Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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Despite his suffering because of bigotry, in church matters Komensky retainedan eirenical and ecumenical spirit which comes out very strongly in his workPanorthosia 59 (‘Universal Reform’). In religious disputes he developed hisprinciple of ‘Both-Neither’: both sides have acceptance; neither side dominatesthe other. He laid down three rules for settling disputes:• Universality. The principle here is that in all opinions there issomething that is universally accepted as true.• Simplicity. Here Komensky quotes St Hilary: ‘God poses no subtlequestions when he invites us into heaven.’• Agreement. We should look to make some concession to the otherpoint of view.Komensky tried to show how his ‘both-neither’ principle could be applied tosome of the thorny questions of dispute in his day:• The dispute over the filioque clause. Both Western and Eastern pointsof view are acceptable. The Holy Spirit flows from the Father, ‘the oneoutflow of everything’, through the Son.• God’s foreknowledge. Is it the cause of things to come or not? We cansay ‘neither’ because with God all things are now, yet we could alsoargue ‘both’, that is, God knew beforehand what would come to passand made it come to pass. Both are true.• Justification. Is this a passive, imputed righteousness by faith (theReformed tradition), or an active, imparted righteousness by faith (theCatholic position)? Both, says Komensky, are true. We are justified byworks and by faith, Scripture tells us this. He writes: ‘It is pointless toreiterate the question whether we are justified by faith or works. Forthe answer must be “by both”, since the Scripture expressly confirmsboth of them.’ We have to grasp the righteousness of Christ as ourpriest (justification by faith – Paul) and we have to maintain a closeimitation of his holy life (justification by works – James); further, weenter into the essential righteousness of God by becoming partakers ofthe divine nature (2 Peter 1.4).59Komensky, Jan Amos, Panorthosia or Universal Reform (1645), translation by Dobbie, AM O, Sheffield Academic Press, 1995, Ch 1-18 and 27, p 129ff.Page 97
• In the Eucharist, Komensky maintains that all Christians must agreethat Jesus said ‘This is my body – blood’. The difficulty is explaining howit happens. But we are not told how, so why speculate? Komensky trieshard here to bring Catholic and Protestant together here by talking ofaccepting transubstantiation in a metaphysical sense, but this does notseem to be a satisfactory solution. But isn’t Komensky’s principle infinding what is ‘agreed on’ a sound one here?• On infant baptism, Komensky believed both paedo-baptists andAnabaptists should concede that their position could not, withoutcontention, be argued from Scripture. Infant baptism is neitherspecifically commanded not rejected by Scripture, so toleration of eachother’s position should prevail. Again, the ‘both-neither’ principle rules!Komensky is far too naive in his hope that the ‘both-neither’ principle wouldsatisfy protagonists in the 17 th Century, but perhaps he has something to sayto us in the 21 st Century.A notable contemporary of Komensky was a German, Georg Calixtus (1586-1656), whom the New International Dictionary of the Christian Church calls ‘anearly ecumenist’, and the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church ‘aProtestant theologian.’He was Lutheran Abbot of Königslutter and, from 1614, professor of theologyat Helmstadt University. His view of what a true Christian is was remarkablylike that expressed by John Wesley in a letter to a Roman Catholic in 1749,except that Wesley did not mention baptism in his letter.Calixtus described a Christian as one who was baptised and who prays to God,Father, Son and Holy Ghost. He believes Jesus was the Son of God, born of aVirgin; that he redeemed us by his sufferings and death; that he was raisedfrom the dead and will return to earth as judge of all. Such a Christian does notpersist in wickedness (Wesley would have gone further on this point!).George Calixtus (his family name was the Danish ‘Kallison’) lived, as didKomensky, in the turbulence of the Thirty Years’ War, and was all his lifecaught up in religious controversy. Born in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, heentered Helmstadt University as a young man and studied mathematics,classics and philosophy. He came to see later in life that learning could becomea substitute for true faith and spirituality.Page 98
Page 11 and 12:
Can Christian Unity be expressed ac
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‘In the Trinity the three are one
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Protestants, equally, have to be ab
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When John Wesley said that Christia
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(Geneva) Agreed Statement was issue
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While organised Christian endeavour
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Christian Unity consist?’ We shal
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CHAPTER 1CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EAR
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Almost all the heresies in the Earl
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interpreted as being against the la
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was raised by the Novatian schism.
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ArianismArianism was the most impor
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the Person of Christ. This was the
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Nicaea (325 AD), which asserted, ag
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He wrote:‘The ancient doctrines o
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agreement into the terms and ethics
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authority of the local bishop; Cypr
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Protestants. He was born in Tagaste
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guide the affairs of men: the Papac
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The distinction between laity and c
Page 51 and 52: ule. Christians were allowed to be
Page 53 and 54: fallen corruption and mortality but
Page 55 and 56: During the 1917 Communist Revolutio
Page 57 and 58: his repentance and restoration. The
Page 59 and 60: just before death, they might recei
Page 61 and 62: In both the East and the West heres
Page 63 and 64: The Waldensians were so named after
Page 65 and 66: CHAPTER 4THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: WE
Page 67 and 68: Far more serious criticisms of the
Page 69 and 70: and the sacraments. He was tried by
Page 71 and 72: and his discovering that the Script
Page 73 and 74: denominational allegiances: confess
Page 75 and 76: aptism and substituting for it bapt
Page 77 and 78: Vincent de Lérins’ threefold bas
Page 79 and 80: Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorra
Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER 5QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME OF
Page 83 and 84: Dr Charles Malik - 20 th Century:
Page 85 and 86: Nicholas Zernov - 20 th Century:‘
Page 87 and 88: The restoration of the universal Ch
Page 89 and 90: Timothy Ware - 20 th Century:‘It
Page 91 and 92: Basilea Schlink - 20 th Century:‘
Page 93 and 94: Cardinal Basil Hume - 20 th Century
Page 95 and 96: Keith A Fournier - 20 th Century:
Page 97 and 98: concept of a contract between a rul
Page 99 and 100: harmoniously ordered society of pea
Page 101: interesting to note that the disput
Page 105 and 106: The Conference opened with much pom
Page 107 and 108: a growing unity among Christians at
Page 109 and 110: We cannot leave the 17 th Century w
Page 111 and 112: CHAPTER 7CHRISTIAN UNITY AND THE EV
Page 113 and 114: In Dr Woodward’s account of the r
Page 115 and 116: for Whitefield’s work in America,
Page 117 and 118: the West, the North and the South.
Page 119 and 120: ‘John Wesley, displeased at not b
Page 121 and 122: formally, though it may have helped
Page 123 and 124: In view of all this, Charles Wesley
Page 125 and 126: Some of the refugees were persuaded
Page 127 and 128: Isaac Watts (1647-1748), the pionee
Page 129 and 130: CHAPTER 8VISIONS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY
Page 131 and 132: hymns and Eastern orthodox spiritua
Page 133 and 134: eplied with a series of Eirenicons
Page 135 and 136: positively wrote on grace and love
Page 137 and 138: hand that pours out sorrow’ and t
Page 139 and 140: He died in England in 1853 an ‘ec
Page 141 and 142: assembly, without much hesitation r
Page 143 and 144: ‘Loving all whom Christ loves bec
Page 145 and 146: says, the Broad Church was ‘a moo
Page 147 and 148: far greater part for the laity in t
Page 149 and 150: ehind some of the criticism of the
Page 151 and 152: came together with the clear purpos
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In subsequent missionary conference
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university formed by a federation o
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credo-baptists to accept the provis
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Horton Davies 137 points out in his
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However, since New Delhi, the WCC s
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(b) The Church of Christ in China (
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the Scriptures as the supreme autho
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In 1970 a similar scheme to that of
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indulgences, were all confirmed str
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however, at a lower level, manifest
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In her study of the Evolution of th
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Even within the Reformed Protestant
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the publisher’s foreword to Gee
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and so I have some golden opportuni
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CHAPTER 10 THESE BRIDGES CAN’T BE
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‘Only he - only Christ - was able
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c) Justification by Faith and Works
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However, in the Credo of the People
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f) Purgatory‘Purgatory’ is a na
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The Catechism of the Catholic Churc
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who love and trust the Lord Jesus C
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However, there is a growing awarene
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encouraged to receive a blessing al
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c) Traduction Œcumenique de la Bib
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witness. There is one such Sisterho
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Practically all para-church groups
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s) Missions and CampaignsMissions a
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My Protestant friends say to me tha
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Most Christians, in all three tradi
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of God may be complete, equipped fo
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CHAPTER 12NOW WHAT?This book began
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c) For some Protestants ecumenism m
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The church at Corinth was full of C
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) It has become clear that, realist
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Christians who believe a Catholic d
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There are three confessions that ha
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‘The solution to the ecumenical i
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k) Christ has left us an example -
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day’, the Niceno-Constantinopolit
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APPENDIX 2FOUR BIBLICAL TEXTS ON TH
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of the common good, and when one’
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eaten, as idols did not exist anywa
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14. That to continue in any known s
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What all three traditions have in c
Page 241 and 242:
Calvin held that the Gospel of Jesu
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Relations between Protestantism, Ca
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Brandreth, Henry, R T, The Oecumeni
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Hopko, Thomas, All the Fullness of
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Rupp, E G and Drewery, Benjamin, Ma
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INDEXAAct of Uniformity, 114aggiorn
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Frame, John M, 91, 187Francis of As
Page 255 and 256:
Richardson, Paul, 239Roman Catholic
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