Ecumenism
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The word ecumenism (also oecumenism, œcumenism) is derived from Greek οἰκουμένη (oikoumene), which means "the inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire.
In its broadest meaning, ecumenism refers to initiatives aimed at worldwide religious unity. In a narrower sense (and in the opinion of some the only true meaning), it refers to the movement towards unity among Christians. In this sense, ecumenism is based on the idea that there should be a single Christian Church, a single Christian faith.
A more limited goal of ecumenism is promotion of co-operation and better understanding between religious groups or denominations, without aiming at unity.
The word is used predominantly with reference to (and by) Christian denominations separated by doctrine, history and practice. It is also important to the Baha'i world, which advocates a greater shared spirituality across Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths as part of its core beliefs.
Christian ecumenism is the promotion of unity or cooperation between distinct religious groups or denominations of the Christian religion. Ecumenism in this sense is distinguished from interfaith pluralism.
Ecumenism and interfaith pluralism
- Main articles: Interfaith and religious pluralism
The interfaith movement strives for greater mutual respect, toleration, and co-operation among the world religions. Ecumenism in this sense is called religious pluralism, as distinguished from ecumenism within a faith movement.
Ecumenism as interfaith dialogue between representatives of diverse faiths, does not necessarily intend reconciling their adherents into full, organic unity with one another but simply to promote better relations. It promotes toleration, mutual respect and cooperation, whether among Christian denominations, or between Christianity and other faiths.
Alternatively, ecumenism can have the goal of reconciling all who profess Christian faith into a single, visible organization, for example, through union with the Roman Catholic Church, or the Orthodox Church. Ecumenism in this sense focuses on the special problem of the relationship between Christian denominations, where Christianity is dogmatically defined. The World Council of Churches is an instrument in both the unifying ecumenical movement and the interfaith movement.
Three approaches to Christian unity
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For a significant part of the Christian world, the highest aim of the Christian faith is the reconciliation of all humanity into a full and conscious union as one Christian Church, visibly united with mutual accountability between the parts and the whole. The desire is expressed by many denominations of Christendom, that all who profess faith in Christ in sincerity, would be more fully cooperative and supportive of one another.
Christian ecumenism can be described in terms of the three largest divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. While this underemphasizes the complexity of these divisions, it is a useful model.
Eastern Orthodoxy
Ecumenism for the Eastern Orthodox did not begin with the Roman Catholic Second Vatican Council. It is the Eastern Orthodox churches' work to embrace estranged communions as (possibly former) beneficiaries of a common gift, and simultaneously to guard against a promiscuous and false union with them. The history of the relationship between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Oriental Orthodox churches is a case in point. Likewise, the Eastern Orthodox have been leaders in the Interfaith movement, and some Orthodox patriarchs enlisted their communions as charter members of the World Council of Churches. Nevertheless, the Orthodox have not been willing to participate in any redefinition of the Christian faith toward a reduced, minimal, anti-dogmatic and anti-traditional Christianity. Christianity for the Eastern Orthodox is the Church; and the Church is Orthodoxy—nothing less and nothing else. Therefore, while Orthodox ecumenism is "open to dialogue with the devil himself", the goal is to reconcile all non-Orthodox back into Orthodoxy.One way to observe the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards non-Orthodox is to see how they receive new members from other faiths. Non-Christians, such as Buddhists or atheists, who wish to become Orthodox Christians are accepted through the sacraments of baptism and chrismation. Protestants and Roman Catholics are sometimes received through chrismation only, provided they had received a trinitarian baptism. Also Protestants and Roman Catholics are often referred to as "heterodox", which simply means "other believing", rather than as heretics ("other-choosing"), implying that they did not wilfully reject the Church.
Roman Catholicism
Before the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church saw its relations with other Christian groups as basically a matter of persuading them to return to a unity that they themselves had broken. The article [Union of Christendom] in the Catholic Encyclopedia is an illustration of that attitude. Pursuit of unity, thus understood, was always a principal aim of the Church. At the Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1438-1442), in which some bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Church participated, reunion formulas were worked out that, however, failed to win acceptance by the Eastern Church. The aim of the Second Vatican Council, as its initiator, Pope John XXIII, stated, was instead to seek renewal of the Church itself, which would serve, for those separated from the see of Rome, as a "gentle invitation to seek and find that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed so ardently to his heavenly Father."Encyclical [http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_jo23ap.htm Ad Petri cathedram The Council opened up an era of earnest endeavour not only to explain to others the Church's teaching, but also to understand their outlook.Some elements of the Roman Catholic perspective on ecumenism are illustrated in the following quotations from the Council's decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio (UR), of 21 November 1964, and Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Ut Unum Sint (UUS) of 25 May 1995.
- Every renewal of the Church is essentially grounded in an increase of fidelity to her own calling. Undoubtedly this is the basis of the movement toward unity ... There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way. We should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble. gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity towards them. ... The words of St. John hold good about sins against unity: "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us". So we humbly beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive them that trespass against us. (UR, 6-7)
- Christians cannot underestimate the burden of long-standing misgivings inherited from the past, and of mutual misunderstandings and prejudices. Complacency, indifference and insufficient knowledge of one another often make this situation worse. Consequently, the commitment to ecumenism must be based upon the conversion of hearts and upon prayer, which will also lead to the necessary purification of past memories. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Lord's disciples, inspired by love, by the power of the truth and by a sincere desire for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, are called to re-examine together their painful past and the hurt which that past regrettably continues to provoke even today. (UUS, 2)
- In ecumenical dialogue, Catholic theologians standing fast by the teaching of the Church and investigating the divine mysteries with the separated brethren must proceed with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility. When comparing doctrines with one another, they should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists a "hierarchy" of truths, since they vary in their relation to the fundamental Christian faith. Thus the way will be opened by which through fraternal rivalry all will be stirred to a deeper understanding and a clearer presentation of the unfathomable riches of Christ (UR, 11)
- The unity willed by God can be attained only by the adherence of all to the content of revealed faith in its entirety. In matters of faith, compromise is in contradiction with God who is Truth. In the Body of Christ, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), who could consider legitimate a reconciliation brought about at the expense of the truth?...Even so, doctrine needs to be presented in a way that makes it understandable to those for whom God himself intends it. (UUS, 18-19)
- When the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time. (UR, 4)
Protestantism
The contemporary ecumenical movement for Protestants likely began in 1910, with the opening of the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference. Led by Methodist layman John R. Mott, the conference marked the largest Protestant gathering to that time, with the express purposes of working across denominational lines for the sake of world missions. Eventually, formal organizations were formed, including the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, and Churches Uniting in Christ. Protestants have often been leaders of these and other similar groups.
Since that time, Protestants have been involved in a variety of ecumenical groups, working in some cases toward organic denominational unity and in other cases for cooperative purposes alone. Because of the wide spectrum of Protestant denominations and perspectives, full cooperation has been difficult at times.
Contemporary developments
The original anathemas (excommunications) that mark the "official" Great Schism of 1054 between Catholics and Orthodox were mutually revoked in 1965 by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. But just as the original schism developed over time rather than erupting overnight, reconciliation is proceeding slowly.The year 2006 is to see a resumption of the series of meetings for theological dialogue between representatives of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, suspended because of failure to reach agreement on the question of the so-called "Uniate" Churches, a question exacerbated by disputes over churches and other property that the Communist authorities once assigned to the Orthodox Church but whose restoration these Churches have obtained from the present authorities.
Catholic and Orthodox bishops in North America are engaged in an ongoing dialogue. They are meeting together periodically as the "North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation". It has been meeting semiannually since it was founded in 1965 under the auspices of the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA). The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops officially joined the Consultation as a sponsor in 1997. The Consultation works in tandem with the Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops which has been meeting annually since 1981. Since 1999 the Consultation has been discussing the Filioque clause, with the hope of eventually reaching an agreed joint statement.
Similar dialogues at both international and national level continue between, for instance, Roman Catholics and Anglicans.
Organizations such as the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches and Churches Uniting in Christ, and Christian Churches Together continue to encourage ecumenical cooperation among Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and, at times, Roman Catholics.
United and uniting churches
Influenced by the ecumenical movement, the "scandal of separation" and local developments, a number of United and Uniting churches have formed; there are also a range of mutual recognition strategies being practised where formal union is not feasible. An increasing trend has been the sharing of church buildings by two or more denominations, either holding separate services or a single service with elements of all traditions.
- Main articles: United and uniting churches and
Opposition to Ecumenism
A sizeable number of Christians oppose ecumenism. They tend to be from churches of Evangelical or Charismatic backgrounds and strongly conservative sections of mainline Protestant churches and the Catholic and Orthodox churches. They regard ecumenism as compromising essential doctrinal stands in order to accommodate other Christians, and object to the emphasis on dialogue rather than conversion on the part of participants in ecumenical initiatives. In addition, many Evangelical and Charismatic Christians view ecumenism as a sign of end times apostasy before Jesus Christ's return as prophesied in the Bible, and see substantial similarities between the doctrinal stance of end-times false teachers, as described in 2 Peter 2:1-2, and the theological pronouncements of certain leaders of ecumenical movements.A majority of Evangelical churches, including most Baptists, non-denominational Christians, and Evangelical Christian denominations like the Christian and Missionary Alliance church, do not participate in the more mainline ecumenical movements. The doctrine of separation is adopted by Evangelical churches towards churches and denominations that have joined ecumenical activities. Many Charismatic Christians, such as Assemblies of God, shun ecumenism, but some organizations, including some Pentecostal churches, do participate in ecumenism, and many Evangelical Churches in the United States are members of the National Association of Evangelicals, including the Assemblies of God and the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Other conservative Protestant Churches, such as the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Presbyterian Church in America, and Free Methodist Church, often view ecumenism in ways similar to their evangelical counterparts.
Catholic opposition to ecumenism centers on Traditionalist Catholics and associations such as the Society of St. Pius X. In fact, opposition to ecumenism is closely associated with antagonism, in the case of Traditionalist Catholics, to abandonment of Latin in the celebration of Mass, and, in the case of Greek Old Calendarists (who speak of "the arch-heresy of ecumenism"), to abandonment of the Julian calendar.
Ecumenical organizations
- Action of Churches Together in Scotland
- Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
- Conference of European Churches
- Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
- Taizé Community
- World Council of Churches
- World Alliance of Reformed Churches
Interdenominational organizations opposing ecumenism
Trivia
In Father Ted the doctrine of ecumenism is mocked by Father Jack. Father Ted and Father Dougal inform Father Jack that the way to answer any Roman Catholic question is either 'Yes' or 'That would be an Ecumenical matter.'See also
Bibliography
- Hein, David. "The Episcopal Church and the Ecumenical Movement, 1937-1997: Presbyterians, Lutherans, and the Future." Anglican and Episcopal History 66 (1997): 4-29.
- Mastrantonis, George. "Augsburg and Constantinople : The Correspondence between the Tubingen Theologians and Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople on the Augsburg Confession." Holy Cross Orthodox Press (1982), reprinted (2005). ISBN 0916586820
External links
- [Canadian Council of Churches]
- [Conference of European Churches (CEC)]
- [Ecumenism in Canada] — Extensive links to documents, ecumenical agencies, and denominational webpages
- [Ecumenical News International (ENI)] Geneva-based press agency
- [National Council of Churches, USA]
- [North American Academy of Ecumenists]
- [Oecuménisme au Canada]
- [World Council of Churches]
- [Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue in the Sixteenth Century] The courteous and friendly correspondence, from 1573 to 1581, between the Lutheran Theologians of Tübingen and the Patriarch Jeremias II of Constantinople.
- ["Why Can't We All Just Get Along?" by Thomas Ice] Outline opposition to ecumenical movements from an evangelical perspective.
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