Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whethergood or bad’ (2 Corinthians 5.10)?g) IndulgencesIndulgences are not given to remove sins but are ‘remission before God of thetemporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.’ 176They are meant to contribute towards the self-discipline of believers.Most Protestants will deplore these dogmas and practices, but can they saythat they necessarily prevent salvation being received by a person who islooking to Christ alone to save them? An Evangelical, in particular, may wonderhow a person can hold to such views and yet look to Christ alone for salvation.But many Catholics and Orthodox do so. The multifaceted nature of salvation,seen as justification by faith, or deification, or as love excluding sin, or asabandonment to the Divine love, etc, should make accommodation of views ofsalvation a possibility.h) ConfessionThe sacrament of penance involves the confession of sins to a priest as oneauthorised by God to pronounce absolution. If the priest is seen only asdeclaring that God forgives the penitent sinner, then Protestants can have noreal disagreement with that, but, officially, the Catholic Church teaches thatthe priest is the means by which forgiveness is procured.A Protestant would hold, from Scripture, that only God can remove and forgivesins. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the priest is careful to declare he ispresent at the confession as a witness. Timothy Ware points out that care istaken in the Orthodox rite of Confession, by the position in which the penitentstands, facing a Cross, an icon of Christ and a copy of the Gospels, toemphasize ‘that in confession it is not the priest, but God, who is the judge,while the priest is only a witness and God’s minister.’ 177176Ed Flannery, Austin, OP, Vatican Collection Vol 1, Vatican Council II, The Conciliar andPost-Conciliar Documents, New Revised Edition 1992, (ninth printing) DominicanPublications, p 75.177Ware, Timothy (Kallistos), The Orthodox Church, Penguin Books, 1967, p 259.Page 185
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is not so clear on the priest being only anagent, but says:‘Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself,“The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and exercises thisdivine power: “Your sins are forgiven”. Further, by virtue of his divineauthority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.The Confessor is not the master of God’s forgiveness, but its servant.’In December 2007, Pope Benedict XVI announced a plenary indulgence topilgrims to Lourdes. To many Protestants this seems clearly to advocate a viewof salvation by works, and creates a difficulty for fellowship with Catholics. Butif such an indulgence is granted in a ‘purificatory but not expiatory character’(to quote Kallistos) then it need not hinder fellowship.i) The Supremacy of the Pope as Teacher for all ChristiansThe supremacy of the Pope is a formidable barrier for Church unions, but notfor the kind of Christian Unity advocated in this book. Historically, acceptingthe Pope’s supremacy has been a matter of division between Roman Catholicsand other Christians. Since Vatican II, Catholics can now view other Christianswho do not submit to the supremacy of the Pope as fellow Christians.The question of authority in the Church is one that each denomination has toface. Conferences, synods, and national assemblies constantly have to makeethical and doctrinal decisions for their members, and the recent turmoil in theAnglican Church shows how divisive the issues can become.‘Spiritual ecumenism‘ has to leave questions of authority and discipline to eachdenomination to work out. But if the three bases of Christian Unity advocatedin this book are the foundation of fellowship between Christians, then thosewho accept these bases may enjoy fellowship even if a denomination shouldofficially reject one or all of them. The concept of unity held in this book urgesChristians to be loyal to their denominations but to constantly look beyond theborders of their denomination to enter an extra-denominational fellowship.This will seem a precarious basis of unity for those who hold thatchurchmanship entails submission to the authority of one Church.Page 186
Page 11 and 12:
Can Christian Unity be expressed ac
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‘In the Trinity the three are one
Page 15 and 16:
Protestants, equally, have to be ab
Page 17 and 18:
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
Page 39 and 40:
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
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hymns and Eastern orthodox spiritua
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eplied with a series of Eirenicons
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positively wrote on grace and love
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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 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: f) Purgatory‘Purgatory’ is a na
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
Page 233 and 234: of the common good, and when one’
Page 235 and 236: eaten, as idols did not exist anywa
Page 237 and 238: 14. That to continue in any known s
Page 239 and 240: What all three traditions have in c
Page 241 and 242:
Calvin held that the Gospel of Jesu
Page 243 and 244:
Relations between Protestantism, Ca
Page 245 and 246:
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
Page 251 and 252:
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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