The Background for Discussing Christian Tradition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald O’Collins, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Mutual Dependence ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Common Lines ◽  
The Common ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

In the post-Reformation controversy over the roles of Scripture and tradition, many theologians misread the Council of Trent as if it had taught that Scripture and tradition are two ‘materially’ separate and equally valid ‘sources’ (plural) of revelation. But Trent reserved the term ‘source’ for the ‘Gospel’, or one revealed message of salvation in Christ. When a personal (rather than a propositional) view of revelation as primary emerged, along with a recognition of the mutual dependence of Scripture and tradition, the stage was set for an ecumenical convergence on tradition. This substantial convergence appeared in a 1963 report of the Faith and Order Commission (of the World Council of Churches) and the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The common lines of thinking, inspired in part by Yves Congar, Gerhard Ebeling, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, provide a background for discussing tradition today.

Pivotal Years: 1948–1965

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorelei Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Ecumenical Movement ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

The chapter considers key ecumenical developments in the period 1948–65, between the founding of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the closing of the Second Vatican Council, at which the Catholic Church finally embraced the ecumenical movement. Explaining how that period can be seen as pivotal in the history of the movement, it tracks the developing understanding of the ecumenical challenge reflected in successive assemblies of the WCC and conferences on Faith and Order, both at world level and in North America, and the growing desire for Catholic engagement in the ecumenical movement manifested particularly in the activities of the Catholic Conference for Ecumenical Questions. It then considers the teaching of Vatican II on ecumenism, for example, regarding degrees of communion, and the impact of Catholic participation on the ecumenical movement, notably in the practice of bilateral dialogues.

Third World Theological Priorities

1987 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kortright Davis
Keyword(s):  
Third World ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The Third ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Third World ◽  
First World ◽  
New Tradition

How does one properly account for the rise of theological ferment in the Third World, when so much of the theological activity in that region is so closely related to what happens (or fails to happen) in the First World? To what extent can the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, or the programs of the World Council of Churches, or the initiatives of the Mission Boards in North America, be given credit for the emergence of Third World theologies? Or how do we explain the paradox that in spite of two decades in the growth and development of local theologies in the Third World, much of the way in which Third World churches conduct their business and their worship still fails to reflect such developments? Who sets the priorities for theology in the Third World? What is the procedure for its validation and official acceptance? When does the local church know that it is safe to shift from the received tradition to the new tradition? All these are questions of farreaching significance, for they bear on the very heart of authentic Christianity as it is proclaimed and practised in the Third World. Third World Christians must determine for themselves when and how they will theologize in their own language, in which they were born (Acts 2.8). Third World theologians have stepped out in front and have taken some initiatives for themselves, and among themselves.

Western Religion Today

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-68
Author(s):  
Paul Gifford
Keyword(s):  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
World Council ◽  
Western Religion ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Cognitive Shift ◽  
Academic Theology ◽  
Victorian Age

This chapter argues that Western religion today, besides losing public importance, has also largely been transformed in accordance with this cognitive shift to the ‘this-worldly’. The chapter shows how arguments like ‘believing but not belonging’ and ‘vicarious religion’ do not discredit the secularization thesis; nor does the idea that Christianity gave rise to Western modernity and therefore the West must be religious. The decreasing salience of Christianity became undeniable in the Victorian age. The 1960s saw this trend intensified and diffused more widely; this cognitive shift is illustrated in both the workings of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and in the World Council of Churches Uppsala Assembly (1968). The Christianity that the mainline Western churches exhibit today has become internally secularized, evidenced in characteristic works of modern academic theology.

The Oneness-Trinitarian Pentecostal Dialogue: Exploring the Diversity of Apostolic Faith

2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-349
Author(s):  
Frank D. Macchia
Keyword(s):  
Subsequent Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Common ◽  
Significant Measure ◽  
Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed and the subsequent development of Trinitarian orthodoxy have been regarded by many as essential to the apostolic faith of the churches. For example, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed without the filioque clause was made the starting point of the World Council of Churches' Commission on Faith and Order study program entitled, “Towards the Common Expression of the Apostolic Faith Today.” Not so well known, however, is the existence of a growing movement of Pentecostal Christians globally that seeks to preserve the apostolic faith of the churches in significant measure by rejecting the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed along with the Trinitarian dogma that historically it had supported. Commonly called Oneness or Apostolic Pentecostals, they are estimated to have from 14 to over 17 million followers globally and growing rapidly in Mexico, China, and the United States.1

Roman Catholic Contacts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurjen A. Zeilstra
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The 1960S

Chapter 8 deals with Visser ’t Hooft’s lengthy campaign to have the Roman Catholic Church join the World Council of Churches. It traces developments from the beginning when Protestant ecumenicity was firmly rejected, to the later history from the 1960s onwards. It explores Visser ’t Hooft’s contacts with the Dutch Roman Catholics Jo Willibrands and Frans Thijssen and early attempts at rapprochement, including the creation of the Joint Working Group. The chapter discusses the difference in agendas, and developments during and arising from the Second Vatican Council. It then relates the history of ecumenical relations with the Roman Catholic Church in connection with the Roman Catholic movement under successive popes away from membership of the World Council.

Unity in Reconciled Diversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harding Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Ecumenical Movement ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Many

This chapter considers the development of the idea of the ecumenical goal as one of unity in reconciled diversity. From the 1920s, the ecumenical movement was committed to a visible unity, generally understood as requiring organic union. Confession was seen as opposed to oikoumene. However, particularly as a result of the many bilateral dialogues between the confessions that began following the entry of the Roman Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement after the Second Vatican Council, a rethinking of the value of confessions occurred. The dialogues have often achieved a differentiated consensus which does not abolish all differences but removes their church-dividing character, and the idea of unity in reconciled diversity has correspondingly taken shape. Examining that idea and responding to various critiques of it, the chapter maintains that it can be seen as fully compatible with the formula of unity agreed by the World Council of Churches at New Delhi in 1961.

A Dialogue That Almost Died

Worldview ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
Isaac C. Rottenberg
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Jewish Community ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council

A new tone of optimism is being sounded in some recent reports on Christian-Jewish relationships. For instance, we have been hearing about a “decade of progress” in Jewish-Roman Catholic dialogue ever since 1975, when a Vatican commission issued “Guidelines and Suggestions” to implement the 1965 Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate. The new initiatives in Jewish-Evangelical conversations have been hailed as exceedingly heartening. Many and varied forms of dialogue between Christians and Jews are taking place on the local scene all across the land. Finally, the Fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Nairobi, avoided adopting a statement on the Middle East so offensive to the Jewish community as to cause the breakdown of conversations.

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

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.

Presbyterian Ecumenism

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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