Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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In 1966 a famous debate took place in the Methodist Central Hall inWestminster among Evangelicals in the UK about whether or not Christiansshould stay in or leave denominations that had in them leaders and memberswho denied the traditional faith of the Church. One side argued that the‘remnant’ should withdraw from the apostate body and form a new alliance ofEvangelical churches. The other viewpoint was that Christians should stay to be‘light and salt’ in their denominations.This is the stance taken in this book. In tune with the concept of ‘digging outthe embedded church’, the call of this book is not for Christians to leave theirdenominations but for them to maintain their witness to the traditional truthsat the heart of their denominations and, above all, to declare by meeting,worshipping and witnessing with Christians of other denominations that thesetruths really are a uniting force.At a recent united service I attended near to my home, I heard a call forChristians to work with other Christians openly in the community and not justto work within one’s own church. The speaker saw the danger of adding extrameetings and efforts to churches often heavily loaded with work and sosuggested that it was not extra ecumenical activities that we had to think up,but to do ecumenically with each other what was already being done.From my own experience I can say how helpful this idea is. I was a worker at amission hall in Lancashire for many years and we did evangelism the best weknew how. But we were one church among several, each doing its own thing.Then one year we combined with four other churches for a special enterprise.The reaction of the local people changed positively as we approached them inwitness, for we were not representing the ‘Town Mission’ (an individual group)but the churches of the area together in our combined effort.It seems to me that to go for the creation of one organisation to which alldenominations belong is not desirable. The Church should be able to show itsunity without displacing time-honoured structures of church government likethe historic episcopate, the rule of elders over a local congregation or localsynods, any more than Baptists should abandon believers’ baptism orPresbyterians infant baptism.In this book we shall look at a number of attempts that have been made in thehistory of the Church to get to the bottom of the question, ‘In what doesPage 17
Christian Unity consist?’ We shall try to find out why they failed, and then weshall ask what relevance those attempts have for us today in the 21 st Century.It is time for Christians in all the three traditions of the Church, EasternOrthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant, to take seriously what has never yetin Christian history been taken seriously, that there should be a visible andjoyous celebration of our Lord’s command to be one, so that the world willknow that he was sent to be its Saviour and Lord (John 17. 23).There is value in denominationalism in so far as it holds on to aspects of theChristian faith which others may not appreciate or, sometimes, have not evenconsidered. Baptism by immersion after confession of faith is a very vivid andmeaningful ritual to many people; the stress on a real presence in the Lord’sSupper is something that many Protestants feel they cannot altogether deny.We need to be open to the views of other Christians, not with the result thatwe abandon our own views, but that we may enhance them and learn to haveinsights which are not in our own tradition. This does not mean animpoverishment of the Church, a reducing it to its lowest commondenominator, but an enriching of it.If I belong to a tradition of worship which is very exuberant and noisy I maywell benefit from knowing about and experiencing worship of a different kindwith long silences and meditation. And the reverse may be true. Perhaps someof us need the tight constraints of a denominational discipline of worship inorder to feel ‘at home’ in a particular setting. Yet we can learn to appreciateother ‘homes’, too, all part of the One Home that is the Body of Christ.What follows next is a brief survey of attempts that have been made in specificepochs of Church History to do something about the divisions amongChristians. We will find that unity could only be maintained, in some cases, bydenouncing heresy. The Early Church had three tasks in this respect: to rootout heresies, to counteract schism and to establish the essentials of Christianbelief for all time in statements that summarised the main beliefs of Christians(the Creeds).It is quite remarkable how these objectives were achieved, though it tookmany years and was not without stern opposition at times, and were achievedin such a way that even today in the 21 st Century the Creeds produced can beaccepted by the three main traditions of the Church, Orthodox, Catholic andPage 18
Page 11 and 12: Can Christian Unity be expressed ac
Page 13 and 14: ‘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
Page 19 and 20: (Geneva) Agreed Statement was issue
Page 21: While organised Christian endeavour
Page 25 and 26: CHAPTER 1CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EAR
Page 27 and 28: Almost all the heresies in the Earl
Page 29 and 30: interpreted as being against the la
Page 31 and 32: was raised by the Novatian schism.
Page 33 and 34: ArianismArianism was the most impor
Page 35 and 36: the Person of Christ. This was the
Page 37 and 38: 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
Page 43 and 44: authority of the local bishop; Cypr
Page 45 and 46: Protestants. He was born in Tagaste
Page 47 and 48: guide the affairs of men: the Papac
Page 49 and 50: The distinction between laity and c
Page 51 and 52: ule. Christians were allowed to be
Page 53 and 54: fallen corruption and mortality but
Page 55 and 56: During the 1917 Communist Revolutio
Page 57 and 58: his repentance and restoration. The
Page 59 and 60: just before death, they might recei
Page 61 and 62: In both the East and the West heres
Page 63 and 64: The Waldensians were so named after
Page 65 and 66: CHAPTER 4THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: WE
Page 67 and 68: Far more serious criticisms of the
Page 69 and 70: and the sacraments. He was tried by
Page 71 and 72: and his discovering that the Script
Page 73 and 74:
denominational allegiances: confess
Page 75 and 76:
aptism and substituting for it bapt
Page 77 and 78:
Vincent de Lérins’ threefold bas
Page 79 and 80:
Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorra
Page 81 and 82:
CHAPTER 5QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME OF
Page 83 and 84:
Dr Charles Malik - 20 th Century:
Page 85 and 86:
Nicholas Zernov - 20 th Century:‘
Page 87 and 88:
The restoration of the universal Ch
Page 89 and 90:
Timothy Ware - 20 th Century:‘It
Page 91 and 92:
Basilea Schlink - 20 th Century:‘
Page 93 and 94:
Cardinal Basil Hume - 20 th Century
Page 95 and 96:
Keith A Fournier - 20 th Century:
Page 97 and 98:
concept of a contract between a rul
Page 99 and 100:
harmoniously ordered society of pea
Page 101 and 102:
interesting to note that the disput
Page 103 and 104:
• In the Eucharist, Komensky main
Page 105 and 106:
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 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 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
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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