Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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truth is being suppressed, pure divine services are being prohibited, priestsdriven out or thrown in gaol.’ 56To try to describe the violence, deceit and confusion of Europe, Komensky hadwritten in 1623 The Labyrinth of the World. It has a strong ecumenical themecondemning denominational bigotry. He wrote:‘There I saw how two or three of the chapels adjacent to each other wereconsidering joining themselves into one. But they could find no means ofattaining harmony among themselves. This miserable confusion andmutation of these fine Christian folk filled me with great indignation.’Komensky’s basis of union for Protestants rested in the essential agreement inthe primary truths of the Christian faith confessed by the Unity, the Lutheransand the Reformed (Calvinists). In Haggaeus Redivivus (1632) he wrote:‘As for ourselves, let us learn not to dogmatise beyond what is written, butrather to stand in the holy commandment given us. I say, let the Holy Biblebe our canon, our faith, our standards, our rule.’Komensky not only longed for unity among Protestants, he had an even widerhope. In An Exhortation of the Churches of Bohemia to the Church of England,he called for a vision of worldwide unity of Christians – a coming together ofdry bones to make one people as Ezekiel had seen the Valley of Dry Bonescome alive and become one. Komensky never lost hope in this vision.Prophecies given by the Brethren from time to time and the hope of theimminent return of Christ (Komensky came to believe it would be in 1670, theyear he died) preserved him from despair.Komensky was made a bishop of the Unity of the Brethren in 1632 as he taughtat Leszno and supervised the education of the Brethren. He drew inspirationfrom the writings of Francis Bacon (1561-1620), who asked for a universalreform of the study of the sciences and laid a foundation for discovery of thereality of phenomena based on hypotheses, the scientific method. He also readthe Dominican Tomasso Campanella (1568-1639) whose goal was to achieve a56Panek, Jaroslav, Comenius, Teacher of Nations, Orbis, Prague, 1991, p 26. Poland hadbecome, from the 16 th Century, a refuge from persecution for Protestants, both Orthodox indoctrine and unorthodox.Page 93
harmoniously ordered society of peace and justice. He saw education as thegreat means to achieve this.Komensky is chiefly remembered as a pioneer of an enlightened view ofeducation. He believed in pre-school education and the home as the sphere offirst learning. He was intensely interested in the teaching of languages: themother tongue and Latin, even a universal language for all Europe. His IanuaLinguam Reserta (‘Open Gate of Languages’) in 1631 was well receivedthroughout Europe by Catholic as well as Protestant educators. It broke newground in language learning. Children were not to chant things by rote butlearn by things meaningful to them. School plays were to be produced in Latin.By 1669 Jesuits were using his books in their schools.There grew up a Comenian party in London who invited Komensky to visit.Komensky believed England was the country best suited to receive andpropagate ‘pansophic’ ideas. All learning must be related and universallyaccepted. He arrived in London in September 1641, when the Long Parliamentwas in session discussing church and political reform.While in England, Komensky wrote on church reconciliation and the reform ofeducation. Parliament was ready to set Komensky up with a College wherescholars would research his ideas, and Komensky might have settled inEngland, but his wife would not leave Leszno. It was not a propitious time forKomensky to be in London. The Comenian group itself was split intorevolutionary and royalist factions.England was in turmoil over the Grand Remonstrance (1641) led by John Pymin dissatisfaction with Charles I’s rule. Komensky dedicated his Via Lucis toEngland and later, in 1668, to the Royal Society, which had been inspired byhis ideas. Via Lucis dealt with the universal struggle of good and evil and goodwas to triumph through universal education. Most pagan books were to bediscarded but there were to be universal books enlightening our understandingof the universe, the Scriptures and our consciences, all these to be approvedby a central College of Light.Komensky saw man’s preparation for eternity beginning in the womb.Education went on all the way through life. There was to be a department ofthe College called the School of Old Age. Old age was to be a time of rest,contemplation and study. Yet Komensky was practical as well as idealistic. Hewrote about the correct ordering of schools and the governors; each schoolPage 94
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 and 22:
While organised Christian endeavour
Page 23 and 24:
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
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: concept of a contract between a rul
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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