Christian ecumenism

Christian ecumenism is the promotion of unity or cooperation between distinct religious groups or denominations of the Christian religion, more or less broadly defined. For the purposes of this article, ecumenism in this sense is distinguished from interfaith pluralism, for reasons discussed immediately below.

Three Approaches

Christian ecumenism can be described in terms of the three largest divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. While this underemphasizes the complexity of these divisions, it is a useful model.

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Eastern Orthodoxy

Ecumenism for the Eastern Orthodox did not begin with the Roman Catholic Second Vatican Council. It is the Eastern Orthodox churches' work to embrace estranged communions as (possibly former) beneficiaries of a common gift, and simultaneously to guard against a promiscuous and false union with them. The history of the relationship between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Oriental Orthodox churches is a case in point. Likewise, the Eastern Orthodox have been leaders in the Interfaith movement, and some Orthodox patriarchs enlisted their communions as charter members of the World Council of Churches. Nevertheless, the Orthodox have not been willing to participate in any redefinition of the Christian faith toward a reduced, minimal, anti-dogmatic and anti-traditional Christianity. Christianity for the Eastern Orthodox is the Church; and the Church is Orthodoxy -- nothing less and nothing else. Therefore, while Orthodox ecumenism is "open to dialogue with the devil himself", the goal is to reconcile all non-Orthodox back into Orthodoxy.

Related Topics:
Eastern Orthodox - Second Vatican Council - World Council of Churches

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One way to observe the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards non-Orthodox is to see how they receive new members from other faiths. Non-Christians, such as Buddhists or atheists, who wish to become Orthodox Christians are accepted through the sacraments of baptism and chrismation. Protestants and Roman Catholics are sometimes received through chrismation only, provided they had received a trinitarian baptism. Also Protestants and Roman Catholics are often referred to as "heterodox", which simply means "other believing", rather than as heretics ("other-choosing"), implying that they did not wilfully reject the Church.

Related Topics:
Baptism - Chrismation - Trinitarian

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Roman Catholicism

Until the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, the relationship between Rome and other Christian traditions was basically in deadlock. The traditional view of Roman Catholicism is that "there is no salvation outside the (Catholic) Church". To be sure, such intransigence works both ways, and as a result, ecumenism prior to this important council was only different by degrees from evangelization. However, Vatican II initiated a new era in the serious pursuit of unity between Rome and other dogmatic traditions. This new initiative of ecumenism embraces religious inclusivism as compatible with the ultimate aim of Catholic ecumenism, and simultaneously distances itself from pluralism as the ideal state of Christian unity. Two major documents outline the Roman Catholic perspective on ecumenism:

Related Topics:
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council - Religious inclusivism

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• Unitatis Redintegratio (Restoration of Unity: Vatican II's Decree on Ecumenism — November 21, 1964, Pope Paul VI)
• Ut Unum Sint (That they may be one: Papal encyclical on Commitment to Ecumenism — May 25, 1995) Pope John Paul II

The ultimate objective toward which these documents direct the Catholic ecumenical task, is nothing other than a complete, conscious communion of all Christians, indeed, of all mankind, in a single faith and one Christian Church, beginning with a conversion of the Catholic people. Ecumenism is essentially Catholic renewal.

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: "6. Every renewal of the Church is essentially grounded in an increase of fidelity to her own calling. Undoubtedly this is the basis of the movement toward unity..." (UR)

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:"The unity of all divided humanity is the will of God. For this reason he sent his Son, so that by dying and rising for us he might bestow on us the Spirit of love. On the eve of his sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus himself prayed to the Father for his disciples and for all those who believe in him, that they might be one, a living communion. This is the basis not only of the duty, but also of the responsibility before God and his plan, which falls to those who through Baptism become members of the Body of Christ, a Body in which the fullness of reconciliation and communion must be made present." (UUS)

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At the same time, the pursuit of renewal is not compatible with a complacent settling into the very patterns of sin that must be removed before renewal can take place.

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: "In a corresponding way, there is an increased sense of the need for repentance: an awareness of certain exclusions which seriously harm fraternal charity, of certain refusals to forgive, of a certain pride, of an unevangelical insistence on condemning the "other side", of a disdain born of an unhealthy presumption." (UUS)

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:7. There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way ... The words of St. John hold good about sins against unity: "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us". So we humbly beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive them that trespass against us." (UR)

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Therefore, ecumenism expresses a central concern of the whole Christian life.

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: "How is it possible to remain divided, if we have been "buried" through Baptism in the Lord's death, in the very act by which God, through the death of his Son, has broken down the walls of division? Division "openly contradicts the will of Christ, provides a stumbling block to the world, and inflicts damage on the most holy cause of proclaiming the Good News to every creature". (UUS quoting UR)

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In the pursuit of this ultimate objective, it is necessary to reverse past patterns of hostility, and place the Church in the service of those who are alienated from it. This service cannot paradoxically aim at the destruction of enemies through a deceitful conquest by flattery, but must sincerely desire their benefit in terms that can be immediately understood as such without first requiring the reconciliation of the enemy. Thus, there is compatibility at least in principle, between religious inclusivism, and the ultimate aim of full agreement in the faith, as long as the principle of inclusivism to which the Church adheres is not a contradiction of fidelity to her own calling, but in fact, an expression of it. Therefore, Catholic ecumenism depicts itself as the attempt of the Catholic church to repair a conflict within itself.

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Protestantism

The contemporary ecumenical movement for Protestants likely began in 1910, with the opening of the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference. Led by Methodist layman John R. Mott, the conference marked the largest Protestant gathering to that time, with the express purposes of working across denominational lines for the sake of world missions. Eventually, formal organizations were formed, including the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, and Churches Uniting in Christ. Protestants have often been leaders of these and other similar groups.

Related Topics:
Edinburgh Missionary Conference - Methodist - John R. Mott - World missions - World Council of Churches - National Council of Churches - Churches Uniting in Christ

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Since that time, Protestants have been involved in a variety of ecumenical groups, working in some cases toward organic denominational unity and in other cases for cooperative purposes alone. Because of the wide spectrum of Protestant denominations and perspectives, full cooperation has been difficult at times.

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