Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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loyalty to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, not on agreement over doctrinal orecclesiastical positions. There were speakers, however, who urged thatdenominational differences were important. Each denomination held sometruth that was important to the whole church and must be preserved.From all these deliberations and discussions the Catholic branch of the Churchwas excluded as there were no official Roman Catholic delegates, but severalspeakers expressed the hope that one day the Roman Catholic and Orthodoxchurches would become involved in working for unity.Edinburgh 1910 led to the formation, directly or indirectly, of two ecumenicalstudy groups; indirectly, the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work inStockholm in 1925 and, directly, a World Conference on Faith and Order inLausanne in 1927. The Stockholm Conference dealt with practical issuesrelevant to the progress of the churches’ life and witness; the LausanneConference tried to face doctrinal questions.Over 50 years later, Faith and Order produced a paper in which baptism wasconsidered as a basis for unity (known as the ‘Lima‘ text as the Conferencewhich produced it was held in Peru). The view of this Paper is that ‘thenecessity of faith for the reception of the salvation embodied and set forth inbaptism is acknowledged by all the churches.’ 132All denominations would agree that personal commitment is necessary forresponsible membership in the body of Christ. However, the strong andtraditional hard-line Baptist view that infant baptism is no baptism at all andthat baptism on confession of faith is therefore required for membership of alocal congregation is still a stumbling block.On this question, Anthony R Cross writes gloomily, ‘There seems to be littleprospect of a rapprochement in the foreseeable future – if ever.’ 133 But thefact that increasingly Catholic and Orthodox practice is to see that openconfession of Christ follows infant baptism at a later date should encouragethe United Free Church in 1900 and taking part in the measures which were to bring aboutunion with the established Church of Scotland after his death.132Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Faith and Order, Paper 111, WCC, 1982.133Cross, Anthony, Baptism Christology and the Creeds of the Early Church: Implicationsfor Ecumenical Dialogue, essay in Ecumenism in History, ed Cross, A R, Paternoster Press,2002, p 32.Page 151
credo-baptists to accept the provisional nature of infant baptism as a validform of baptism if done in the name of the Trinity.Roman Catholic participation in Alpha Courses indicates an acceptance of theneed for a subsequent ‘conversion‘ experience in the lives of people who havebeen baptised as infants. The common response of some Catholics to theirneed for a personal conversion to Christ, that they have no need of it as theywere baptized as Christians in infancy, may be getting less common.The ‘Lima‘ text also considered the Eucharist and the Ministry and, as in thecase of its treatment of Baptism, tried to summarize the viewpoints of majorChristian traditions on these aspects of faith. The purpose of the documentseems to have been simply to get Christians to think about points of viewtaken by traditions other than their own. This has been the value of the recentseries of ARCIC discussions.After all the discussions, there is little evidence of any of the traditions makingradical moves to give up long-held doctrinal positions, but an understanding ofeach other’s views and an awareness that much is held in common have comeabout.In 1992 a group of Evangelicals made a response to Baptism, Eucharist andMinistry, which had been published in 1982. 134 The response shows quiteclearly that Evangelicals can face up to views other than their own withcourtesy and humility, but equally that there are areas which are basicallyirreconcilable with the views of the other traditions. The Conclusion to theEvangelicals’ response states that there are two areas that must be held fast byEvangelicals: the supremacy of Scripture over tradition and a nonsacramentalistunderstanding of the Christian faith. 135 It needs to be added,however, that all true Christianity is sacramental to some degree. Evangelicalsneed to be reminded that they have the sacrament of the preached Wordwhen Christ is brought to their hearts.It is essential if Unity is to be real and not coerced that each tradition shouldhold to its own distinctive views (often won at great cost in the past) and also134The text of the Lima Report with an Evangelical Response, Ed Schrotenboer, Paul, WorldEvangelical Fellowship, The Paternoster Press, 1992.135The text of the Lima Report with an Evangelical Response, Ed Schrotenboer, Paul, WorldEvangelical Fellowship, The Paternoster Press, 1992, p 19ff.Page 152
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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
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ule. Christians were allowed to be
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fallen corruption and mortality but
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During the 1917 Communist Revolutio
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his repentance and restoration. The
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just before death, they might recei
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In both the East and the West heres
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The Waldensians were so named after
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CHAPTER 4THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: WE
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Far more serious criticisms of the
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and the sacraments. He was tried by
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and his discovering that the Script
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denominational allegiances: confess
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aptism and substituting for it bapt
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Vincent de Lérins’ threefold bas
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Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorra
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CHAPTER 5QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME OF
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Dr Charles Malik - 20 th Century:
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Nicholas Zernov - 20 th Century:‘
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The restoration of the universal Ch
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Timothy Ware - 20 th Century:‘It
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Basilea Schlink - 20 th Century:‘
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Cardinal Basil Hume - 20 th Century
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Keith A Fournier - 20 th Century:
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concept of a contract between a rul
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harmoniously ordered society of pea
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interesting to note that the disput
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• In the Eucharist, Komensky main
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
Page 153 and 154: In subsequent missionary conference
Page 155: university formed by a federation o
Page 159 and 160: Horton Davies 137 points out in his
Page 161 and 162: However, since New Delhi, the WCC s
Page 163 and 164: (b) The Church of Christ in China (
Page 165 and 166: the Scriptures as the supreme autho
Page 167 and 168: In 1970 a similar scheme to that of
Page 169 and 170: indulgences, were all confirmed str
Page 171 and 172: however, at a lower level, manifest
Page 173 and 174: In her study of the Evolution of th
Page 175 and 176: Even within the Reformed Protestant
Page 177 and 178: the publisher’s foreword to Gee
Page 179 and 180: and so I have some golden opportuni
Page 181 and 182: CHAPTER 10 THESE BRIDGES CAN’T BE
Page 183 and 184: ‘Only he - only Christ - was able
Page 185 and 186: c) Justification by Faith and Works
Page 187 and 188: However, in the Credo of the People
Page 189 and 190: f) Purgatory‘Purgatory’ is a na
Page 191 and 192: The Catechism of the Catholic Churc
Page 193 and 194: who love and trust the Lord Jesus C
Page 195 and 196: However, there is a growing awarene
Page 197 and 198: encouraged to receive a blessing al
Page 199 and 200: c) Traduction Œcumenique de la Bib
Page 201 and 202: witness. There is one such Sisterho
Page 203 and 204: Practically all para-church groups
Page 205 and 206: 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
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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
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Richardson, Paul, 239Roman Catholic
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