Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

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that infant baptism is no baptism at all and that baptism on confession of faith is therefore required for membership of a local congregation is still a stumbling block. On this question, Anthony R Cross writes gloomily, „There seems to be little prospect of a rapprochement in the foreseeable future – if ever.‟ 133 But the fact that increasingly Catholic and Orthodox practice is to see that open confession of Christ follows infant baptism at a later date should encourage credo-baptists to accept the provisional nature of infant baptism as a valid form of baptism if done in the name of the Trinity. Roman Catholic participation in Alpha Courses indicates an acceptance of the need for a subsequent „conversion„ experience in the lives of people who have been baptised as infants. The common response of some Catholics to their need for a personal conversion to Christ, that they have no need of it as they were baptized as Christians in infancy, may be getting less common. The „Lima„ text also considered the Eucharist and the Ministry and, as in the case of its treatment of Baptism, tried to summarize the viewpoints of major Christian traditions on these aspects of faith. The purpose of the document seems to have been simply to get Christians to think about points of view taken by traditions other than their own. This has been the value of the recent series of ARCIC discussions. After all the discussions, there is little evidence of any of the traditions making radical moves to give up long-held doctrinal positions, but an understanding of each other‟s views and an awareness that much is held in common have come about. In 1992 a group of Evangelicals made a response to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, which had been published in 1982. 134 The response shows quite clearly that Evangelicals can face up to views other than their own with courtesy and humility, but equally that there are areas which are basically irreconcilable with the views of the other traditions. The Conclusion to the Evangelicals‟ response states that there are two areas that must be held fast by Evangelicals: the supremacy of Scripture over tradition and a non-sacramentalist understanding of the Christian faith. 135 It needs to be added, however, that all true Christianity is sacramental to some degree. Evangelicals need to be reminded that they have the sacrament of the preached Word when Christ is brought to their hearts. It is essential if Unity is to be real and not coerced that each tradition should hold to its own distinctive views (often won at great cost in the past) and also to learn to appreciate different perspectives of the faith. This is the view taken in the document Called to be One, published by Inter-Church House for Churches Together in England Publications in 1996. 133 Cross, Anthony, Baptism Christology and the Creeds of the Early Church: Implications for Ecumenical Dialogue, essay in Ecumenism in History, ed Cross, A R, Paternoster Press, 2002, p 32. 134 The text of the Lima Report with an Evangelical Response, Ed Schrotenboer, Paul, World Evangelical Fellowship, The Paternoster Press, 1992. 135 The text of the Lima Report with an Evangelical Response, Ed Schrotenboer, Paul, World Evangelical Fellowship, The Paternoster Press, 1992, p 19ff. Page 113
„The liturgical movement in western churches has restored the corporate nature of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church, and with it the desire of the faithful for more frequent communion. It has also restored the holy communion to a more central place in the worship of the Church of England and of many Free Churches. Documents such as Baptism Eucharist and Ministry have helped many Christians to see that their understanding of the Eucharist is much closer to that of most other Christians than they realised. Both these factors have added to the pressure felt by Christians in widelyseparated churches to receive communion together.‟ 136 Ideally the „sacramentalist‟ should be able to sit down with the „non-sacramentalist‟ at the Lord‟s Table under the one truth that our Lord is present among them. The practice of baptism, which is a cause of division in the Church at present, can yet be a factor in uniting Christians, if the mode of baptism is left as a matter of debate and the reasons for its observance concentrated upon. There can be agreement as to its great importance in the Church and it can be agreed that: • Baptism declares the truth of the Trinity (Matthew 28.19). • Baptism is a sign of the incorporation of the believer into the body of Christ, and so into the universal Church (at the moment of initial faith in the case of credo- (believers’) baptism, or in anticipation of future conversion in the case of paedobaptism). • It is also a commitment to a pursuit of holiness in the resurrection power of Jesus (Romans 6.3,4). Horton Davies 137 points out in his treatment of „the theology of initiation‟ that a change is occurring today in how many churches see baptism, infant or adult. Before the 20 th Century the churches were severely separated by holding to paedo- or credo-baptism, yet today we can have such unions as that of the United Reformed Church and the Churches of Christ which have found a modus vivendi 138 in the case of baptism, the United Reformed Church being paedo-baptist and the Churches of Christ credo-baptist. Davies points out that both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic Churches have been rethinking the purpose and meaning of infant baptism. It is clear that in the early Church baptism as an initiatory rite was taken very seriously, with a long preparation period for the catechumens. Davies comments that the modern requirements for baptism seem, by contrast with the early church, casual and appallingly minimal. 136 Called to be One, Churches Together in England (Publications), Inter-Church House, London, 1996, pp 72-73. 137 Davies, Horton, Worship and Theology in England, Book 111, Vol V1, Crisis and Certainty, Ch 11, The Theology of Initiation. 138 Modus vivendi. A Latin phrase signifying an agreement between those whose opinions differ, such that they agree a way of relating while still recognising that they disagree. Page 114
Page 1 and 2:
Digging Out the Embedded Church Dis
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The Maranatha Community comprises t
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Introduction CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chr
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ead, nicely browned on top. He plac
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HOW DO WE DIG OUT THE EMBEDDED CHUR
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That the Church should express this
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For Alfeyev, „Faith is a gift, th
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„heresies„ of the Early Church
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Traditionally, the Church has made
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CHAPTER 1 CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EA
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A certain Docetic teacher, often id
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Novatianism When the persecutions o
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The fortunes of the Arian party in
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An attempt was made in 482 AD (29 y
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was development in the interpretati
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CYPRIAN AND AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO The
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position would see baptism as not t
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The Eastern Church‟s relationship
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insisted from the second Lateran Co
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There is so much that Orthodoxy sha
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we do not talk to each other. Our t
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The question of heresy does not com
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They were missionary-minded and the
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Lollard ideas lingered in English r
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CHAPTER 4 THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: W
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unity‟s sake in subsequent centur
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Erasmus wrote he asserts, through o
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attle-cry, is perhaps the most famo
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Regulations for the good ordering o
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Eucharist was not just a commemorat
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CHAPTER 5 QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME O
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How rare then it is to meet a man w
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are often much bigger divisions bet
Page 67 and 68: St Germanus of Constantinople - 8 t
Page 69 and 70: manner. He declared that men could
Page 71 and 72: S L Greenslade - 20 th Century: „
Page 73 and 74: CHAPTER 6 HOPES FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
Page 75 and 76: imminent return of Christ (Komensky
Page 77 and 78: a concern that merchant adventurers
Page 79 and 80: also anti-Socinian. Calixtus himsel
Page 81 and 82: The Eastern Churches were not rent
Page 83 and 84: everyone - from outward forms to in
Page 85 and 86: Women were not usually members of t
Page 87 and 88: work in America, shows him, though
Page 89 and 90: The aim of the conference was to br
Page 91 and 92: From 1768 Harris‟s home at Talgar
Page 93 and 94: twice more to congregations of Whit
Page 95 and 96: denominations was not their distinc
Page 97 and 98: It was from the overseas Protestant
Page 99 and 100: THE OXFORD TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT Anot
Page 101 and 102: the Church of England‟s doctrinal
Page 103 and 104: „We pray that… all who desire t
Page 105 and 106: thereof, in prayer, in the remembra
Page 107 and 108: honours the Lord and his Word; the
Page 109 and 110: apostolic church enjoyed, and that
Page 111 and 112: episcopate were too radical for mos
Page 113 and 114: Denominations began to form their o
Page 115 and 116: In this Shanghai Conference‟s Rep
Page 117: With so much talk of unity and coop
Page 121 and 122: • Sharing a corporate life of wit
Page 123 and 124: • Our acknowledgement of the Apos
Page 125 and 126: (h) The Evangelical Church in Germa
Page 127 and 128: It changed nothing in respect of do
Page 129 and 130: Some Evangelical Protestants want t
Page 131 and 132: • It is in continuity with the
Page 133 and 134: But things have changed. Richard Ma
Page 135 and 136: evangelism - (and) state what the r
Page 137 and 138: Repentance and faith are at the hea
Page 139 and 140: outcome of being justified. Agreeme
Page 141 and 142: Virgin‟s salutary influence on me
Page 143 and 144: h) Confession The sacrament of pena
Page 145 and 146: demanding way would be sin. The que
Page 147 and 148: If the opportunity for the Church t
Page 149 and 150: Ministers, priests and laypeople in
Page 151 and 152: West Kirby, near to my home, the Si
Page 153 and 154: n) Shared Study Courses There is a
Page 155 and 156: Even some Protestant churches today
Page 157 and 158: Vincent de Lérins spoke of a „pr
Page 159 and 160: It is not likely, in the foreseeabl
Page 161 and 162: Christ and are trying their best to
Page 163 and 164: upon the name of our Lord Jesus Chr
Page 165 and 166: Perhaps this dying process is now b
Page 167 and 168: economic factors giving rise to suc
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deeper ecumenism, one that does not
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APPENDIX 1 THE NICENO-CONSTANTINOPO
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APPENDIX 2 FOUR BIBLICAL TEXTS ON T
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The „apostles and elders‟ of th
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„The purpose of the Reformation C
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What all three traditions have in c
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Cromwellian period, in a treatise o
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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS
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Cullman, Oscar, The Earliest Christ
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McCarthy, Tim, The Catholic Traditi
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Letter concerning the civil princip
Page 191 and 192:
Coptic Orthodox Church, 10 Council
Page 193 and 194:
Parousia, 24, 68, 93 Paul VI, 10, 1
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