DOCSLIB.ORG

On Being an Apostolic Church Endorsed by the ASC in July, 2010

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On Being an Apostolic Church Endorsed by the ASC in July, 2010 On Being an Apostolic Church Endorsed by the ASC in July, 2010 1. The Basis of Union affirms, “The Uniting Church in Australia lives and works within the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” (BU par 2). It seeks to be an apostolic church by being true to the apostolic tradition and in relationship with other churches that are also seeking to do so. When the Uniting Church makes public statements it does so as a church that is endeavouring to be faithful to the way of Jesus Christ its Lord and Christian tradition in the context of contemporary Australia. Belief, behaviour, relationships with other churches 2. Being an apostolic church involves beliefs, behaviour and connections with other parts of the Church. Right belief is important as it bears on the faithful way of discipleship and ecumenical relationships. Within the broad framework of orthodox conviction, the Uniting Church embraces diversity of theological expression. Elsewhere the Doctrine working group has pointed out that there are three kinds of theological statements with differing authority: dogma, doctrine and theological reflection.1 Some doctrinal beliefs are foundational and while they can be explored are not to be rejected. Other aspects of theology can tolerate very different positions or be issues that are still in the process of theological reflection and discussion. 3. There are nevertheless limits to diversity of belief within the Uniting Church once people make the basic confession “Jesus is Lord”, a confession that is guided by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Christian faith holds that we know God through Jesus Christ and in the Spirit. We affirm that God is triune: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. People are baptised into the Christian faith and the one holy catholic and apostolic church using the standard Trinitarian formula. The ethos of the Uniting Church is to be inclusive of various Christian theological positions, accepting that there will not necessarily be agreement on contentious issues, while holding to Trinitarian faithfulness. The Doctrine working group has provided guidance in relation to how to deal with such issues.2 4. Liberation theologians in particular have pointed out that orthopraxis, right practice, is required. While the church is inevitably sinful for it is made up of sinful people in a sinful world, nevertheless the church is called to practice the way of Jesus. Assisted by the Holy Spirit, it is to endeavour to live by the way of love, justice and peace that Jesus exemplified and which characterise the reign of God Jesus proclaimed. 5. The Uniting Church is conscious that in being called to be an apostolic church it does so in relationship with other parts of the Church. It takes seriously its ecumenical relationships and partnerships knowing that the one holy catholic and apostolic church is greater than any particular church. It holds that the Uniting Church can both benefit from and contribute to the universal church as it gives contemporary expression to the apostolic tradition. Founded on the apostles 6. Jürgen Moltmann makes the following point about being apostolic. The historical church must be called ‘apostolic’ in a double sense: its gospel and its doctrine are founded on the testimony of the first apostles, the eyewitnesses of the risen Christ, and it exists in the carrying out of the apostolic proclamation, the missionary charge. The expression ‘apostolic’ therefore denotes both the church’s foundation and its commission.3 7. As an apostolic church the Uniting Church acknowledges the foundational witness to Jesus Christ of the original apostles. They were the ones who experienced Jesus’ life and ministry first hand, who were devastated by the crucifixion, and witnessed him as risen. This was the criteria for selecting Matthias to replace Judas as one of the twelve (Acts 1: 21-22). Paul acknowledged his special place as an apostle. In writing to the church at Corinth he said that he handed on what he in turn had received concluding with these statements. “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain” (1 Corinthians 15: 8-10). 8. The Uniting Church holds the books of the Old and New Testaments “as unique prophetic and apostolic testimony, in which it hears the Word of God and by which its faith and obedience are nourished and regulated” (BU par 5). It says that when it preaches Jesus Christ, “its message is controlled by the Biblical witnesses” (BU par 5). The Uniting Church therefore as apostolic is not free to depart from the biblical witnesses to Jesus. They are the controlling basis for the church’s life and message. 9. Interpretation is required for different times and places but fidelity to the apostolic testimony is essential. With Moltmann we can point out that the church is to be faithful to the apostolic witness and needs to be in continuity with the original eyewitness of the risen Christ. This challenges the current liberal progressive Christian movement which has representatives who are weak on the resurrection, on the Trinity, and on appreciating the trustworthiness of the apostolic witnesses. In their desire to be modern or post modern they are in danger of undermining basic elements of the apostolic faith. The missionary charge 10. As Moltmann states, being apostolic is more than being true to the original apostolic witnesses. It also involves the missionary charge to continue to witness to Jesus Christ by word and deed. The very word apostle implies ‘being sent’. It suggests being a commissioned messenger or ambassador of Christ. Paul captures this meaning in introducing himself to the church at Rome, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1). Those who were apostles did not choose to be so, rather Jesus called and they responded. They were set apart for the gospel to serve Jesus Christ their Lord and were enabled to do so by the Holy Spirit. 11. As apostolic the Uniting Church does not exist for its own sake. It did not come into being as a purely human decision. The Basis of Union speaks of doing so “seeking to bear witness to that unity which is both Christ’s gift and will for the Church”, praying that it may be “to the glory of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” and declaring readiness to go “forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church” (BU par1). It also says that it commits its members “to hear anew the commission of the Risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, and daily to seek to obey his will” (BU par 1). Geoffrey Wainwright says, “The apostolicity of the Church 4 is ultimately grounded in God’s mission to the world.” 12. The Uniting Church affirms that “the faith and unity of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic church are built upon the one Lord Jesus Christ” (BU par 3). The church is to proclaim the risen crucified Christ and confess him as Lord. The Basis of Union says that God in Christ has given the Holy Spirit to all people in the church as a pledge and foretaste of “that coming reconciliation and renewal which is the end in view for the whole creation” (BU par 3). The church’s call is to serve that end. In its own life it is to be “a fellowship of reconciliation” in which the diverse gifts of its members are used to build up the whole, and it is to be “an instrument through which Christ may work and bear witness to himself” (BU par3). 13. So the church also needs to be apostolic in the sense of being a ‘sent’ church called to proclaim and live by Jesus’ message of the reign of God, God’s rule of love, justice, peace and reconciliation. It needs to be outward looking and not just inward looking. It is called to serve the mission of God. The conservatives in the church sometimes can be so concerned about upholding the tradition that they become focused on preserving the recent past rather than giving expression to the apostolic tradition. Energy is expended on this to the detriment of serving God’s mission and apostolic commission. Marks of the church 14. In speaking of the church being apostolic, it is important to see this as one of the primary marks of the church used in the Nicene Creed. So we need to see the four marks in relation to each other. The church is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” Karl Barth makes the point that the fourth mark, the apostolic mark, “does not simply stand in a row with the other three expressions, but explains them.”5 Being based on the apostolic witness is what distinguishes the church from all other societies of a natural or historical kind. 15. In Missional Church edited by Darrell Guder, it is argued that the marks of the church are better put in the reverse order: apostolic – the church as proclaiming community, catholic – the church as the reconciling and reconciled community, holy – the church as the sanctifying community, and unity – the church as the unifying community.6 16. In relation to the classic marks of the church it is helpful to follow the reverse order proposed in Missional Church.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Significance of Lesslie Newbigin for Mission in a New Millennium
    The Significance of Lesslie Newbigin for Mission in the New Millennium Michael W. Goheen A Remarkable Life Bishop Lesslie Newbigin is one of the most important missiological and theological thinkers of the twentieth century. The American church historian Geoffrey Wainwright, from Duke University, once remarked that when the history of the church in the twentieth century comes to be written, if the church historians know their job, Newbigin will have to be considered one of top ten or twelve theological figures of the century. In his book, he honours Newbigin’s significant contribution by portraying him in patristic terms as a “father of the church.”1 Newbigin was first and foremost a missionary; he spent forty years of his life in India. But he was much more: he was a theologian, biblical scholar, apologist, ecumenical leader, author, and missiologist. The breadth and depth of his experience and his contribution to the ecumenical and missionary history of the church in the twentieth century have been “scarcely paralleled.”2 Newbigin was born in England in 1909. He was converted to Jesus Christ during his university days at Cambridge. He was married, ordained in the Church of Scotland, and set sail for India as a missionary in 1936. He spent the next eleven years as a district missionary in Kanchipuram. He played an important role in clearing a theological impasse that led to the formation of the Church of South India (CSI)—a church made up of Congregationalists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Methodists. He served as bishop of Madurai for the next twelve years.
    [Show full text]
  • Pope Benedict XVI's Invitation Joseph Mele
    Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 2008 Homiletics at the Threshold: Pope Benedict XVI's Invitation Joseph Mele Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Mele, J. (2008). Homiletics at the Threshold: Pope Benedict XVI's Invitation (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/919 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HOMILETICS AT THE THRESHOLD: POPE BENEDICT XVI‘S INVITATION A Dissertation Submitted to The McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Joseph M. Mele May 2008 Copyright by Joseph M. Mele 2008 HOMILETICS AT THE THRESHOLD: POPE BENEDICT XVI‘S INVITATION By Joseph M. Mele Approved Month Day, 2008 ____________________________ ____________________________ Name of Professor Name of Professor Professor of Professor of (Dissertation Director) (Committee Member) ____________________________ ____________________________ Name of Professor Name of Professor Professor of Professor of (Committee Member) (Committee Member) ___________________________ ____________________________ Name of Dean Name of External Reviewer Dean, The McAnulty
    [Show full text]
  • Lesslie Newbigin's Missional Ecclesiology Explored
    Preston Graham Jr. DM44, Prof. Alan Falconer Lesslie Newbigin’s Missional Ecclesiology Explored: A Christo-Centric Proposal For Ecumenism in Today’s Global Context of Spirituality Awe came upon everyone… All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together with one accord in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And day by day the Lord added to them those who were being saved. Acts 2:43-47 Such is the vision we get of the ascended ministry of Christ in the present redemptive age at Pentecost It is the description of a Christo-centric, sacramental, confessional, multi-cultural and organic kind of unity that was in, not of, and for the world to the “praise of God” and in “favor with all the people.” It was, in summary, the description of a missional ecclesiology! And according to Lesslie Newbigin, it was an ecclesiology that had been tragically lost needing to be rediscovered in today’s global city. The truth is… that the unity of the Church is something given to it at its inception, and given by its Lord. That unity had its outward form, first in the fact that the first disciples were visibly grouped around one Lord, and then in the close-knit fellowship of the days immediately following Pentecost, in the sharing in a common baptism, a common tradition of teaching, a common Supper, and a common acknowledgment of the leadership of the Apostles.1 And does anyone doubt for a moment that if today’s global Christian ecclesia looked more like Acts 2, then large numbers of people in every place and culture would know that Jesus is real and that Christianity is true? that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
    [Show full text]
  • From Pluralism Towards Catholicity? the United Methodist Church After the General Conference of 1988
    From Pluralism towards Catholicity? The United Methodist Church after the General Conference of 1988 GEOFFREY WAINWRIGHT The United Methodist Church is the most widespread Protestant denomination in the United States. It is also perhaps the most accommodating. Statistically, it is in decline, both in absolute membership figures and as a proportion of the population. While the flexibility of Methodism helped it to grow, overstretching appears to have led to such a loss of contour that there no longer exists a sufficiently coherent identity to attract and retain many new adherents. In recent decades, "inclusivism" and "pluralism" have become formal ideological substitutes for a true catholicity which is always both substantive and qualitative. At the General Conference of 1988, there were a few signs--no bigger maybe than a man's hand--that the Church is coming to that awareness of its own predicament which is the human precondition for acceptance of a divine renewal. It is a matter of the faith, which comes to expression in the teaching of a church and its worship. The two most important documents before the General Conference in St. Louis were therefore the Report of the Hymnal Revision Committee and the Report from the Committee on our Theological Task on "Doctrinal Standards and our Theological Task." That the proposal of a new hymnbook should have aroused popular interest is no surprise, for the Christian people has always maintained at least a lingering sense that the liturgy is the place where the faith is signified. Less expected, given the reputation and modern self-understanding of Methodism, was the attention shown before and at the Conference to the revision of the statement on doctrine and theology in the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church.
    [Show full text]
  • Worship in Eighteenth-Century Anglicanism and Methodism THE
    Volume 1 1994 ST Kimbrough, Jr. Charles A. Green Editor Assistant Editor Worship in Eighteenth-Century Anglicanism and Methodism PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CHARLES WESLEY SOCIETY October 1994 Princeton, New Jersey Introduction . 3 ST Kimbrough, Jr. "Our Elder Brethren Join": The Wesleys' Hymns on the Lord's Supper and the Patristic Revival in England . 5 Geoffrey Wainwright Charles Wesley and Methodist Religious Life, 1750-1775: The Manuscript Sources . 33 Gareth Lloyd Changing Patterns of Worship in British Wesleyan Methodism, 1780-1828 . 47 Timothy S. A-Macquiban "Guide Me, 0 Thou Great Jehovah": Contributions of Welsh and English Calvinists to Worship in Eighteenth-Century England . 67 Ted A. Campbell Charles Wesley: A Man of the Prayer-Book . 85 John Lawson John Wesley's Prayer Book Revision: The Text in Context . 119 Karen B. Westerfield Tucker Proceedings ofThe Charles Wesley Society 1994 Published in the United States by The Charles Wesley Society, 1996 Editor, S T Kimbrough, Jr. Assistant Editor, Charles A. Green Copyright © 1996 by The Charles Wesley Society. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of The Charles Wesley Society. The Charles Wesley Society Archives and History Center Drew University Madison, NJ 07940 S T Kimbrough, Jr., President J. Richard Watson, Vice President Wilma J. Quantrille, Secretary Charles A. Green, Treasurer E. Alan Rose, Secreta.ry-Treasurerfor the United Kingdom Board of Directors Oliver A. Beckerlegge Timothy Macquiban Kenneth D.
    [Show full text]
  • MICHAEL ROOT School of Theology and Religious Studies the Catholic University of America
    MICHAEL ROOT School of Theology and Religious Studies The Catholic University of America EMPLOYMENT 2011-Present: Ordinary Professor of Systematic Theology, The Catholic University of America 2003-2011: Professor of Systematic Theology (also Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, 2003-9) Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, SC 1998-2003: Edward C. Fendt Professor of Systematic Theology Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio 1988-1998: Research Professor; Director (1991-93; 1995-97) Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France 1980-1988: Assistant (1980-84) and Associate (1984-88) Professor of Systematic Theology Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary 1978-80: Instructor in Religion Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina OTHER ACTIVITIES 2006-2015: Executive Director, Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology 2006-Present: Associate Editor, Pro Ecclesia EDUCATION 1979: Ph.D., in Religious Studies - Theology; Yale University 1977: M.Phil., Yale University 1974: M.A., Yale University 1973: A.B., Dartmouth College (Summa Cum Laude, Salutatorian) MEMBERSHIPS Editorial board, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, 2003- present Editorial Advisory Board, Ecclesiology, 2006-2015 Board of Directors, Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2016- present Member, USA Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue, 1998-2010, 2013-present Member, International Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue, 2008-2010 Drafting committee for Lutheran-Episcopal full communion agreement Called to Common Mission, 1997-99 Drafting committee to
    [Show full text]
  • Reconsidering Newbigin's the Household of God, Six Decades Later
    A House Divided? Reconsidering Newbigin’s The Household of God, Six Decades Later Joseph Schattauer Paillé The author is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and candidate for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. he Household of God, first given as a lecture series in 1952, begins with a question: “By what is the church he “unity of the Church will not constituted?”1 The question may sound like something Ttaken from a catechesis exam, but it serves as the foundation for Tdistill out of a process of purely Newbigin’s attempt to articulate a historically grounded ecclesiol- theological discussion” but will come ogy. Newbigin identifies three ways the church has answered the question. The first answer is that the church is constituted by Word only through engagement with the and act, a mode of thinking most common in Protestant circles.2 The Protestant voice should be welcomed, Newbigin argues, for world in which the church is situated. its emphasis on justification by faith and the church’s reliance on the promise of grace given in Christ. Yet Newbigin also critiques in some misguided church leaders.8 Newbigin deems all three the Protestant view for its “over-intellectualizing of the content answers necessary but insufficient for understanding the esse of of the word ‘faith’” and its understanding of unity “in terms of the church, which he claims is its mission. It is only, Newbigin agreement about doctrine.”3 asserts, “when Christians are engaged in the task of missionary The second answer Newbigin identifies
    [Show full text]
  • Eschatology, Liturgy, and Christology
    Eschatology, Liturgy, and Christology Eschatology, Liturgy, and Christology Toward Recovering an Eschatological Imagination Thomas P. Rausch, SJ A Michael Glazier Book LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org A Michael Glazier Book published by Liturgical PressCover design by Ann Blattner. The Last Judgment by Fra Angelico, ca. 1400–1455. Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. Excerpts from documents of the Second Vatican Council are from Vatican Council II: The Basic Sixteen Documents, by Austin Flannery, OP © 1996 (Costello Publish- ing Company, Inc.). Used with permission. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC, and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. © 2012 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, mi- crofiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rausch, Thomas P. Eschatology, liturgy, and christology : toward recovering an eschatological imagination / Thomas P.
    [Show full text]
  • Geoffrey Wainwright
    31 Geoffrey Wainwright CHRISTIAN INITIATION: DEVELOPt4ENT, DISMEMBERMENT, REINTEGRATION The Fact of Liturgical Change Worshipers tend to assume that the patterns of worship that they know have been practiced since time immemorial. A little famili- arity with liturgical history soon reveals that that is not in fact the case. You in your churches, with your new Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), have inevitably been introduced to some litur- gical history as you had to come to terms with new things that were really old things. If we are Protestants, we may perhaps be willing to admit, after all, that liturgical patterns have changed slightly in the course of history; but at least we Protestants have been pretty close to what the apostles did in their day! Now the matter is not so simple as that, because in fact there is very little direct lit- urgical information in the New Testament writings. We are given certain sorts of evidence in the form of stories of baptism and theological arguments based on baptism, but we really do not have a full set of rubrics or a description of the words that were used in admitting Christians to the church in New Testament times. 1 What we have to do, therefore, if we want to start tracing the history of Christian initiation, is to begin a bit further on: I will begin at the beginning of the third century and will then, The Reverend Dr. Wainwright is Professor of Systematic Theology at Union TheoZogiaaZ Seminary, New York City. 32 in the light of what we discover there, go back to the New Testa­ ment to see if we have some means of interpreting what is found in its writings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tradition of Practical Theology at the University of Pretoria
    Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The tradition of Practical Theology at the University of Pretoria Casparus J. (Cas) Wepener Department of Practical Theology Faculty of Theology University of Pretoria South Africa Yolanda Dreyer Department of Practical Theology Faculty of Theology University of Pretoria South Africa Johann A. Meylahn Department of Practical Theology Faculty of Theology University of Pretoria South Africa How to cite: Wepener, C.J., Dreyer, Y. & Meylahn, J.A., 2017, ‘The tradition of Practical Theology at the University of Pretoria’, in ‘Theology at the University of Pretoria - 100 years: (1917-2017) Past, present and future’, Verbum et Ecclesia, suppl. 2, 38(4), a1677. https://doi.org/10.4102/ ve.v38i4.1677 133 The tradition of Practical Theology at the University of Pretoria Introduction The liturgical theologian Geoffrey Wainwright employs the beautiful image of rowers to illustrate the concept and process of tradition. In an article entitled ‘Back to the future’, Wainwright (1997) describes the image of the sport of rowing in which a team races forward while looking backward. The team sits together as one, facing to the back, and in trust and dependence on the person who steers from the back of the boat and who directs both the tempo and the direction, they move forward (cf. also Smit 2007, 2008; Wepener 2008). The word ‘tradition’ comes from the Latin tradere, which literally means ‘to hand down’ or ‘to hand over’ (cf. Odendal 1991:1163). Tradition includes both a process of handing down (tradition) and the content of what is handed down (traditum) and can furthermore be described as ‘… a transgenerational process by which society reproduces itself’ (Gassmann 2008:517).
    [Show full text]
  • Theology Symposium
    50th International Eucharistic Congress 2012 Theology Symposium 6th – 9th June 2012 St. Patrick’s College Maynooth, Co Kildare, Ireland The Ecclesiology of Communion Fifty Years after the Opening of Vatican II www.iec2012.ie/theologysymposium Programme Wednesday 6th June: Introduction and Context Morning Short Papers / Emerging Scholars 14.00 Registration 15.30 The Eucharist, Communion and the People in Irish Christianity. Dr. Jennifer O’Reilly, Prof. Salvador Ryan and Rev. Prof. Brendan McConvery CSsR 19.30 Formal Opening and Keynote Address: The Ecclesiology of Communion 50 Years after the Opening of Vatican II. His Eminence Marc Cardinal Ouellet 21.30 Reception Thursday 7th June: Exploring Sources and Ways of Communion 9.15-10.45 The Eucharist: A Way of Life for Jesus and the Christian, according to the Scriptures. Prof. Teresa Okure SHCJ Drawn Day by Day - Eucharistic Ecclesiology from the Perspective of a Liturgical Theologian. Prof. Dr. Martin Stuflesser 11.15-12.45 The ‘Body Given Up for You’ as Origin and Form of Communion. Rev. Prof. Piero Coda The Sacraments: Gifts of the Rising Christ. Prof. Brian Johnstone 14.15 In the afternoon, participants are invited to attend any of the emerging scholar sessions. The main programme then continues with various special topics. Participants can choose two (one before and one after the coffee break). 14.15- Emerging Scholars Sessions 14.45 Programme … Thursday Sessions Continued 15.00-16.00 ‘A Domestic Sanctuary in the Church’ (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 11): Living Eucharist in the Family Today. Dr. Clare Watkins Beyond the Big Bang: The Eucharist at the Heart of Cosmic, Evolutionary and Human History.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ecumenical Movement: Streams of Engagement and Liturgical Intersections (Tc 826)
    THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT: STREAMS OF ENGAGEMENT AND LITURGICAL INTERSECTIONS (TC 826) “It is no longer possible to mince our words. For far too long ecumenical commitment has been simply one option among many for the local churches, a matter of indifference, one area of activity among others. Ecumenism can no longer be toyed with as a mere possibility. It has become the test case of faith. Today there is only one way of putting the four credal marks of the Church into practice, only one way for the Church to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and that is the ecumenical way.” Ernst Lange, And Yet it Moves: Dream and Reality of the Ecumenical Movement, trans. Edwin Robertson (Belfast, Dublin, and Ottawa: Christian Journals Limited; and Geneva: The World Council of Churches, 1979), pp. 147-48. The Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Best The Rev. Dr. Karen Westerfield Tucker Spring 2020 Saturdays—January 25, February 8 and 29, March 21, April 4—9 a.m. to 5 p.m. DESCRIPTION This course examines the Ecumenical Movement—a “defining fact” of Christianity in the 20th century— and its implications for the life of the churches in the 21st century. The class will treat major streams of interchurch engagement including mission, faith and order, and life and work, and will give attention to ecumenical questions regarding worship and sacraments. In addition, the course will consider contemporary models of Christian unity as well as Christian dialogue with other faith traditions. LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the conclusion of this course, each student should be able to
    [Show full text]