scholarly journals The regulation of Christian churches: Ecclesiology, law and polity

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hill QC
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Christian Family ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Common Vision

This article examines the internal regulation of religious organisations in terms of their law, order or polity. It offers a systematic comparative analysis of how different Christian traditions structure and regulate themselves. The resultant legal frameworks are expressive of the institutional self-understanding of particular churches and, as such, are a form of applied ecclesiology. The paper draws upon two ongoing research studies: the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers and the Christian Law Panel of Experts, the latter having submitted a detailed submission to the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission giving a legal critique of its recent document ‘Towards a Common Vision’. Through a detailed methodical and comparative analysis of the various structural and regulatory formulae adopted by the different branches of the Christian family, profound similarities are discernible that are redolent with deeper theological significance. This research represents an emergent platform capable of being utilised within the ecumenical endeavour to give traction in the movement towards greater visible unity in the 21st century.

scholarly journals The Ecumenical Value of Comparative Church Law: Towards the Category of Christian Law

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (02) ◽  
pp. 135-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Doe
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Regulatory Systems ◽  
Global Christianity ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Church ◽  
Common Action ◽  
Common Vision

This study explores juridical aspects of the ecclesiology presented in the World Council of Churches' Faith and Order Commission Paper,The Church: Towards a Common Vision(2013). It does so in the context of systems of church law, order and polity in eight church families worldwide: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Presbyterian and Baptist.Common Visiondoes not explicitly consider church law, order and polity or its role in ecumenism. However, many themes treated inCommon Visionsurface in church regulatory systems. This study examines how these instruments articulate the ecclesiology found inCommon Vision(which as such, de facto, offers juridical as well as theological principles), translate these into norms of conduct and, in turn, generate unity in common action across the church families. Juridical similarities indicate that the churches share common principles and that their existence suggests the category ‘Christian law’. While dogmas may divide the churches of global Christianity, the profound similarities between their norms of conduct reveal that the laws of the faithful, whatever their various denominational affiliations, link Christians through common forms of action. For this reason, comparative church law should have a greater profile in ecumenism today.1

“Although We Cannot Fully Meet” the Roman Catholic Response to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-267
Author(s):  
Peter R. Cross
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Church

The publication of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry by the World Council of Churches in 1982 was the culmination of more than fifty years of ecumenical discussion. The document was designed to elicit official comment from the churches involved in its production and also to involve a wide membership of the churches in the process of reception of the text by taking its insights into their spiritual, pastoral and theological life. This present article analyses the response of the Roman Catholic Church. The response is largely positive, but the methodology of the document reveals unresolved tensions concerning theological reformulation while the wider issue touching reception in the life of the Church is avoided.

Church

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam DeVille
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Geographical Scope ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

The chapter traces developments in ecclesiology through the twentieth century, as the ecumenical movement unfolded, and raises questions about the relationship between the church and the communion of the Persons of the Trinity, and about the nature of the Church as eucharistic and sacramental. Further more practical questions about authority, primacy, and synodality (or conciliarity) are also examined in light of the work of multilateral ecumenical dialogues (especially within the World Council of Churches), and bilateral dialogues, particularly the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the international Roman Catholic–Orthodox theological dialogue. Considerable progress has been made on all these questions, but new issues have recently arisen, and these are briefly treated, including questions of imperfect communion, of the ordination of women and of those in same-sex relationships, and questions of geographical scope relative to jurisdiction and canonical territory.

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.

Justification: Barth, trent, and küng

1981 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 517-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. McGrath
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Small Contribution ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Major Step ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Catholic Church

The first assembly of the World Council of Churches recognised that the aspect of the Roman Catholic-Protestant division which constituted ‘our deepest difference’ was the question of justification. The appearance in 1957 of a work by a then unknown Roman Catholic scholar, claiming that ‘it is undeniable that there is a fundamental agreement between Karl Barth's position and that of the Catholic Church seen in its totality' was therefore the occasion as much for surprise as for pleasure. ‘How one would like to believe it!’ remarked Barth. Küng's study marks a major step toward ecumenical discussion on the issue of justification; however, that discussion must be continued. The present study is a small contribution toward that discussion.

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