Mary – ‘Mother of the Church’: challenging conciliar ecclesiology

On 21 November 1964, at the end of the third session of the Second Vatican Council, the Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (LG), was solemnly adopted together with its final chapter on Mary. Simultaneously, Pope Paul VI proclaimed the Marian title Mater Ecclesiae. This article will both review the Council’s debate and identify the specifics of the title Mater Ecclesiae. The Council had rejected the idea of awarding this title to Mary, even though chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium mentions her ‘function as mother’ (LG 60). In proclaiming this title, Paul VI did not follow the Council, which had located Mary within the Church. The question therefore arises as to whether Mary, as the ‘Mother of the Church’, is now placed outside the Church.     

The 2014 Agreed Statement on Christology of the Churches of the Anglican Communion and the Oriental Orthodox Churches: a Catholic review

This article discusses the sources of the 2014 Agreed Statement on Christology, which include not only the 433 Formula of Union and the teaching of St Cyril of Alexandria but also some language from the Council of Chalcedon (451), the Second Council of Constantinople (553), and the Third Council of Constantinople (680–681). It also examines the rejection of Eutychianism and Nestorianism, as well as the Anglican Christology represented by Richard Hooker and the firm connection drawn between the hypostatic union and Christ’s work of salvation. The article also presents the text in comparison and contrast with two Christological declarations shared by the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Pope Shenouda III (1973) and the Assyrian Church of the East (1994).     

The Imperative of Diakonia for the Church and Theological Education

This article begins by arguing that diakonia is an imperative for the church, be it at the local, national, regional, or global level. It goes on to describe how diakonia has been part of the identity of the World Council of Churches during its 70 years of existence, and highlights the struggle of diakonia and development within the fellowship and ecumenical partners. The article focuses on the document Called to Transformative Action: Ecumenical Diakonia as the most recent attempt to reflect on who we are and what we do as church. It identifies one important aspect of diakonia as reflected in the Pan‐African Women's Ecumenical Empowerment Network perspective on theological education. The article concludes by reflecting on the author's vision for a just community of women and men in prophetic diakonia.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Fernando Enns, Friedenskirche in der Ökumene: Mennorutische Wurzeln einer Ethik der Gewaltfreiheit [A Peace Church in the Ecumenical Movement: The Mennonite Roots of an Ethic of Non‐Violence] Riccardo Larini (under the direction of), II libra di testimoni: martirologio ecumenico [A Book of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Martyrology] Horace Russell, The Missionary Outreach of the West Indian Church: Jamaican Baptist Mission to West Africa in the Nineteenth Century Daphne Hampson, Christian Contradictions: The Structure of Lutheran and Catholic Thought Joseph Liechty and Cecelia Clegg, Moving beyond Sectarianism: Religion, Conflict and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland     

Research on the diaconate: a retrospective view of promise and challenge

This editorial article briefly reviews retrospectively the research undertaken by the Anglo-Nordic Diaconal Research Project (ANDREP), which has been concerned primarily with the Churches of Sweden and Norway, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Church of England, with reference to ecclesiology and praxis in other churches, and to concommitant research and ecumenical developments elsewhere, in relation to the diaconate. From the publication of the WCC Faith and Order Paper on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM, 1982) and throughout the period of the formation of the Porvoo communion of Churches, there appeared to be great promise for the renewal of the deacon's ministry. However, it became apparent that, in the Church of England at least, renewal of the diaconate was not generally regarded principally as an end in itself but as a means of advancing the cause of women's ordination to priesthood. Furthermore, mono-presbyterate and the variety of meanings given to the term ‘diakonia’ have presented a number of problems. Fundamental principles of ecclesiology pertaining to the diaconate also were – and remain – unknown or disregarded in much church practice. A number of challenges which consequently arise for the churches have been identified over time and are addressed in this issue of the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church (IJSCC), vol. 13, no. 4 (2013), on the theme of ‘The Ministry of the Deacon in Times of Ecumenical Reconfiguration’.     

Growth in Criticism?

Reports of global ecumenical conversations are regularly published by the World Council of Churches in a collection of volumes titled Growth in Agreement. The assumption is that the dialogues are not just repeating the same arguments they made half a century ago, but that relations between member churches have grown qualitatively as a result of this process. This paper asks whether Orthodox critique of Roman Catholic ecclesiology reflects signs of growth or continues “traditional” stereotypical thinking about other churches and religions. The paper first examines Orthodox reactions to Lumen Gentium during and immediately after the Second Vatican Council, then compares them with Orthodox reactions to the council’s 50th anniversary. The paper concludes by asking whether Pope Francis’ endeavour to reform the Catholic Church in the direction of greater synodality is partly the result of the expectations of our sister churches’ representatives over the past 50 years.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Jeffrey VanderWilt, A Church without Borders: The Eucharist and the Church in Ecumenical Perspective Charles Miller, The Gift of the World. An Introduction to the Theology of Dimitru Staniloe Musa W. Dube, ed., Other Ways of Reading: African Women and the Bible Adrian Hastings, Oliver Tomkins: The Ecumenical Enterprise, 1908–92     

“Liturgy emerges from a wound”

Serious academic reflection and scholarship on the Fresh Expressions of Church (FXoC) movement in the United Kingdom is developing significantly, but there exists almost no such work in South Africa. What has been produced deals with scholars reflecting on their experiences of Fresh Expressions in the United Kingdom (Ian Nell and Rudolph Grobler, “An Exploration of Fresh Expressions as Missional Church: Some Practical-Theological Perspectives,” NGTT DEEL 55:3–4 (2017), 747–68). This is an unfortunate situation. While there has been a generous response by many churches, there has been little interest, by and large, from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA). FXoC is, then, an under-researched entity in South Africa. This article, part of a larger study, seeks to ask questions about how liturgy might develop from below in a new ecclesial community of marginalized people.     

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion

As a complement to the many studies pointing to tensions, compromises and juxtapositions in Lumen Gentium (LG), this article, published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the dogmatic constitution, aims, by means of a lectio continua, to defend the document's profound coherence. In each chapter the Council fathers made it clear that – whether it pertains to the people of God as a whole or to the laity, the religious, the bishops, the Pope or even the Blessed Virgin Mary – nothing happens in the Church as a merely human act, apart from the will of Christ or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The first image applied to the Church in LG 1 – that the Church shares in Christ's mission – and its explanation in LG 8 that the Church is ‘one complex reality comprising a human and a divine element’, therefore, can be considered as a perfect summary of the entire constitution and of the nature and mission of the Church.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: A Vision for Man . Essays on Faith , Theology And Society , ed. Samuel Amirtham. einführung in die Theologie der Religionen , by H. Bürkle . Church And State : Opening A New Ecumenical Discussion . Christians or Capitalists , by Cosmas Desmond . The Orthodox Church in the Ecumenical Movement , ed. Constantin Patelos. Das Herrenmahl , ed. Gemeinsame Römisch-Katholische/Evangelisch-Lutherische Kommission. Nairobi : A Joke, a Junket, or a Journey ? by J. H. Jackson.     

Contemporary Catholic Perspectives on Christian–Muslim Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Tanzania

Taking into consideration that Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa live intermingled in family, clan or ethnic groups, this article takes cognizance of the effect of the teachings of each tradition about their own identity and their perception of the other. It also seeks to take into account the Roman Catholic principles of inter-religious dialogue as enunciated by the Second Vatican Council in the documents Nostra Aetate and the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christians, as well as Unitatis Reintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism, and Dominus Iesus. In view of the fact that these are seen as a source of tension, the question arises as to whether they are being interpreted correctly or applied in the spirit intended.     

Missionary Discipleship as the Innovation of the Church in Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium

Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium talks about discipleship in a framework of mission and evangelization. Rather than concentrating on the discipleship as such, it uses as a lens the spiritual commitment of conversion to missionary discipleship, challenging all Christians and the whole Church, including institutional structures, to this conversion. In common with the World Council of Churches’ document Together towards Life, Evangelii Gaudium emphasizes a need for Christians to focus on the heart of the Gospel, the love of the trinitarian God, in order to find trustful, dynamic, and transformative mission for the “changing landscapes” of today's global and local phenomena. This article deals with the concept of missionary discipleship in Evangelii Gaudium. To this end it discusses discipleship and its underlying structure of continual conversion as it is represented in both Evangelii Gaudium and the WCC's mission document Together towards Life.     

The ecumenical vision of Pope Francis: journeying together as fellow pilgrims − ‘the mystery of unity has already begun’

After reviewing some of the unique ecumenical steps taken by Pope Francis, this article examines briefly the three ecumenical paragraphs in Evangelii Gaudium. It presents them in the wider context of this post-synodal exhortation, of the ecumenical gestures and testimonies of Pope Francis, the ecumenical orientation of the Catholic Church and the ecumenical movement as such. It concludes with an outlook on a newly emerging ecumenical paradigm.     

The Church as sacrament

Abstract

In 1967 Pope Paul VI acknowledged that the papacy is a major obstacle on the road to Christian unity. More recently, Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical on ecumenism, invited non-Roman Christians to contribute to a revisioning of the papal office. On the basis of this acknowledgement and invitation, this essay explores related issues from an Anglican perspective. These include a consideration of both positive and negative aspects of the ARCIC statement The Gift of Authority with regard to the papacy; a view of the evolution of Anglican attitudes toward the papacy from the time of the Reformation; and, finally, issues related to the model of the papacy which has been in place since the pontificate of Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council. The pontificate of Pius IX was a turning point in papal theory toward an absolutist model of papal authority functioning apart from other sources of authority within the life of the Church. The revisioning of the papacy which Pope John Paul has invited would seem to require, if it is to become a sign of unity for all Christians, the setting aside of this model. Yet such a development would violate the now established understanding of the office among conservative Roman Catholics.     

Book reviews

Gunnel Borgegard, Olav Fanuelsen, Christine Hall (ed.), The Ministry of the Deacon, 2. Ecclesiological Explorations (Uppsala: Nordic Ecumenical Council, 2000), 91–85564–10–9, 285 pp.

Dennis M. Doyle, Communion Ecclesiology (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2000) 1–57075–327‐X, ix + 195 pp.

Nicholas M. Healy, Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical‐Prophetic Ecclesiology. Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine 7 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 0–521–78650–9 (pbk), 199 pp.     

Special Rules for the Church: The “Ministerial” Exception under the Americans with Disabilities Act

Abstract : In the Hosanna‐Tabor case, the United States Supreme Court held that there is a broad exception under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for employees who are ministers. A Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod school could fire an elementary school teacher with a disability because she was a “called teacher,” even though the termination would otherwise have violated the ADA. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America supported this decision, but this contradicts the ELCA's position with respect to persons living with disabilities. It also reflects an “idolatry of the call” inconsistent with the priesthood of all believers. A better course for the ELCA is to agree to be bound by those standards that it advocates for the secular world.     

The Eastern Catholic Churches and the paradox of Vatican II

The author investigates the challenges to Catholic ecclesiology presented by two Eastern Catholic Churches – the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church – as they assert prerogatives validated by the teachings of Vatican II. In their reception of the Council these Churches highlight the need to develop the Trinitarian and Eucharistic ecclesiology rediscovered by the Council. This practical development is mirrored in the progress of the International Roman Catholic–Orthodox Dialogue and the teachings of Pope John Paul II. Although a final resolution still awaits, it is evident in the treatment of the Eastern Catholics by the Vatican that reception of the Council demands a renewed understanding of the mutual interdependence of primacy and conciliarity. Such a development will only hasten Christian reunification.     

The Second Vatican Council 50th anniversary: visions and re-visions

On 21 November 2014, the 50th anniversary of the solemn promulgation of Lumen Gentium and Unitatis Redintegratio was celebrated. Between ‘aggiornamento’ and ‘ressourcement’ the Catholic Church had been striving to understand itself and its Tradition more precisely, in order to be newly relevant, lastingly true and authoritative in the future ? an indispensible task, if the gospel were to be proclaimed to the contemporary world, but not an easy one. It is little wonder that this completion of the Council's endeavours was preceded by its so-called ‘black week’. Questions remain as to the outcome of it all, and the articles assembled in this issue assess the reception of these two conciliar texts after 50 years. Where do the achievements lie? Where are the shortcomings? Where do questions need to be asked today that reach beyond the horizon of Vatican II?     

Recent Books on Protestant-Roman Catholic Dialogues,Relations and Common Practices

Baptism and Eucharist: Ecumenical Convergence in Celebration, eds Max Thurian and Geoffrey Wainwright. Geneva: WCC, and Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1983, 258pp. (Faith and Order Paper No. 117). The Churches as Peacemakers? An Analysis of Recent Church Statements on Peace, Disarmament and War. Rome: IDOC-International, 1985, 88pp. Congar, Yves: Diversity and Communion. London: SCM Press, 1984, 232pp. (Translated from the French Diversités et communion. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1982). Derr, Thomas Sieger: Barriers to Ecumenism: the Holy See and the World Council of Churches on Social Questions. Maryknol, NY: Orbis Books, 1983, 102pp. Desseaux, Jacques Elisée: Dialogues théologiques et accords oecuméniques. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1982, 199pp. Dialogi Ecumenici Ufficiali: Bilanci e Prospettive, a cura di Donato Valentini. Roma: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano, 1983, 168pp. (Biblioteca di Scienze Religiose, 53). Ecumenical Perspectives on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, ed. Max Thurian. Geneva: WCC, 1983, 246pp. (Faith and Order Paper, No. 116). Die Eucharistie der einen Kirche — Eucharistische Ekklesiologie: Perspektiven und Grenzen, eds. Albert Rauch and Paul Imhof. Munich: Verlagsgesellschaft Gerhard Kaffke, 1983, 231pp. (Koinonia. Schriftenreihe des Ostkirchlichen Instituts Regensburg, Band III). Fries, Heinrich and Rahner, Karl: Unity of the Churches: an Actual Possibility. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, and New York: Paulist Press, 1985, 146pp. (Translated from the German Einigung der Kirchen — Reale Möglichkeit. Freiburg: Herder, 1983). Huwyler, Christoph: Das Problem der Interkommunion: Dargestellt anhand kirchlicher Verlautbarungen, Ökumenischer Dokumente und der theologischen Diskussion. Bad Honneff: Bock und Herrchen Verlag, 1984, 2 volumes. Lazareth, William H.: Growing Together in Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry: a Study Guide. Geneva: WCC, 1982, 107pp. (Faith and Order Paper No. 114). Local Ecumenism: How Church Unity is Seen and Practised by Congregations, ed. André Birmelé. Geneva: WCC, 1984, 37pp. Peace and Disarmament: Documents of the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. Geneva: (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, and Rome: Pontifical Commission “Iustitia et Pax”, 1983, 255pp. Wachsende Übereinstimmung in Taufe, Eucharistie und Amt: Hilfen zur Beschäftigung mit den Lima-Erklärungen. Im Auftrag der ökumenischen Kommission der katholischen Bistümer in Bayern, herausgegeben von Gerhard Voss. Freising: Kyrios-Verlag, and Paderborn: Verlag Bonifatius, 1984, 96pp. Wainwright, Geoffrey: The Ecumenical Moment: Crisis and Opportunity for the Church. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1983, 263pp.     

Worship as a Revelation. The Past,Present and Future of Catholic Liturgy

Unitatis Redintegratio (UR), the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, was both the outcome and instrument of ecumenical engagement between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and continues to have a formative influence on their dialogue. In the lead-up to the Council, personal contacts between Church of England leaders and the nascent Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity played a significant part in a change of atmosphere towards other Christian traditions at the Vatican. UR notes the ‘special place’ which the Anglican Communion holds in the communion of churches: the 1966 meeting in Rome between Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI would lead to The Malta Report (1968) and the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). The ‘Principles of Dialogue’ set out in UR – avoiding polemical language; integrating spiritual and academic learning; expounding positions clearly, and committed openness – are affirmed in the light of the experience of ARCIC. The Agreed Statements of ARCIC I and II, focused around the motif of koinonia, are assessed in view of the topics for dialogue listed in UR: Christology; Ecclesiology (including the Blessed Virgin Mary); Sacred Scripture; Life in Christ in communion; Teaching on sacraments and ministry; and Christian personal, family, liturgical and social life. The significance of eschatology in relation to unity in Christ is highlighted, both with reference to Anglican difficulties about gender relations and authority, and to the three-fold use of ‘complete’ in UR. What might it mean for ecumenical dialogue, and ecclesial relationships, to work from the future backwards rather than just from the past forwards – i.e. in terms of faith rather than sight?