Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT?Preachers are told to keep three phrases in mind when preparing to preach:What? So what? Now what? The preacher should fully grasp the passage ortheme; he should fully evaluate the implications; and he should explain whatresponse is required. As we look at the history of attempts to further ChristianUnity, we should ask these same questions. What happened and what isimportant? What are the implications for us today? What response isrequired?The ‘What?’ is the fact that there has been much division in the Church over its2,000 years of history, but there have also been notable attempts to bringChristians together. The ‘So what?’ is that all those attempts must not be lost,but be learned from, and that Christian Unity is a ‘pearl of great price.’ The‘Now what?’ is to recognise that great progress has been made and we mustfurther the initiatives of the past and make new ones.The history of attempts at unity provides clear indicators for the way forwardand prepare us for the ‘Now what?’INDICATORS FOR THE WAY FORWARDa) The classical Creeds of the Early Church must be the foundation of anybasis of Christian Unity.The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 is the most appropriatefoundation for any basis of Christian Unity, as it is confessed by both Easternand Western Churches. As we have seen, attempts to modernise the wordingof the Creeds may need to be made, provided they give insights into theoriginal words, yet there is an alternative view. The words that lie behind theCreeds, such as ‘incarnation’, ‘Trinity’, and ‘substance’ are the commoncurrency of a classical Christian faith. They are words with universalsignificance throughout the Church, key words of the faith which are faithfullyreflected in the words of the Creeds.Page 213
) It has become clear that, realistically, unions and reunions of churchesare only going to take place within the protestant tradition.The 20 th Century saw a good number of unions and reunions, usually amongthe younger churches of the ‘global south’. Paradoxically, the hope of Catholicand Protestant unions became less sure at a time when there was much moreopenness and contact between the traditions than previously.Views in Protestantism which demand a place of leadership for women in theChurch and the acceptance of the practice of homosexual lifestyles have madeunions between Protestant and Catholic and Orthodox churches impossible,and hinder fellowship even at the ‘grass roots’ level.Further, it is not realistic to expect the Roman Catholic Church to abandon itsallegiance to the supreme authority of the Papal Office or the Orthodox to giveup their conviction that their Church is the one, true, ‘undivided’ Church towhich all Christians should belong. Nor can Protestants give up their allegianceto the supremacy of the authority of the Scriptures. The future for ChristianUnity as a visible organisational unity seems farther off than ever.c) Organisational unity is not the only model for Christian Unity, nor is iteven desirable.Nicholas von Zinzendorf, founder of the Moravian Church, spoke of there beinga ‘jewel’ in every denomination. To him the greatest setback to Christian Unitywas not denominationalism but nominalism. Organisational unions of churchesdo not guarantee a real meeting of souls who, to use Zinzendorf’s phrase, are‘Christed Ones’.Alec R Vidler, in a remarkably prophetic book, God’s Judgement on Europe(1940), wrote that reuniting the existing churches seems laudable but it isunrealistic as they are no longer –‘…potentially powerful institutions in modern society… It is more likelythey will have to die, in order that by the grace of God in His good timethey may become born again.’ 198198Vidler, A R, God’s Judgement on Europe, Longmans, Green and Co, first published 1940,p 107.Page 214
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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
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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
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credo-baptists to accept the provis
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Horton Davies 137 points out in his
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However, since New Delhi, the WCC s
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(b) The Church of Christ in China (
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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
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: The church at Corinth was full of C
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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