DOCSLIB.ORG

Editorial Harvesting the Fruits of Ecumenical Dialogue

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Editorial Harvesting the Fruits of Ecumenical Dialogue ECCLESIOLOGY Ecclesiology 6 (2010) 139–141 brill.nl/ecso Editorial Harvesting the Fruits of Ecumenical Dialogue It is often said that the ecumenical movement is in the doldrums, or that we are enduring an ‘ecumenical winter’ or even an ecumenical ‘dark night of the soul’. In this timely assessment of what has been achieved in theological dia- logue between the Roman Catholic Church and four major Christian tradi- tions since Vatican II, Cardinal Walter Kasper refutes that perception. 1 His account is upbeat: there is much to be thankful for; what has been achieved could not even have been dreamed of when these dialogues began. Th ere is no ecumenical winter. I would say that the truth of the situation is that relation- ships between the historic churches have progressed so far in the past half a century that they have arrived at a critical point. We have reached a time when our intentions are being tested, a moment of decision. As Cardinal Kasper’s survey documents meticulously, there is now massive common ground between those churches that have been engaged in long- standing dialogues. Th e patristic, conciliar doctrines regarding the Trinity and Christology, which must be regarded as fundamental, form a shared faith. Th ere are also large areas of convergence in such doctrines as salvation, justifi - cation and sanctifi cation. Th e section on the Church in this book is by far the longest, in recognition that ‘the issue of ecclesiology has taken the centre ground in ecumenical dialogue’ (p. 149). In sacramental theology there has been marked convergence in eucharistic theology, even in the historically sen- sitive areas of the eucharistic sacrifi ce and the Real Presence. In ecclesiology more narrowly conceived – the shape and structure of the Church − there is much actual agreement and there are pointers towards further convergence. Progress has been made with the Protestant Churches even on the concept of the Church as sacrament, as a complementary description to the classical 1 ) Walter Kasper, Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue (London and New York: Continuum, 2009) xv + 207 pp. £9.99. ISBN 9781441162724 (pbk). © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI 10.1163/174413610X493746 140 Editorial / Ecclesiology 6 (2010) 139–141 Reformation designation of the Church as creatura verbi (pp. 66ff ). While there is not full agreement on the threefold ministry, all churches acknowledge the reality of episkope in various forms. Some genuine cognitive diff erences remain and these are both exposed and clarifi ed by dialogue. Universal primacy, the role and authority of the papacy, is one of these, as is Mariology. Th e former is discussed in this study, but the latter is bracketed out (the reception of the latest report of the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ , seems to be hanging fi re). Kasper acknowledges that ethical diff erences between the churches are bringing a fresh challenge. One legacy of the dialogues is that they have brought us to a place that is ‘beyond polemic’. Th e analysis suggests that the issue facing the churches is not that they cannot agree – the evidence points the other way – but that they face a major challenge with regard to the reception and assimilation of what has been achieved. Th e question is: will the churches act upon the well-founded agreements that exist, will they match words with action? 2 Towards the end of his tenure as President of the Pontifi cal Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kasper is off ering an account of his stewardship; he is taking stock of what has been achieved and setting out for his successor what remains to be done. His purpose is to initiate, promote and facilitate processes of reception of the ecumenical archive and, on the basis of ‘the degree of apostolic faith that we already share’, to point to the need for further dialogue and more extensive common witness in the world. Harvesting the Fruits consists of a detailed critical digest of forty years of dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and four major Christian world communions: the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Feder- ation, the World Methodist Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Th e dialogues with the Pentecostalists and the Baptists are not included here, though there would have been much of value to quarry from 2 ) A similar attempt to take stock with regard to one particular stream of dialogue is provided by Günther Gassmann, ‘Catholic-Lutheran Dialogue 1965-2005: An Extraordinary Historical Process with Signifi cant Results and Still Remaining Challenges’, Centro Pro Unione, Semi- annual Bulletin , 76 (Fall 2009), pp. 2-9. And see in this issue Geoff rey Wainwright’s Methodist response to Harvesting the Fruits , and the Article Review by William G. Rusch of Growth in Agreement III : International Dialogue Texts and Agreed Statements, 1998-2005, edited by Jeff rey Gros, FSC, Th omas F. Best, and Lorelei F. Fuchs, SA (Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications and Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007). .
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]
  • 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.
    [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]