . 9 A Brief Summary of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue . 9 U.S. L/RC Dialogue Members Who Presented Work on the Church Fathers . 16 Arthur Carl Piepkorn (1907-73) . 18 Walter J. Burghardt, S.J. (1914-2008) . 20 James F. McCue (1931- ) . 21 Robert B. Eno, S.S. (1936-1997) . 22 Typifying the Examination: How the Bible Has Been Used in Ecumenical Dialogue . 24 The Bible: Its Authority and Interpretation in the Ecumenical Movement . 26 “Scripture as Norm for Our Common Faith” . 30 Conclusion . 34 2. THE FATHERS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY . 35 Introduction . 35 Augsburg Confession, the Roman Confutation, and the Apology . 41 The Historical Situation . 41 Examination of the Augsburg Confession, the Confutation, and the Apology . 46 The Council of Trent and Chemnitz’s Examination . 62 viii The Historical Situation . 63 Examination of the Council of Trent and Chemnitz’s Examination . 64 The Magdeburg Centuries (1559-1574) and the Annales Ecclesiastici (1588-1607) . 76 The Historical Situation . 77 Examination of the Centuries and the Annals . 79 Conclusion . 85 3. COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY AND RESSOURCEMENT, PART 1 THE MULTIPLE BEGINNINGS OF COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY . 88 Introduction . 88 Multiple Beginnings of Communion Ecclesiology . 93 Eastern Orthodoxy . 94 The World Council of Churches . 103 Roman Catholicism . 113 Lutheranism . 131 Summary . 154 4. COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY AND RESSOURCEMENT, PART 2 REPRESENTATIVE THEOLOGIANS OF COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY . 156 Introduction . 156 What is Communion Ecclesiology? . 158 John Zizioulas – Orthodox . 161 Miroslav Volf – Free Church . 169 Jean-Marie Roger Tillard – Roman Catholic . 175 Wolfhart Pannenberg – Lutheran . 182 The Relationship between Communion Ecclesiology and Ressourcement for Lutherans and Roman Catholics . 190 Conclusion . 194 5. THE CHURCH FATHERS USED IN CONSTRUCTING HISTORICAL BACKGROUND . 196 Introduction . 196 Joint Uses of the Fathers to Construct Histories . 202 L/RC II – One Baptism for the Remission of Sins (1966) . 202 L/RC VII – Justification by Faith (1985) . 211 L/RC VIII – The One Mediator, the Saints and Mary (1992) . 224 Summation of L/RC II, VII, and VIII: Using the Fathers Jointly to Construct Histories . 232 Differing Uses of the Fathers in Constructing History . 233 ix Conclusion . 242 Excursus – How the Anglicans and Catholics Use the Fathers in a Constructive Ecumenical Argument . 249 6. THE CHURCH FATHERS IN CONSTRUCTIVE ECUMENICAL ARGUMENT, PART 1 THE IMPLICIT AND INDIRECT USE OF COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY . 252 Introduction . 252 L/RC VI – Teaching Authority and Infallibility in the Church (1980) Fathers as Precedent in an Implicit Communion Ecclesiology . 256 L/RC IX – The Word of God: Scripture and Tradition (1995) Fathers as Sources of Understanding in an Indirect Communion Ecclesiology 269 Summary and Conclusion . 276 7. THE CHURCH FATHERS IN CONSTRUCTIVE ECUMENICAL ARGUMENT, PART 2 THE DIRECT USE OF COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY . 281 Introduction . 281 L/RC III – The Eucharist as Sacrifice (1967) . 285 L/RC IV – Eucharist and Ministry (1970) . ..
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