William Temple and the World Council of Churches: Church Unity “Lite”

This article explores the question whether any traces of Calvin’s theological views on church unity can be found in the purpose statements and goals of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Although no direct influence of Calvin’s theology on the work of the WCC can be proved, the structure and content of Calvin’s thought on church unity can be recognised in the statements and work of the WCC. Calvin believed that true church unity is not in the first place a unity of church structures, but one of truth, love, hope and confession. The ecumenical movement is in agreement with Calvin in this regard. The ecumenical movement and the World Council of Churches are products of modern culture. The ecumenical movement could not have developed in a world that is not tolerant and where the free use of reason is not one of the core values of society. The ecumenical movement is also the natural answer to the problem of religious division that pre-modern Europe left us with. After a brief description of the World Council of Church- es as a modern institution the influence of Calvin’s theology on the theology of the World Council of Churches is explored.

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Porto Alegre 2006: Called to be the One Church: Ecumenism beyond its Crisis?

Exchange ◽

10.1163/157254307x159434 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 87-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anton Houtepen

Keyword(s):

World Council Of Churches ◽

Porto Alegre ◽

Ecumenical Movement ◽

Religious Plurality ◽

Church Unity ◽

The World ◽

World Council ◽

The One ◽

Economic Injustice ◽

The Church

AbstractFrom 9-23 February 2006 the World Council of Churches held its 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brasil with the theme God, in your grace, transform the world. It gathered in an atmosphere of crisis in the ecumenical movement, caused by global political and religious developments, post-modern thinking on the value of plurality and difference and by the slow reception of ecumenical agreements. The Assembly, though, became a sign of hope beyond the ecumenical crisis. Its reflections and proposals on Globalisation and economic injustice, on Christian identity and religious plurality and on Church Unity and the Mission of the Church demonstrate a matured ecumenical and ecclesiological awareness, strengthened by a new method of decision-making by consensus. The document Called to be the one Church might be seen as the constitutional basis for a reconfiguration of the ecumenical movement and as a refinement of the Toronto Declaration of 1950. It formulates a matrix of catholicity and of a legitimate diversity of church forms within an essential convergence about its structures of continuity and mission.

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Where We Dwell in Common

Horizons ◽

10.1017/s0360966900002577 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 32 (02) ◽

pp. 332-351 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Roger Haight

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

World War ◽

World Council Of Churches ◽

Protestant Churches ◽

Church Unity ◽

The World ◽

World Council ◽

The Many ◽

Common Understanding ◽

The Church

The great surge of Christian missionary activity during the course of the nineteenth century elicited a new concern for church unity. Was this missionary activity, after all, spreading division? In 1910 representatives of Protestant churches came together to respond to that question in Edinburgh at The World Missionary Conference. The conference in its turn channeled the concern to the sending churches. Although somewhat slowed down by World War I, the ecumenical movement grew and was punctuated by landmark events in The Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work (Stockholm, 1925) and The World Conference of Faith and Order (Lausanne, 1927). The report of this second conference included a description of what the churches assembled in their representatives shared in common and the many things that distinguished and sometimes divided them. When the World Council of Churches came into existence in August of 1948, the Faith and Order movement was integrated into it as a distinct agency whose concern was the doctrinal unity of the churches. Its signal achievement thus far has been the document entitled Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, frequently referred to as the Lima document, which sketches a proposal for a common understanding of these three aspects of the church across the churches. This document is the best example of what I will call “transdenominational ecclesiology,” and the fact that it has received so much attention from the churches indicates that it plays some important role in the whole church.

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Molanus, Lutheran Irenicist (1633–1722)

Church History ◽

10.2307/3161861 ◽

1953 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 197-218

Author(s):

Samuel J. T. Miller

Keyword(s):

Roman Catholic ◽

Greek Orthodox ◽

World Council Of Churches ◽

Free Church ◽

Church Unity ◽

The World ◽

World Council ◽

The Church

At the present time ideas of church reunion are current in many forms. Journals are appearing which are devoted exclusively to the exposition of dogmatic positions in an increasingly irenical light. Not the least important among these publications devoted to the expository method of clearing up possible areas of thought for reunion are Irenikon, produced by the Benedictines at Chevtogne, and Catholica, published at Münster under the auspices of Dr. Robert Grosche. Catholica has once again appeared after eleven years of virtual suspension and Dr. Grosche lauds the theologisches Gespräch “as the recognized way which can bring us nearer to the unity of the Church.” With respect to actual ecumenical meetings the Faith and Order Conference of the World Council of Churches met in Lund, Sweden, in 1952, and there Greek Orthodox, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican and free church representatives, and even Roman Catholic observers, rubbed shoulders and discussed problems of ecclesiology with church unity as the ultimate goal.

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THE EMERGENCE OF RESISTANCE TO ECUMENISM IN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (ROC) IN THE POST-PERESTROIKA PERIOD OF RUSSIA

Journal of Public and Municipal Administration ◽

10.22394/2225-8272-2020-9-4-74-93 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 74-93

Author(s):

V.A. LIVTSOV ◽

◽

A.V. LEPILIN ◽

Keyword(s):

Russian Federation ◽

Russian Orthodox ◽

Orthodox Church ◽

International Level ◽

World Council Of Churches ◽

Russian Orthodox Church ◽

The World ◽

World Council ◽

The Russian Federation ◽

Emergence Of Resistance

The main purpose of the article is to analyze the emergence of opposition to ecumenism in the Rus-sian Orthodox Church (ROC) in the post-perestroika period of Russia. The article examines the issues of interaction between the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), the aspects of opposition to the ecumenist movement in the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet realities. The author comes to the conclusion that in the post-perestroika period, a number of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church were negatively disposed towards ecu-menism and considered this movement a heresy. The issues of this kind caused disagreement not only at the international level, but also within the structure of the ROC itself.

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Presbyterian Ecumenism

The Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190608392.013.20 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 251-264

Author(s):

Louis B. Weeks

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

The Body ◽

Body Of Christ ◽

World Council Of Churches ◽

Biblical Authority ◽

The World ◽

World Council ◽

Reformed Churches ◽

Federal Council Of Churches

Most Presbyterians possess an ecumenical spirit. They recognize other denominations as parts of the Body of Christ just as surely as their own. They cooperate enthusiastically in service, worship, and witness with Christians in many different denominations. Their reliance on biblical authority and agreement with Christians in other communions on many theological issues have led American Presbyterians to be involved in practically every major ecumenical endeavor. Many Presbyterians have been leaders in these enterprises as well. The Old Light and New Light Presbyterian reconciliation, major revivals in America and Europe, the mergers of denominations and comity arrangements for mission have provided energy and vision for ecumenism. The planting of newer Reformed churches—in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and predominantly Catholic countries in Europe—embodied this ecumenism. Mainstream Presbyterians played an important role in numerous ecumenical organizations including the Evangelical Alliance, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Federal Council of Churches, the Faith and Order and the Life and Work movements, and the World Council of Churches. Those who left the larger Presbyterian denominations to create new Reformed bodies have likewise engaged in ecumenism. In recent years, however, the extensive formal ecumenical ties have been eclipsed by the extensive ecumenism of local Presbyterian congregations and their individual officers and members.

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