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Reformed Identity • India • Japan • Nigeria • South Africa • Volume 58 (4) • December 2008 Volume 58 (4) • December 2008 Reformed World Volume 58 No 4 December 2008 Volume Reformed World Reformed Identity • India • Japan • Nigeria • South Africa • ........ The Catholic Presbyterian (1879-1883) The Quarterly Register (1886-1936) The Presbyterian Register (1937-1948) The Presbyterian World (1949-1955) The Reformed and Presbyterian World (1956-1970) Reformed World (1971) Volume 58, No 4 December 2008 ISSN 0034-3056 Editor: Douwe Visser Contents • Editorial ................................................................................................................... 187 • On Being ‘Reformed’ Hendrik M. Vroom ............................................................... 189 • Reformed Identity Eberhard Busch ....................................................................... 207 • Reformed Catholicity and Distinctiveness Ronald J. Feenstra ................................ 219 • The Reformed Faith in Nigeria Tersur Aben ........................................................... 224 • Reformed Identity in Nigeria Today B. F. Fubara-Manuel ....................................... 228 • Reformed Identity in Japan Koichi Mino ................................................................ 252 • ‘The Sand Around Lake Geneva’: Reformed Legacy in Another Land, Another Time J. Jayakiran Sebastian ......................................... 257 • What does it mean to live in South Africa and to be Reformed? Dirkie Smit ...... 263 is published quarterly by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches 150, route de Ferney, PO Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland - www.warc.ch President Rev. Dr Clifton Kirkpatrick Vice-Presidents Mr. Helis H. Barraza Díaz Ms. Judith E. Fisher Rev. Dr Henriette Hutabarat-Lebang Rev. Dr Gottfried W. Locher Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega Rev. Lilia Rafalimanana Geneva Secretariat Rev. Dr Setri Nyomi - General Secretary Rev. Dr. Douwe Visser - Theology and Ecumenical Engagement Rev. Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth – Church Renewal, Justice and Partnership Ms. Jet den Hollander - WARC Mission Project Ms. Maureen O’Brien - Finance & Fundraising Ms. Kristine Greenaway - Communications © Copyright by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Geneva. Except where otherwise stated,the writers of articles are alone responsible for the opinions expressed. No article may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. 186 Editorial The newspaper I read in France, Le Monde, had two pages of articles on the death of Patriarch Alexy II. When Pope Benedict XVI visited France this year, there was even more coverage. I was surprised to see so much on religion in a leading newspaper of a country, which to my opinion was as secularised as The Netherlands, my home country. But I doubt whether ever something happening in the Reformed world will have that extensive coverage in the media. Most interest may come up in this Calvin anniversary year 2009. That however is often more interest in the history of the Reformed world than for what is happening today. In a certain way one can understand the lack of interest in the media for what goes on in the Reformed world. Worldwide Reformed means a patchwork of churches. These churches do not even share the common name Reformed. Some call themselves indeed Reformed but others call themselves Presbyterian. Some, in united churches call themselves protestant or Evangelical. Most of the Reformed denominations in the Reformed world are national, regional or local. Many belong to the World Alliance of Reformed Churches but definitely not all of them. Some churches in the Reformed world do consider many other Reformed churches not to belong to the true Church of Christ, let alone that there would be sharing of pulpit and table. That is not even the case within the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. For many Reformed churches it would be very difficult to give up anything of their own independence. In the process of formation of the new body the World Communion of Reformed Churches the word ‘communion’ is still being regarded with a critical eye. And the idea that the Reformed world would have one leader who can act as a spokesperson will most likely never come into reality. Not only for the media it is difficult to know what is Reformed, also in the global ecumenical world the understanding of what is Reformed is very diffuse. In ecumenical engagement the Reformed can hardly play the role they should have according to their size within the Christian world communions. In fact the Reformed are even too modest themselves to play a leading role because they see much of their ecumenical engagement happening within the World Council of Churches. 187 However, the Reformed world may have a loose and open structure, many reformed Christians realise what is of importance to them. The covenanting for justice process the World Alliance of Reformed Churches is so deeply committed to has many typical reformed characteristics and the same could be said for the criticism within the Reformed world on the way this covenanting for justice process is being done. Many within the Reformed world do also share that they see the need of doing theology and it could still be said that the academic level of theology within the Reformed world reaches the highest level. The World Alliance of Reformed Churches always has seen, and will continue to see, the importance of being engaged in theological reflection through its theological secretariat. If not so then there will be within the Reformed world complaints about a theological deficit and these complaints cannot be ignored. There is much more to be said about what is Reformed. To define Reformed identity can however not lead to a fixed set of definitions and this defining process hardly has an aspect of Reformed unity. This edition of Reformed World is no more than a contribution in this process of defining Reformed identity. There will be a number of articles wherein authors write about Reformed identity from a general and introductory perspective. But there is also in this issue a range of articles wherein Reformed identity is explained from a contextual aspect. It will be easy to see the variety of Reformed thinking about Reformed identity. Since the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council are on the way to unity, this edition of Reformed World will also reflect a broader variety of Reformed opinions than maybe could be found within the World Alliance of Reformed Churches on its own. And also this edition of Reformed World has a variety in academic level of the articles. We should be aware that not only the academy is the place where Reformed theology is developed. I hope that this edition on Reformed identity, which is only a step in the process of thinking about this, may contribute to the ongoing response to the question: “What is Reformed?” Douwe Visser 188 On Being ‘Reformed’1 Hendrik M. Vroom Introduction In this contribution I will analyse the perennial question ‘What is Reformed?’, i.e. the question of Reformed identity and how the Reformed tradition differs from other Christian traditions. For many of us this is an awkward question, for not all of us like to define ourselves against others. Whether we see ourselves as similar to or different from other Christian traditions is to a very large extent circumstantial. The Waldensians, refugees in their small villages in remote parts of the French Alps who were killed in 1488, became victims of the Catholic majority who did not accept their separate identity. The Hindu woman who talks with a great deal of sympathy of the Christmas service in which she has taken part but complains of Christians who stress the differences between Hindu and Christian beliefs sees more shared elements than many of her Christian compatriots. Both the negation and the accentuation of differences and controversies between traditions is, as far as I see, unrealistic. While some basic tenets of the Reformed tradition have been discussed in other contributions to this volume, in this final contribution we will reflect on the question of Reformed identify itself. What are we doing when we attempt to determine what it is that singles the ‘Reformed’ family out from other Christian families? First I will clarify the nature of the question of Reformed identity, and then describe some insights into the nature of religious traditions and the nature of religious insights. On this basis we can demonstrate the differences and overlappings between Christian families of churches; I will compare some basic insights that come to light in a Lutheran and a Reformed document. The last section will deal with the growing plurality within the various Christian families because of the inevitable contextuality of the understanding of the gospel. ‘Reformed identity’ as a second order question The question of Reformed identity is basic for the very existence of an organisation like the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Thus we can understand that the question of Reformed 1 This contribution has been published earlier in a volume, prepared by the Theological Subcommittee of the European Area Committee WARC: ‘On Being “Reformed”’, Chr. Lienemann-Perrin, H.M. Vroom, M. Weinrich (eds.), Reformed and Ecumenical: On Being Reformed in Ecumenical Encounters (Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi 2000), p. 153-169. 189 identity arises time and again. However, it is an annoying question. Unless one wants to affirm that the Westminster Confession, the Canons of Dordt and some other classical Reformed confessions
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