Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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to learn to appreciate different perspectives of the faith. This is the view takenin the document Called to be One, published by Inter-Church House forChurches Together in England Publications in 1996.‘The liturgical movement in western churches has restored the corporatenature of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church, and with it thedesire of the faithful for more frequent communion. It has also restoredthe holy communion to a more central place in the worship of the Churchof England and of many Free Churches. Documents such as BaptismEucharist and Ministry have helped many Christians to see that theirunderstanding of the Eucharist is much closer to that of most otherChristians than they realised. Both these factors have added to thepressure felt by Christians in widely-separated churches to receivecommunion together.’ 136Ideally the ‘sacramentalist’ should be able to sit down with the ‘nonsacramentalist’at the Lord’s Table under the one truth that our Lord is presentamong 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 amatter 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 beagreed that:• Baptism declares the truth of the Trinity (Matthew 28.19).• Baptism is a sign of the incorporation of the believer into the body ofChrist, and so into the universal Church (at the moment of initial faith inthe case of credo- (believers’) baptism, or in anticipation of futureconversion in the case of paedo-baptism).• It is also a commitment to a pursuit of holiness in the resurrectionpower of Jesus (Romans 6.3,4).136Called to be One, Churches Together in England (Publications), Inter-Church House,London, 1996, pp 72-73.Page 153
Horton Davies 137 points out in his treatment of ‘the theology of initiation’ thata 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 topaedo- or credo-baptism, yet today we can have such unions as that of theUnited Reformed Church and the Churches of Christ which have found a modusvivendi 138 in the case of baptism, the United Reformed Church being paedobaptistand the Churches of Christ credo-baptist.Davies points out that both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic Churcheshave been rethinking the purpose and meaning of infant baptism. It is clearthat in the early Church baptism as an initiatory rite was taken very seriously,with a long preparation period for the catechumens. Davies comments thatthe modern requirements for baptism seem, by contrast with the early church,casual and appallingly minimal. He writes:‘It is the Eastern Orthodox Churches alone which have retained most ofthe tradition of the 4 th Century theologians and thus they provide a modelfor today which the Roman Catholic Church, in restoring thecatechumenate, and the Anglican Church in admitting children to HolyCommunion, are imitating.’ 139Often the chief value of consultations such as Faith and Order and ARCIC isnot to get positions to give in to each other, but to understand each other.Such understanding often paves the way for fellowship previously thoughtimpossible. This spirit of genuine searching for theological understanding ofeach other’s positions ought to be sustained and expanded across allChristian denominations.However, ARCIC’s purpose was to work towards the visible union of the twoCommunions under a common Papal headship and this would be unacceptableto most Evangelicals in the Anglican Church. The kind of ecumenism which thisbook advocates does not envisage that kind of attempt at unity, believing itwould lead to further division of the Church.137Davies, Horton, Worship and Theology in England, Book 111, Vol V1, Crisis andCertainty, Ch 11, The Theology of Initiation.138Modus vivendi. A Latin phrase signifying an agreement between those whose opinionsdiffer, such that they agree a way of relating while still recognising that they disagree.139Davies, Horton, Worship and Theology in England, Book 111, Vol V1, Crisis andCertainty, Ch 11, The Theology of Initiation, p 33.Page 154
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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
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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 and 156: university formed by a federation o
Page 157: credo-baptists to accept the provis
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
Page 207 and 208: 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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