Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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appreciated more and more in the West. 189 The statement by Athanasius, ‘TheSon of God became man, that we might become god,’ (the second ‘g’ is alwayslowercase since man can never become God) indicates the concept beautifully.He amplifies the meaning when he says theosis is ‘becoming by grace whatGod is by nature.’ 190WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD?If, then, a personal love for Jesus and dependence upon him for salvation isone of the bases for Christian Unity, a second is a determination to be ruled bythe teaching of the Bible. Now this raises a whole host of questions abouthermeneutics (interpretation) and authority. Yet in all three traditions there isa declared allegiance to the supremacy of the Bible in all matters of faith andconduct.But what is meant by ‘submitting’ to the Word of God? How do we find anattitude to Scripture which will be a uniting factor among Christians? Clearly,fundamentalism is not a uniting factor, if by the term we mean a rigidadherence to a literalist view of the Scripture. Most scholars in the Catholicand Orthodox traditions, and many in the Protestant tradition, reject modernfundamentalism while still believing that God speaks uniquely through theBible to his people today.The fundamentalism of today is a phenomenon not known by the Early Churchor by the Protestant Reformers. The key to unity in Biblical interpretation is nota modern non-realist treatment of Scripture, but a willingness to accept thatmy fellow exegete is sitting under the authority of the Word of God, andaccepting it seriously as God’s voice to us in all ages.In other words, it is a ‘classic’ interpretation of Scripture which binds Christiansof all denominations together, rather than an interpretation which breaksaway from a serious attempt to do justice to the very words of Scripture.189Deification (theosis): This doctrine is taught in the New Testament in the followingpassages: John 14.23, 15.4, 17.21-23; 1 John 2.24, 4.12-26; Ephesians 2.19-22; Colossians1.27; and 2 Peter 1.4.190Athanasius, De Incarnatione Verbi Dei (‘On the Incarnation’).Page 203
Most Christians, in all three traditions, share this ‘classic’ way of interpretingScripture, and believe that God is speaking through the Biblical revelationtoday.Origen, John of Damascus, Anselm, Luther, Wesley all thought of ‘God’ indifferent ways, and there are as many ways of understanding Christ as thereare believers in him, but that is not to say these ways are necessarily alien toeach other.The traditional ways of interpreting Scripture, which take seriously theexistence of the supernatural, can be, and in fact are, a uniting factor forChristians. It is quite extraordinary what breadth there is for interpretationwithin the constraints of such a ‘classic hermeneutic’.Vincent de Lérins spoke of a ‘progress’ in the faith, but not of change. Therecan be progress in hermeneutics without changing the classical way ofinterpreting the Scriptures. For example, the term ‘homoousios’ is adevelopment in interpreting those scriptures which relate to the relationshipof Father and Son in the Godhead, but it is not an overturning of the truth ofthe intrinsic deity of the Son.Philip Edgcumbe Hughes writes:‘...the Bible is for everyone. It is not the preserve of the specialist. To allowit to become the book of the expert, on whose pronouncements theaverage person is dependent, is an abuse and inversion that can only leadto disastrous results. The effect is to take the Bible out of the hands ofthose for whom it is intended, that is the totality of mankind.’ 191It is remarkable how the classical ‘realist’ interpretation of Scripture seems towork. It produces faith, love, hope and unity.For a short time I taught men and women in Indian Colleges who were workingamong tribal groups. The backgrounds of the students and the people theyministered to and my own were very different from each other. Yet we werebound by a common love of the Scriptures and understood each other’scomprehension of them. This is a particularly valuable contribution the ‘classic’approach can make to Christian Unity.191Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe, essay: The Truth of Scripture and the problem of historicalrelativity in Scripture and Truth, ed Carson, D A, and Woodbridge, John D, IVP 1986, p 176.Page 204
Page 11 and 12:
Can Christian Unity be expressed ac
Page 13 and 14:
‘In the Trinity the three are one
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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
Page 25 and 26:
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
Page 41 and 42:
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
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He died in England in 1853 an ‘ec
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assembly, without much hesitation r
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‘Loving all whom Christ loves bec
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says, the Broad Church was ‘a moo
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far greater part for the laity in t
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ehind some of the criticism of the
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came together with the clear purpos
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In subsequent missionary conference
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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 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: My Protestant friends say to me tha
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
Page 247 and 248: Hopko, Thomas, All the Fullness of
Page 249 and 250: 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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