“Anglican Ordinariates: A New Form of Uniatism?” Ecumenical Trends 40:8 (September 2011):
- Roberson, Ronald G. “What is Uniatism? An Exploration of the Concept of Uniatism in Relation to the Creation of the Anglican Ordinariates”: 118-120, 126.
- James. “Anglican Ordinariates in Ecumenical Perspective”: 121-123.
This pair of articles from a seminar of the 2011 National Workshop on Christian Unity analyzes the Roman Catholic Church’s 2009 creation of an Anglican ordinariate through the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus and challenges it as “no substitute for the patient and painstaking work of ecumenism” (p. 123).
“A Bibliography of Interchurch and Interconfessional Theological Dialogues Twenty-Sixth Supplement, 2011.” Bulletin, Centro Pro Unione No. 79 (Spring 2011): 10-32.
The 26 th installment of a comprehensive bibliography of international and national bilateral and multilateral dialogues, coded by confessional families, churches and councils. Each section includes information about the dialogues, texts and papers of the dialogues, and reflections and reactions.
Borelli, John. “Where in the World is Ecumenism?” Ecumenical Trends 40:4 (April 2011): 55-59.
In a paper first presented at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic parish in Georgetown, Dr. Borelli summarizes ecumenical progress since Vatican II and the lessons that have been learned: 1) that it was easier for the Christian community to break apart in the Reformation than it is to reunite it; 2) that ecumenical progress is slow in part because of the way Christians came to define themselves over against other Christian traditions; and 3) that unexpected changes within the lives of individual churches should not derail ecumenical forward movement. The article ends with implications of the ecumenical movement for parish life.
Busch, Robert. “The Ecumenical Anglican: Ten Years Later.” The Anglican 40:1 (Winter 2011): 19-21.
A Lutheran revisits his July 2000 predictions for the Lutheran-Episcopal full communion agreement, reflects on what has – and has not – been accomplished in the first decade of Called to Common Mission, and challenges the two churches to develop common liturgical texts, to hold joint celebrations of the Eucharist in every parish at least annually, to plan contiguous Churchwide Assemblies/General Conventions for national celebrations of common worship, and to teach future clergy both to honor the liturgical tradition and to develop new forms of worship.
Carter, David. “Church and Unity: Compatible or Contradictory Concepts?” One in Christ 45:1 (Summer 2011): 64-82.
A Methodist member of the British Methodist-Roman Catholic dialogue critiques Cardinal Kasper and Cardinal Koch’s respective statements on church vis-à-vis Methodism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and the Reformed tradition, asserts the ongoing historical continuity of these Protestant traditions, and claims the appropriateness of the ecumenical concept of unity in reconciled diversity when properly defined and interpreted.
Carter, David. “Encountering Christ the Savior: Church and Sacraments.” Ecumenical Trends 40:9 (October 2011): 129-137.
A Methodist member of the British Catholic-Methodist dialogue summarizes the August 2011 ninth report of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission on Dialogue that bears the same title as the ET article.
Creemers, Jelle. “Intertwined Problems of Representation and Reception in Pentecostal Ecumenical Involvement: A Case Study.” One in Christ 45:1 (Summer 2011): 142-161.
A doctoral student assesses the complexities of designing and staffing the international Roman Catholic-Classical Pentecostal dialogue, suggests avenues for congregationally-based Pentecostal tradition churches to participate in and receive the results of ecumenical dialogues, and analyses the pros and cons of each approach. This insightful essay is relevant for all who seek avenues for dialogue and reception with congregational church bodies.
Deck, Allan Figueroa, SJ. “Pentecostalism and Latino Catholic Identity.” Ecumenical Trends 40:5 (May 2011): 69-75.
The Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity identifies many points of commonality between Latino Catholics and Pentecostals, such as trust in God’s active power and work today, an emphasis on healing of body and spirit, belief in the reality of miracles, emphasis on family and community, and emotion in religious expression. Suggestions for ecumenical progress between these groups include recognition of charisms, connecting pneumatology and Mariology, and common work for social justice.
De Witte, Pieter. “‘The Apostolicity of the Church’ in Light of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Consensus on Justification.” Ecclesiology 7:3 (2011):317-335. A Roman Catholic theologian from Leuven critiques the understanding on apostolic succession reached in the international Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue process following the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, takes issue with the extension of the JDDJ concept of differentiated consensus to “differentiated participation” in apostolic ministry, and argues that the Apostolicity dialogue document neglects to reflect adequately Roman Catholic theology of how apostolicity is secured through the historic episcopate.
“A Catholic Future: Shared Mission Beyond Unitary Communions.” Origins 40:34 (February 3, 2011): 559-564.
The Hecker Lecture address given by the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church at St. Paul’s College in Washington DC on January 19, 2011 calls for Episcopal-Roman Catholic common mission and “catholic vocation,” grounded in shared “baptismal values,” and focused specifically on shared works of mercy for the poor and striving together for ecological justice.
“Ecumenical Horizons – Prospects and Perspectives,” Theme Issue: The Ecumenical Review 63:2 (July 2011):
- Stranz, Jane. “Taking Stock of Ecumenism”: 133–135.
- Kim, Kirsteen, “Globalization of Protestant Movements since the 1960s”: 136-147.
- Ueberschär, Ellen. “There’s Not Much Time Left: We Cannot Afford an Ecumenism of Lethargy”: 148–152.
- Oxley, Simon. “Getting Nowhere?”: 153–159.
- Matthey, Jacques. “The Necessity of a World Council of Churches”: 160–168.
- Dumitrascu, Nicu. “A Romanian Perspective on Ecumenism, Patristics and Academic Theology”: 169-176.
- Gibaut, John St-Helier. “Catholicity, Faith and Order, and the Unity of the Church”: 177–185.
- Hwang, Jae-Buhm. “The First Asian Ecumenical Confession of Faith: The So-Called Twelve Articles of Faith of Many Asian Protestant Churches”: 200–210.
- Altmann, Walter. “Address by the Moderator to the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee, February 2011”: 211–219.
- Tveit, Olav Fykse. “Report of the General Secretary to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, February 2011”: 219–234.
“Forty Years of Walking Together”: Theme Issue on the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada. Ecumenism No. 182 (Summer 2011):
- Flynn, Kevin. “Ecumenical Dialogue and Formation for Ministry”: 3-5.
- Clifford, Catherine E. “The Founding of ARC Canada”: 6-10.
- O’Gara, Margaret. “A Fruitful Time: Early Years of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada (1976-93)”: 11-14.
- Clough, Brian. “The Pastoral Care of Interchurch Marriages”: 15-16.
- Brown, Susan Mader. “Where Do We Go Together from Here?: A Canadian Catholic Perspective on IARRCUM’s Advice”: 17-21.
- Mangina, Joseph L. “Benedict’s Bible: An Anglican Response to the Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini”: 22-25.
- “A Joint Service of Worship to Celebrate the 40 th Anniversary of Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in Canada”: special pull-out section.
- Drainville, Dennis. “Forty Years of Dialogue: Reflections of a Practical Ecumenist”: 26-27.
- Lapierre, François. “Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue”: 28-29.
- Bolen, Donald. “Covenant between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina and the Anglican Diocese of Qu’Appelle”: 30-34.
- Routhier, Gilles. “An Unfinished Pilgrimage”: 35-37.
Gros, Jeffrey. “One in Faith, Sacramental Life and Piety.” Ecumenical Trends 40:7 (July/August 2011): 104-107.
In an address given at the May 2011 National Workshop on Christian Unity, the veteran ecumenist offers his colleagues specific suggestions: to advance unity through the 2017 commemoration of the Reformation’s 500 th anniversary, to “help our people form an ecumenical piety,” and to mentor a future generation of ecumenical leaders for the 21 st century through “invitation, accountability and communication, and mutuality” (106).
“Has the Lausanne Movement Moved?” Theme issue: International Bulletin of Missionary Research 35:2 (April 2011):
- “The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action”: 59-80.
- Hunt, Robert A. “The History of the Lausanne Movement, 1974-2010”: 81-84.
- Padilla, C. Rene. “The Future of the Lausanne Movement”: 86-87.
- Schreiter, Robert J. “From the Lausanne Covenant to the Cape Town Commitment: A Theological Assessment”: 88-92.
Hollinger, David A. “After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Ecumenical Protestantism and the Modern American Encounter with Diversity.” Journal of American History 98:1 (June 2011): 21-48.
The competing claims and experiences of ecumenical Protestants and evangelical Protestants and “the significance of Protestant dialectic” (p. 21) in contemporary American society is the focus of this March 2011 speech to the Organization of American Historians by a University of California, Berkeley history professor.
Jeruma-Grinberga, Jana. “Frailty and Faithfulness: Minority Churches and Ecumenism.” One in Christ 45:1 (Summer 2011): 2-15.
The bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and the President of Churches Together in England lifts up the perspectives that numerically minority churches can helpfully contribute to ecumenical dialogue, e.g. defining theology through the cross, offering a prophetic role to a growth-driven world, finding power in powerlessness, shepherding scarce resources, and articulating one’s confessional identity.
Johnson, Maxwell E. “Scholarly Update: Ecumenism and the Study of Liturgy: What Shall We Do Now?” Liturgical Ministry 20 (Winter 2011): 13-21.
An ELCA pastor serving on the liturgics faculty at the University of Notre Dame reviews the history of ecumenical liturgical reform since Vatican II and calls the churches to continue in that vein: “we who have been formed by the ecumenical vision and spirit of liturgical study dare not let go of that vision and spirit since the full and visible unity of Christianity has not yet been accomplished” (p. 19).
Kasper, Walter. “May They All Be One? But How? A Vision of Christian Unity for the Next Generation.” Ecumenical Trends 40:4 (April 2011): 49-54.
In this Paul Wattson Lecture at the University of San Francisco, Cardinal Kasper characterizes the ecumenical movement as a crisis moment that is both a closure of old ways and a kairos moment of new opportunity and a movement that needs to avoid two dangers: becoming merely an academic debate and settling into an endless round of dialogues and documents. Instead, he calls for an ecumenical future characterized by renewal of spiritual ecumenism and conversion of heart.
Kessler, Diane C. “Peace and the Protestant Traditions.” Ecumenical Trends 40:7 (July/August 2011): 97-103.
The former Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches traces various perspectives on peace and peace-making through the branches of Protestant history, provides examples from twentieth-century ecumenical work on peace and justice, and proposes interfaith approaches to peace-making, in order that we might “pray for peace, witness for peace, and work for peace” (103).
Kinnamon, Michael. “Gettysburg Seminary Sermon.” Ecumenical Trends 40:6 (June 2011): 92-93.
An inspiring sermon on ecumenism, preached for the National Council of Churches of Christ Faith and Order Commission, in which the General Secretary urged the commissioners to make the unity already given in Christ Jesus visible to the world and to the churches that they serve.
McGinnell, Kevin. “Liturgy and the Churches: An Ecclesial Minefield or a Source of Unity?” Anaphora: The Journal of the Society for Liturgical Study 5:1 (2011): 1-22.
An analysis of the ecumenical implications, positive and negative, of past and present liturgical developments (e.g. Revised Common Lectionary, Liturgicam Authenticam, Tridentine mass, the new Roman Missal), with a call to renewed liturgical scholarship and dialogue towards a more ecumenical liturgical future.
Morris, Jeremy. “Edinburgh 1910-2010: A Retrospective Assessment.” Ecclesiology 7:3 (2011): 297-316.
Analyzes four “narratives of change” by which the Edinburgh 1910 conference has been understood historically in the intervening century (secularization, empire, nationalism, and gender) and argues that the significance of the ecumenical contribution of the Conference has been exaggerated while its mission strategy has been underappreciated.
Mshanga, Vitalis. “The Ecumenical Vision of the Apostle Paul and its Relevance for Contemporary Search for Full Unity of All Christians.” Exchange 40 (2011): 144-169.
“In the first place, the study explores Paul’s view of Christian unity. Secondly, the study investigates the central aspects of Paul’s ecumenical legacy in view of establishing his contribution towards the unity of Christians. Thirdly, the research investigates the significance of Paul’s vision of Christian unity for contemporary search for full and visible unity. Finally, the study concludes with some remarks and challenging insights for those engaged in ecumenical dialogues” (Abstract).
Murray, Paul D. “Expanding Catholicity through Ecumenicity in the Work of Yves Congar: Ressourcement, Receptive Ecumenism and Catholic Reform.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 13:3 (July 2011): 272-302.
Asserts that Yves Congar’s ecumenical writings are foundational and formative for contemporary ecumenical understandings of ressourcement, reconciled diversity, and receptive ecumenism.
“The Next 100 Years: New and Renewed Strategies for the Ecumenical Mission”: Papers from the 2010 Annual Meeting of the North American Academy of Ecumenists. The Journal of Ecumenical Studies 46:3 (Summer 2011):
- Meyer, Russell. “Introduction: Remembering and Conversion, Companions and Allies, and our Ecumenical Future”: 305-310.
- Best, Thomas F. “A Tale of Two Edinburghs: Mission, Unity, and Mutual Accountability”: 311-328.
- Clifford, Catherine E. “Unity and Mission One Hundred Years On”: 329-342.
- Baum, Gregory. “The Churches Challenged by the Secularization of Culture”: 343-352.
- Philip (Riabykh), Hegumen. “The Russian Orthodox Church and Ecumenism”: 353-358.
- Routhier, Gilles. “Living in the Same House”: 359-364.
- Hamilton, Karen A. “People of Paradox”: 365-367.
- O’Gara, Margaret. “Witnessing the Ecumenical Future Together”: 368-377.
Payne, Daniel P. and Jennifer M. Kent. “An Alliance of the Sacred: Prospects for a Catholic-Orthodox Partnership against Secularism in Europe.” The Journal of Ecumenical Studies 46:1 (Winter 2011): 41-66.
The authors summarize Roman Catholic and Orthodox views on the secularization of European society and the Ecumenical Patriarch’s 2009 proposal for a “churches’ umbrella body in Europe” to bear common witness against secularization and then analyze what they see to be obstacles for such an alliance and the costs to each tradition’s ecumenical relationship with “liberal” Protestants. Despite these obstacles, the authors regard the possibility of such an alliance as an instrument for effective dialogue with Muslims and a positive step toward deepening ecumenical relations with one another.
Robert, Dana L. “Cross-Cultural Friendship in the Creation of Twentieth-Century World Christianity.”International Bulletin of Missionary Research 35:2 (April 2011): 100-107.
The author, a professor ofworld Christianity and missions at Boston University, provides compelling stories of the central place of cross-cultural friendships in early to mid-20 th century missionary work in bridging cultures and giving voice to the disenfranchised, describes the subsequent evolution from personal friendship to missions partnerships between institutions, and asks how cross-cultural personal friendships might yet be nurtured and valued in an era of short-term mission trips and economic and cultural differences.
Root, Michael. “ Indulgences as Ecumenical Barometer: Penitence and Unity in the Christian Life.” Bulletin, Centro Pro Unione No. 79 (Spring 2011): 3-10.
In this published lecture from a Centro Pro Unione conference, a veteran ecumenist explicates theologically the interrelation between the sinner’s ongoing conversion through the consequences of sin and the remission of those consequences by indulgences and then addresses the associated ecumenical questions: first, what is the church’s authority to function as a “determinative agent within the mediation of grace,” (p. 8); second, how binding a secondary doctrine like indulgences would be for other churches; and third, how churches might deal ecumenically today with a loaded term such as “indulgence” that evokes the Reformation split.
Sisto, Walter N. “Marian Dogmas and Reunion: What Eastern Catholics Can Teach Us about Catholic Ecumenism.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 46:2 (Spring 2011): 150-162.
A Catholic ecumenical theologian proposes that Anglican-Catholic rapprochement on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception could succeed by emulating the Roman Catholic Church’s approach on the topic for the Ukrainian Catholic Church, to wit, that the dogma be accepted without requiring the specific Roman Catholic theological formulation. The author proposes this Roman Catholic-Eastern Catholic theological agreement as an ecumenical model for ARCIC.
Thompson, David M. “Background to the Disciples-Catholic Dialogue.” Call to Unity Issue 12 (October 2011): 21-29.
A Disciples theologian who has been on the international dialogue since 1980 summarizes the four rounds of dialogue now completed between the two churches, in this paper presented to the preparatory meeting for the fifth phase of dialogue, tentatively to be named “Formed and Transformed at the Table of the Lord.”
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2012: “We Will All Be Changed by the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58)”: Preaching Material on the 2012 Week of Prayer Theme.
▪ Hooke, Ruthanna B. “Homiletical Notes for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” Ecumenical Trends 40:9 (October 2011): 138-143.
▪ Soards, Marion L. “A Commentary”: Ecumenical Trends 40:10 (November 2011): 154, 159.
Welch, Robert K. “The Scandal of Our Disunity – It’s Personal.” Ecumenical Trends 40:8 (September 2011): 113-116, 126.
This keynote address from the 2011 National Workshop on Christian Unity reflects on the “landscape” of the ecumenical movement, identifies current “frontiers” (reception, interfaith engagement, and dialogue with Evangelicals and Pentecostals), and challenges the National Workshop to create and issue a public statement to the churches in 2012.The National Workshop’s response, “Christian Unity is our Calling,” which states the Workshop’s intent to “together assess, affirm and renew our dedication to the future of Christian unity” in 2012, is published on the following page of ET.
Werner, Dietrich. “Theological Education in the Changing Context of World Christianity — an Unfinished Agenda.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 35:2 (April 2011): 92-100.
The Director of the WCC Programme on Ecumenical Theological Education gives his assessment of the influence of Edinburgh 1910 and Edinburgh 2010 on theological education and describes six challenges that he believes theological education faces today: 1) unequal distribution, 2) cultural dominance, 3) migration and pluralism, 4) fragmentation of world Christianity, 5) viability of seminaries, and 6) secularism in the academy.
White, John F. “A New Order for a New Day – A Call to Be One: Hush, Someone is Calling our Name: 26 th Peter Ainslie Lecture on Christian Unity.” Call to Unity 12 (October 2011): 7-10.
The Ecumenical and Urban Affairs Officer for the African Methodist Episcopal Church speaks for unity in all circumstances: Jesus is calling the churches “to provide the forum in which each church can articulate the judgments that shape, and even qualify, its relationship to the others so that honest sharing of commonalities, divergences and differences will help all churches pursue the things we share in common” (p. 10).
Zemin, Chen. “To Unite All in Christ, That We May Become One.” Chinese Theological Review 23 (2011): 123-127.
A Chinese Christian’s sermon on ecumenism, whereby he analyzes the meaning of the verb “unite” in Ephesians chapters 1 and 4 as return to the headship of Christ and draws out the text’s dimensions of “illumination, inspiration, admonition, warning and challenge” (127) for the church.