Pro Oriente

The Pro Oriente foundation was established by Cardinal König of Vienna in 1964 to promote relations between the Catholic Church and the eastern churches, both Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox. Always acting unofficially, it has had great success, fostering personal contacts among leading figures and organizing conferences in which long-standing doctrinal issues could be addressed. This chapter considers how its activities and initiatives helped the official dialogue to get under way between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church and assisted in the major Christological declarations that broke the ice between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox churches. More recently, Pro Oriente has also facilitated dialogue with the Assyrian Church of the East, within the ambit of discussion among all the churches of Syriac tradition. The remarkable contribution of Pro Oriente to ecumenical rapprochement via several major series of scholarly publications is also indicated.

What Model of Full Communion?

Considering where ecumenism stands today, this chapter recognizes the difficulty caused by disagreement regarding the goal of ecumenism, which itself results from a lack of ecumenical consensus on the nature of the church and its unity. The rapid rise of evangelical and Pentecostal communities is making the ecumenical situation ever more complex. Drawing especially on Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17, the chapter outlines six dimensions of ecumenism: spiritual, somatic, Trinitarian, missionary, martyrological, and eschatological. Ecumenism must be grounded in prayer, directed towards a visible unity in reconciled diversity, focused on mission and the credibility of the church’s witness, inspired by the modern martyrs of many churches, and encouraged by the awareness that unity is ultimately God’s work that will be accomplished when Christ returns. Lessons are drawn from the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus for how Christians should behave on the way to unity.

Unity in Reconciled Diversity

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.

Mission and Evangelism

From its inception, the modern ecumenical movement has entailed the twin pursuits of realizing both the unity and the mission of the church. Moreover, mission and evangelism were closely related in twentieth-century ecumenical thought. The main ecumenical institutional structure that advanced the churches’ understanding of mission and evangelism for much of the century was the International Missionary Council, which in 1961 became the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism within the World Council of Churches. By the end of the 1960s, Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants were also making major contributions to the broader ecumenical understanding of mission and evangelism. Enduring theological achievements including the concept of the missio Dei and the contextualization of theology remain a part of the overall legacy of the ecumenical movement.

Chevetogne, Taizé, and the Groupe des Dombes

Since the mid-twentieth century, three institutions in the French-speaking world have been playing unquestionably important roles in ecumenism. The institutions here presented are, in chronological order of foundation, the Benedictine monastery of Chevetogne (Belgium), the Groupe des Dombes, and the Taizé community (France). The monks of Chevetogne, founded by Lambert Beauduin, celebrate the liturgy, simultaneously in two chapels, in the Latin and Byzantine rites, in order to anticipate spiritually Christian unity in diversity. The Groupe des Dombes, founded by Paul Couturier, consists of French-speaking theologians, twenty Protestants and twenty Catholics. Theological reflection and common prayer are the two pillars of their work, emphasizing the conversion of the churches. Taizé, founded by Roger Schutz, is an ecumenical community, which seeks to be a ‘parable of communion’, inspiring a ‘pilgrimage of trust on earth’, especially among young people.

Pentecostal and Charismatic

Accounts of Pentecostal ecumenism tend to take two basic shapes. In one, the story of Pentecostal and charismatic ecumenism is subsumed into the wider course of twentieth-century ecumenism, whose centre has been the World Council of Churches. The other regards Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity as an ecumenical movement in its own right, expressed in innumerable informal relationships and recently embodied in the Global Christian Forum. These two popular visions often keep Pentecostals, charismatics, and mainstream ecumenists talking past one another. An inventory of the gifts offered, gifts received, and gifts withheld or rejected among these parties in twentieth- and twenty-first-century ecumenism leads to a different interpretation of their interrelationship. The ecumenical movement at large and Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity itself are both among the renewing tides in Christ’s ecclesial ecumene. The most significant Pentecostal/charismatic contribution to ecumenism may be its own spirit, and vice versa.

Catholic

The chapter begins by affirming the ‘irrevocable’ commitment of the Catholic Church to the ecumenical movement, noting that such a commitment represents a substantial change from the Catholic Church’s initial estimation and response. It then explains the initially negative reaction, gives an account of the factors leading up to the transformation in attitude, and documents by means of official teachings the positive reassessment and enthusiastic step that took place at the time of the Second Vatican Council, especially by means of the council’s decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio. A final section summarizes some of the more important Catholic contributions to the ecumenical movement and identifies some particular gifts that the Catholic Church may be said to have received and to have offered in the course of its participation.

Europe

This chapter describes the multifaceted relations between churches in Europe in an ecumenical age. It considers church fellowships and communions of different ecclesial density on the Protestant side, and various significant agreements (e.g. Leuenberg, Meissen, Porvoo, and Reuilly) that have enabled them; the Conference of European Churches, which also has Orthodox participation; and the European Ecumenical Assemblies, in which additionally the Roman Catholic Church participates. It also notes the more informal, spiritual movement called Together for Europe. The Charta Oecumenica is presented, together with several agreements on the mutual recognition of baptism, and finally there is a brief account of national councils of churches, of ecumenical research institutions, and of a number of dialogue commissions, with a sampling of their fruits.

Africa

Since the birth of the ecumenical movement in Edinburgh a century ago, much has changed ecumenically regarding the African continent. This chapter briefly tells the story of official ecumenism on African soil, including the history of the ecumenical movement and the presence of international confessional bodies and traditions. It then describes some of the complex stories of regional, national, and local ecumenism in Africa, including the history of the All Africa Conference of Churches and of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. Drawing on these stories, the chapter then lists five of the most important ecumenical challenges facing the continent—cultural, political, economic, peacemaking, and survival—which often give rise to informal ecumenism. It concludes with an overview of several well-known ecumenical initiatives and documents in Africa.

Kenotic Ecumenism

This chapter considers the methodology of ecumenism from an Eastern Orthodox perspective. It begins by briefly reviewing the Holy and Great Council that took place in Crete in 2016, and its document on the relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian world. The second part looks at the lukewarm or hostile reception of ecumenical dialogue, and the third examines more closely the debates for and against. The chapter then suggests ways to move Christian unity forward through a broader engagement of bishops; reconsidering the bold twentieth-century proposals of Sergius Bulgakov, Nicolas Afanasiev, and Nicholas Zernov; a ‘kenotic ecumenism’ based on Philippians 2:4–7 and the thought of John Zizioulas; and making communion with God the focus of a renewed ecumenical movement in which the Jesus Prayer could play an important unifying role.