Impressions of the Church of Sweden: liberal and catholic with nuances of Lutheranism

The Church of Sweden is difficult to describe or to characterise, whether as a Folk Church, a national church, as catholic or liberal, or as, in some sense, Lutheran. This article refers to aspects of its complex relations with the Roman Catholic Church and with Lutheranism at large. The author detects, from ecumenical agreement and practice, an incipient new communion of churches, based on a common claim to be catholic and also to be open to developments in society. This group includes the Church of Sweden, the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Philippine Independent Church, all of which are in communion with each other. The author's presentation is set out in relation to the Church of Sweden's liturgical and sacramental life, its church–state relations, and in an account of the rather asymmetrical shape of ecumenism in Sweden, in all of which the question of gender plays a role.     

The Church of Greece in critical times: reflections through philanthropy

In this article we reflect on the position and role of the Orthodox Church of Greece in contemporary Greek society as the latter is ravaged by a multi-layered crisis. This we do through the study of the discursive prerequisites and underlying logic governing the philanthropic response of the Church to the crisis, as promulgated by the Church’s major institutional settings, the Synodical Committee on Social Welfare and Beneficence and the Archdiocesan Anti-Poverty Fund. Viewing the Church and the state as uneasy partners in the process of the modernisation of Greece, we first consider the Church’s understanding of the crisis before focusing on the way this informs the practice of the above-mentioned institutional settings. We conclude with some thoughts on the Church’s attempt to transcend the secular–religious divide through imbuing its philanthropic praxis with its transcendental Christian hope.     

Learning the Church: ecclesiological thought and ecclesial practice

This article illustrates how the ecclesiological ideas developed by Professor Daniel Hardy (1930–2007) have been received and used in the life of the Church of England's Diocese of Coventry. It highlights the importance of theological engagement for those in a position of oversight and leadership in the Church, and goes on to connect Hardy's language of intensity and extensity with the story, structure and ethos of Coventry Cathedral in general, and with the iconic Stalingrad Madonna in particular, illustrating the rich synthesis that can be achieved between systematic ecclesiology and the central ethos of a church. The article goes on to argue that certain practices in the Church of England in general, and Coventry Diocese in particular, resonate well with Hardy's idea of ‘socio-poiesis’. These include the nurture of virtuous ecclesial practice and use of measurement in parish life (notably through ‘Natural Church Development)’, the new form taken by ecumenism in British cities and the role of the Bishop within it, as well as the embeddedness of the Church of England in many of the nation's schools. In relating Hardy's key themes to these concrete practices, this article challenges the stale division between Church and Academy, advocating fruitful and animating dialogue between the two as the best response to the challenges faced by each today.     

The Mission of the Church in the Contemporary World in Light of the Decisions of the Holy and Great Council

This article discusses the place of mission in the Orthodox Church. The document “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World,” which was approved by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church held in Crete in 2016, is still in the process of reception, as are the other documents, but it constitutes, without doubt, a new era in Orthodox missiology – as indeed the Great and Holy Council in Crete represents a new era in Orthodoxy. The interrelatedness of unity and mission is not a question of methodology or strategy. It is an ontological one: it is related to the very essence of koinonia as fellowship in the triune God, and to the specific aspect of κοινονια as participation in God's economy in and for the world. Mission is commitment to the work of the triune God incarnated in Jesus Christ. Both are God’s gift and command. It is only in unity with the Holy Trinity that the church is able to fulfil its vocation.     

The Roman Catholic Church and Slavery in José Evaristo d'Almeida's O Escravo (The Slave)

This installment of Dialog's Theology in Film and Fiction series introduces the first Cape Verdean novel, The Slave, by José Evaristo d'Almeida (1856). This vivid story depicts a number of social and moral issues tied together within the tragic plot of the novel. The article discusses the historical relationship of the Roman Catholic Church to slavery, the colonial history of Portugal and Cape Verde, and the theological use of the Bible in this history. This discussion is applied to Almeida's novel, revealing the manifold nineteenth‐century varieties of the literary history and theology of colonialism.     

The Greek Orthodox Church and the economic crisis since 2009

In the midst of the raging socio-economic crisis that has hit Greece since 2009 the Greek Orthodox Church, under Archbishop Ieronymos II, has admirably developed its network of philanthropic work and charity meals. Open to both Greeks and immigrants, this project seems to realise Eastern Orthodox Christianity's sense of caritas and civic duty. Low key and efficient, the Orthodox Church's response to the crisis has left behind the nationalistic cries and pietistic/didactic excesses of the recent past. This article asserts, however, that, by failing to grapple with the structural causes of the crisis in a politically relevant manner and by refusing to castigate specific policies and politicians at the national and European Union level, the Greek Orthodox Church has offered a much needed palliative, but in the end has remained discursively distant from theological and political criticism of a rapacious neoliberal system and from effective engagement with Greek modernity.     

Functions of the Black Church in a Global Society: A Du Boisian Approach

Globalization's impact on local communities is a topic that religious congregations should address as a means of moral and socioeconomic well-being. This is especially important for the Black Church if it hopes to continue supporting the socioeconomic outcomes of its congregants and community members, as it has in the past. Using Du Boisian assessments of the functions of the Black Church, this study assessed how today's congregations can serve similar functions as the congregations that Du Bois studied, while exploring contemporary concerns. With an explanatory sequential research design, this study surveyed Philadelphia-based congregations (N = 108) to assess their understanding of and engagement with the impact of globalization on future generations, paired with subsequent interviews (N = 15) for deeper analysis. The survey included clergy members and youth leaders of various races and religious traditions. With an eye toward equity and considering Philadelphia's diverse demographics, the in-depth semistructured interviews centered on Black churches in Philadelphia. The core findings highlight that clergy members in Philadelphia recognize the importance of prioritizing global issues as a means of social betterment and that a special lens toward race should be considered when looking to solve socioeconomic global issues.     

Three Ways of Being Church

This article proposes a theological re-appraisal of three images of the Church: institution, servant and community. The defining characteristics of an institution can be applied positively to the Church when it is seen to have been instituted by Jesus Christ. But what is instituted is a continuing relationship grounded in Christ's own presence. The servant Church is characterized by its commitment to the purposes of God in ‘secular’ society and the promise of God's kingdom. The community model of the Church has two common expressions, one emphasizing social relationships, one stressing mystical communion, but these are grounded in the trinitarian community itself. While each model has its own contribution and integrity, taken together they suggest mutual inter-dependence, itself reflecting the divine community and expressed in the mutually affirming virtues of faith, hope and love.     

The Indonesian Catholic Church 50 years after Vatican II: seven models of church life

The significance and influence of the Second Vatican Council in respect of the reform of the Catholic Church are no longer in dispute. The issue now at stake is how the Vatican II documents are understood and implemented in each church community. This article is the result of research on the significance and implementation of the Council's thinking in the Indonesian Catholic Church (ICC) in the past 50 years. It begins with observations on ICC's history and social context, then highlights the main use of conciliar documents in the reforms it has undertaken. Seven models of church life, illustrative of the implementation of Vatican II, are described. Although these models cannot comprehensively reveal all the realities of the ICC, they are seen as portraying it as it is today, at the point from which its future course may be worked out.     

The Pentecostal Church in Slovakia and the Common Witness of Evangelical Churches in the Spirit of Partnership and Cooperation

This study aims to describe the Pentecostal Church in Slovakia in the scope of current ecumenical cooperation and dialogue. The Apostolic Church is a member of the Union of Evangelical Churches in Slovakia, which established the Department of Theology and Christian Education (DETM) at the University of Matej Bel. Since 1994, individual churches have continued together in ecumenical cooperation in the education of their young spiritual workers. The curriculum includes academic interpretation and missiological reflection on selected parts of mission. It offers the practical efforts of the teachers and students, especially from the viewpoint of the churches' common witness in diversity. The curriculum of the study programme for theologians interprets the two mission documents Together towards Life (TTL) and The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) from a Slovakian evangelical theological view and applies it practically in context. This paper introduces DETM's educational programme in mission and ecumenism and examines how it embodies the values and concepts of those two mission documents through its activities. Special interest is focused on the topic of the practice of common witness in a spirit of partnership and cooperation.     

A comparison of the ecclesiological doctrine of Vatican II with Faith and Order's convergence text The Church: Towards a Common Vision

Faith and Order's important new convergence text on ecclesiology was published in 2013, 50 years after the discussions in 1963, at the second session of Vatican II, which produced the council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, the following year. After acknowledging some of the pitfalls in comparing a conciliar teaching with an ecumenical convergence text, this article summarises the content of the new ecumenical text on ecclesiology, indicates points of agreement with Vatican II's teaching and proposes that The Church: Towards a Common Vision might be seen as reflecting a hierarchy of ecclesiological truths which provides a promising framework for seeking greater agreement about still divisive issues.     

Scotland: religion,culture and national identity

In this initial article of the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church's special issue on Perspectives on the Church in Scotland, as well as offering a wider context for the contributions that follow, I want to explore what connections in general might be said to exist between Scottish identity and Christianity, and then, more particularly, the impact of religion on the country's artistic culture, written as well as visual. Even those whose interest in the Scottish dimension may be marginal at best may find the discussion of broader relevance, since all nations now face to varying degrees the problem of how to relate their present pluriform identity to a narrower past. England, for instance, is ethnically much more diverse than its near neighbour and so struggles to find an appropriate contemporary self-definition. This can be seen reflected in the way in which politicians, in speaking of ‘British core values’, often merely reiterate what are universals in the western world, such as democracy, equal respect before the law, gender equality and so on, as with Nick Clegg's recent list on the Today programme on Radio 4 (10 June 2014) in which Gordon Brown's similar list during his premiership was simply reiterated. Others, though, continue to wrestle with what appeal to England's past history might mean and even with whether the established Church might have some continuing role within it, with the philosopher Roger Scruton offering a particularly intriguing instance in his Our Church: A Personal History of the Church of England (2012).     

The Church as Mission in Its Very Life

Is there a relation between Church and mission? And if there is, how are mission and Church related? Does the Church have a mission or even several missions? Or is the Church essentially mission? Is it mission in its very life? These are the core questions of the following study text 1 that constitutes the contribution of the Working Group on Mission and Ecclesiology of CWME, from which the new Mission Statement's chapter on the Church drew. To address these questions means to embark on a twofold agenda: It means to approach mission from the angle of the life of and the reflection on the Church, and it also means to tackle ecumenical ecclesiology from a mission perspective. The present text grew out of further reflections on the study paper on theme 8 of the Edinburgh 2010 study process “Towards Common Witness to Christ Today: Mission and Visible Unity of the Church” (published in IRM 99.1 [2010] 86–106). The insights gathered in the following paper are part of an ongoing process that seeks to take into account the constantly changing contexts of mission and Church. Already on the face of it, the macro‐context shows two opposing trends: on the one hand, an increasing secularization of society, and at the same time, on the other, the emerging of new and rapidly growing religious movements. The present text limits itself to stating and briefly analyzing some factors of the continuously changing ecclesial landscape that is created by these trends of the macro‐context. This approach presumes that the Church is not merely a free‐floating, ultra‐mundane entity. It is of an “incarnational” nature. It exists in the midst of differing particular contexts in this world. The methodological option of starting from the contemporary contexts and challenges to world Christianity today and of evaluating the impacts they have on contemporary mission offers a fresh view on long‐debated issues in missiology and ecclesiology. In its search for solutions to these contemporary challenges, the text argues that theologically it is impossible to separate Church and mission. The missio Dei concept, which affirms the priority of the triune God's sending activity, continues to provide the fundamental basis for both, an ecumenical missiology and an ecclesiology from a mission point of view. “The missionary intention of God is the raison d'être of the Church,” the text states in no. 32. This Church (with a capital C) is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church we confess in the creed. The Church can also be called “apostolic” in the sense that Christians are “sent”, since they are invited by God to become “part‐takers” in God's mission (nos. 24 and 26). The second chapter is therefore called “Common Witness: That the World May Believe”. It addresses the insight that a lack of unity is detrimental to the witness and mission of the Church. This insight, which is already highlighted in John 17:21, was prophetically spelled out for the modern ecumenical movement by the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh. From an ecclesiological point of view, the core question is how our confessional churches embody this one Church or how they are otherwise related to it. From a mission point of view, the witness of the one Church of Jesus Christ in the world needs to be a common witness despite the divisions and fractions that split the Church and hinder mission. This common witness stipulates criteria of discernment. And a mission‐centred ecclesiology has to ask: What structures and features in our churches further our common witness to God's mission? What features and structures hinder it? When answering these questions, the role of the Holy Spirit in mediating between unity and diversity needs to be taken into account. At the same time, the goal of full visible unity is reaffirmed by asking, How does unity become visible? Is this only and exclusively possible by common structures, or can it also, and perhaps more genuinely, be achieved by common service and witness to the mission of God? The third and last chapter addresses “Visions and Hopes” in the light of God's mission of healing, reconciliation and hope. Hope pervades the new missionary spirituality. Hope also motivates conversion as turning together to God. This new concentration on the aspect of hope accounts for the fact that, in view of the constantly changing ecclesial landscape and the flowing contexts of mission, it is impossible to name just one overall solution that would last at least for some of the coming decades. But “hope” stands for the confidence that, with the help of God for the Church, there will never be a lack of ingenious solutions in the time to come and that God's vineyard will never be without workers who will happily join in the common witness to God's mission. Annemarie C. MAYER     

Church or Factory: Radical Inclusivity and Vanguard Practice in 1960s New York

Art historians have often discussed Andy Warhol's Factory as a unique creative space in 1960s Manhattan. Similarly, scholars of dance and performance have provided valuable insight into the vanguard activities associated with the Judson Dance Theater located near Union Square. Few studies take time to compare these two places and consider their relationships to one another. This article looks at Warhol's Silver Factory and the performances that took place at Judson Memorial Church more or less simultaneously with a goal of identifying overlapping actors and establishing shared concerns and a sense of radical inclusivity that existed at both sites.     

The Catholic Church and the crisis: the case of Portugal

This article investigates the role of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal in the aftermath of the economic and financial crisis. Through a focus on the case of Lisbon, we explore how the crisis resulted in increased collaboration between religious organizations and the public administration. The crisis in fact changed the opportunity structure of the Portuguese Catholic world, which has reacted basically in three different ways. Firstly, the Episcopal Conference has pointed out the relevance of subsidiarity in the welfare field—and, more broadly, as a principle of societal organization—in the attempt to re-negotiate its role and relevance within Portuguese society, drawing on the activity and the reputation of the Catholic organizations. Secondly, Caritas and the National Commission of Justice and Peace have been quite vocal in denouncing the shortcomings of the Government and the effects of the austerity measures, calling for equality and justice and putting pressure on the Episcopal Conference as well as the central government. Thirdly, local organizations—including religious organizations, such as Caritas—have been gaining a new important role in the coordination and provision of welfare services, as the crisis accelerated the trends towards subsidiarity and governance.     

Haeres Petri: Leo I and Church Order

The exact nature of the authority of the Bishop of Rome was a subject for debate from the earliest days of Christianity. Few doubted that he occupied a special place in the life of the Church and exercised a special kind of authority, but the historical and theological foundations of that authority required articulation. The first Pope Leo, focussing on his relationship to the apostle Peter, presented one of the first coherent accounts of papal authority. In this essay the author clarifies the distinctions that need to be made between the various concepts that constitute the notion of authority – demonstrating, finally, that Leo's claims lie not in concepts of potestas or imperium but rather in concepts of firmitas, stabilitas, confirmatio and soliditas. This not only throws light on the growth of the Papacy in the first centuries but suggests ways of approaching similar questions in the present day.     

The Orthodoxy of the Anglo-Saxons: conversion and loyalty in the pre-conquest English Church

Though Eastern Christians generally regard the Western part of the Church to have split from Orthodoxy permanently in 1054, there have been calls by some to modify the date of this as regards the Anglo-Saxon Church. These Orthodox lay scholars and bishops argue that the Anglo-Saxon Church was more closely aligned with the Orthodox East rather than the Roman Catholic West, as evidenced by the canonisation of St Edward the Confessor and advocacy for the canonisation of King Harold II. This article questions these assertions by looking at the evidence provided by Anglo-Saxon connection to the Western Church, as well as the migration of Anglo-Saxons to Byzantium following the Battle of Hastings, as described in the Játvarðar Saga. It concludes by discussing what implications these findings have for the Orthodox Church in its canonisation of a technically non-Orthodox saint.     

Pondering “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World”: A Protestant Missiological Reflection

The article explores “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World” (MOCT), one of the six official documents issued by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church that took place on the island of Crete in 2016. It is the first official Orthodox statement on mission ever published. The aim of the present article is to offer a reflection of MOCT from a Protestant missiological perspective. The article argues that MOCT interprets mission as the service of the church to the world, motivated by love. It goes on to discuss six major thematic areas of the statement, namely, the dignity of the human person; freedom and responsibility; peace and justice; peace and the aversion of war; the attitude of the church toward discrimination; and the mission of the Orthodox Church as a witness of love through service. The article seeks to provide a constructive critique of MOCT, assessing both its weaknesses and its assets. It concludes by saying that despite certain theological question marks, the new Orthodox mission document represents an invaluable contribution to the ecumenical discussion on mission and evangelism.     

Biblical mothers as images of the Church

Among the many images and symbols of the Church which the church Fathers used, biblical mothers had an important role. Some of these images, such as Mary as an image of the Church, became widespread and have influenced later Christian theology and iconography. In this article, both the development and different applications of these images will be explored. How and to what purpose these images were used in the Early Church will also be studied. Among the topics dealt with by using these images were the origin, age, character and purpose of the Church, as well as its relation to several ‘others’ (the Jews, the schismatics and the heretics). In modern ecclesiological discussions, especially of Eve and Mary as images of the Church, the role of the Church in salvation, as well as the communal interpretation of biblical mothers, are relevant.     

The Anglican Communion: Idea,Name and Identity

Abstract

In the early nineteenth century, the idea that the United Church of England and Ireland (with the ‘Colonial Church’), the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA belonged to each other was (in England at least) a belief advocated by high-churchmen, not an established fact. Their ministries were not interchangeable. The article first traces the growth of the view that they were or should be branches of one communion. The second part surveys the variety of names used for this communion in the earlier nineteenth century. It records use of the name ‘Anglican Communion’ in the modern sense in 1847—more than three years earlier than previously known. Finally, reasons are suggested why the terms ‘Anglican’ and ‘Anglican Communion’ are not found in the Church of England's formal expressions of identity. One is the Church of England's reluctance to view itself as a denomination with a particular (‘Anglican’) identity. Mid-twentieth-century statements to this effect are recorded and defended against more recent criticism; indeed, the author agrees with Michael Ramsey in placing a question mark against the very concept of ‘Anglicanism’. References to the provisionality of the Anglican Communion—most recently by Archbishop Runcie—are cited with approval.