Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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Sunday Mass, to make us realize that this act of faith is not somethingwhich we do once and for all, but need to do throughout our lives.’The text goes on to say that:‘A Roman Catholic Christian is one who believes that being a Christian alsoimplies accepting the Pope as the successor of St Peter, and accepting thecontinued guidance of the Catholic Church as to matters of faith andmoral conduct.’But the way outlined above to become a Christian differs little from the way itwould be explained in many Protestant Churches, even Evangelical ones. Thecore of the matter is personal faith in Christ, for paedo-baptists to beexpressed vicariously by the godparents but later to be affirmed by thebaptized individual, for credo-baptists to be expressed at the time of baptism.Repentance and faith are at the heart of the way of salvation for RomanCatholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox believers alike. The accepting ofthe teaching role of the Pope is not stated in this booklet as the way a personbecomes a Christian, but is to be the mark of one who has become a RomanCatholic Christian. This acceptance of the supreme teaching role of the Popemost Protestants would reject, but not the declared way to become a Christianin the first place.SOME CATHOLIC DOCTRINES WHICH SOME PROTESTANTS FIND BARRIERSLet us look at some particular Catholic doctrines which some Protestants findare barriers to fellowship and united witness and worship.a) The Sacrifice of the MassThe sacrifice of the Mass is a symbolic re-enactment of the once-for-allsacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Official Catholic and Orthodox teaching is notthat Christ is sacrificed again at each celebration of the Mass as he was on theCross, but that in the Mass the victory and triumph of his death are made goodto communicants. It is made clear by Catholic teaching that only Christ cantake away our sins:Page 177
‘Only he – only Christ – was able and is always able to be the true andeffective expiation for our sins and “for the sins of the whole world”. Onlyhis sacrifice – and no one else’s – was able and is able to have a“propitiatory power” before God, the Trinity and the transcendentholiness.’ 166b) TransubstantiationFor Catholics and Orthodox believers the body and blood of Jesus are literallyin the bread and wine after their consecration by a priest. It may be arguedthat this doctrine is false, but that it does not stop a person looking only toJesus for salvation. It could be argued that such a high view of the Eucharistmakes the believer more, not less, committed to Jesus as the way to eternallife.In ‘folk’ Catholicism and Orthodoxy it may well be that a form of superstitionsurrounds this doctrine, and eating the host as literally the body of Christ is asubstitute for real faith and repentance. But this is a misunderstanding of thedoctrine.It is interesting and sad to reflect that that in the Protestant Reformation thedoctrine of the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper became the mostdisputed doctrine, the one that should have bound all believers together.• Luther wanted to assert the ubiquity 167 of Christ’s body, and so believedhis presence was there in the bread and wine on the altar.• Calvin wanted to assert that Jesus’ body was in heaven, but his presencewas brought to the table by the Holy Spirit (through the epiclēsis 168 ), andwe could consider that in the Communion Christ was both representedand presented to the communicant.166Ed Flannery, Austin, OP, Vatican Collection, Vol 2, Vatican 2, More Post-conciliarDocuments, Costello Publishing Co, 1982, p 74.167Ubiquity. The ability to be present in every place.168The Epiclesis. That part of the Eucharistic Prayer by which the priest invokes the HolySpirit (or the power of His blessing) upon the Eucharistic bread and wine.Page 178
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
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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
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a growing unity among Christians at
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We cannot leave the 17 th Century w
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CHAPTER 7CHRISTIAN UNITY AND THE EV
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In Dr Woodward’s account of the r
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for Whitefield’s work in America,
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the West, the North and the South.
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‘John Wesley, displeased at not b
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formally, though it may have helped
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In view of all this, Charles Wesley
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Some of the refugees were persuaded
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Isaac Watts (1647-1748), the pionee
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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 and 158: credo-baptists to accept the provis
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: CHAPTER 10 THESE BRIDGES CAN’T BE
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
Page 209 and 210: Most Christians, in all three tradi
Page 211 and 212: of God may be complete, equipped fo
Page 213 and 214: CHAPTER 12NOW WHAT?This book began
Page 215 and 216: c) For some Protestants ecumenism m
Page 217 and 218: The church at Corinth was full of C
Page 219 and 220: ) It has become clear that, realist
Page 221 and 222: Christians who believe a Catholic d
Page 223 and 224: There are three confessions that ha
Page 225 and 226: ‘The solution to the ecumenical i
Page 227 and 228: k) Christ has left us an example -
Page 229 and 230: day’, the Niceno-Constantinopolit
Page 231 and 232: 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
Page 253 and 254:
Frame, John M, 91, 187Francis of As
Page 255 and 256:
Richardson, Paul, 239Roman Catholic
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