Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

John Calvin – 16 th Century:‘It must be counted on among the worst evils of our epoch that theChurches are thus separated one from another, so much so that hardlyany human society exists among us, still less that holy communionbetween the members of Christ which all profess but very few sincerelycultivate in reality.’Martin Luther – 16 th Century:‘It is a dangerous and terrible thing to hear or to believe somethingcontrary to the one witness, faith and doctrine of the entire holy ChristianChurch, which has been maintained harmoniously from the beginning,that is, for more than fifteen hundred years, through the whole world.’Anonymous:‘Scholars have an interesting word to describe the relationships of Personsin the Godhead. They speak of “perichōrēsis”, from the Greek words,“choros” a dance and “peri”, around. The harmony of Father, Son andHoly Spirit is that of a joyous dance circle, each dancer an individual, buteach contributing to the vigour and symmetry of the celebration.Perichoresis is the model for Christian Unity; we are meant, in our gladacceptance of each other in the Church, to dance together in completeharmony.’Connop Thirlwall – 19 th Century:‘On the eve it may be of a harder struggle than has ever yet tried ourstrength, common prudence enjoins us to gather and unite all our forces.At such a time the first of duties is to seek peace at home, and to strive byall allowable means to ensure and maintain it: to draw as tight as possiblethe bands of Christian fellowship; to deal the largest measure of charityconsistent with a regard to the truth; to avoid, as far as we can, questionswhich tend to engender strife, or to provoke bitterness; to put the mostindulgent construction on all that seems ambiguous in the words or acts ofour brethren; to waive minute and merely speculative differences, and totake our stand on the broad ground of our common faith.’Page 87