Expanding Catholicity through Ecumenicity in the Work of Yves Congar: Ressourcement,Receptive Ecumenism and Catholic Reform

With particular reference to Yves Congar (1904–95), this article first explores the relationship between ressourcement theology and the emergence of Catholic ecumenism. A critical issue is identified concerning the coherence of Congar's ecumenical work. In support of the reading pursued here – which finds a developing articulation of what has come to be called Receptive Ecumenism – Congar's three great works of ecumenical theology are closely engaged: Chrétiens désunis (1937); Chrétiens en dialogue (1964); Diversités et Communion (1982). The conclusion indicates the abiding significance of Congar's ecumenical work, which articulates a call to the fullness of catholicity into which Catholicism has still to grow.     

Toward the Fullness of Christ: A Catholic Vision of Ecumenism

This article locates the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's recent document Dominus Iesus against the background of great ecumenical advance in North America and elsewhere and a series of highly encouraging ecumenical statements published by John Paul II. Its most contentious statement is a reiteration and clarification of the Vatican II teaching in Lumen Gentium that the church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. It distinguishes among churches in the proper sense, with valid episcopate and eucharist, and defective ecclesial communities. The church of Christ cannot subsist in them but only in the Catholic Church. The article points out, nevertheless, that since all these bodies are recognized as having elements of the church, the operation of grace is still ecclesial and not individual and secondly that a pneumatologically orientated Christology sees ecumenism as a response in grace to the divine economy.     

Bound to be Free: Evangelical Catholic Engagements in Ecclesiology, Ethics, and Ecumenism

Book reviewed:
Bound to be Free: Evangelical Catholic Engagements in Ecclesiology, Ethics, and Ecumenism by Reinhard Hütter (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004) x + 313 pp. Reviewed by Jean Porter Department of Theology The University of Notre Dame 130 Malloy Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA     

The Difference Catholic Makes: Catholic Faculty and Catholic Identity

This study examines, for the case of Catholics, the thesis that a "critical mass" of devoted faculty members—50 percent or more, according to the papal document Ex Corde Ecclesia—serves to promote or preserve the religious character of religiously affiliated institutions of higher education. Factor analysis and structural equations are employed to analyze a random sample of faculty members ( n = 1,290) and institutional profiles ( n = 100) of American Catholic colleges and universities. Catholic faculty show higher support for Catholic identity in latent structures of aspiration for improved Catholic distinctiveness, a desire for more theology or philosophy courses, and longer institutional tenure. Institutions having a majority of Catholic faculty exhibit four properties consistent with stronger Catholic identity: a policy of preferential hiring for Catholics ("hiring for mission"), a higher proportion of Catholic students, higher faculty aspiration for Catholic identity, and longer faculty tenure in the institution. These latter two characteristics are not due simply to aggregation, but are stronger, on average, for Catholic faculty when they are in the majority. Preferential hiring marks Catholic identity, but is ineffective to increase the proportion of Catholic faculty. I conclude that the prediction of the critical mass thesis is correct.     

Eastern Orthodoxy and Ecumenism

This article reviews a set of papers in a special issue of The Ecumenical Review on “Theological Exchanges: The Ecumenical Reception of Orthodoxy,” which examines the reception of Orthodoxy by other theological traditions through the mediation of ecumenical dialogue. The papers display a wide variety of approaches, many introducing, although in different ways, the nature of engagement with the Orthodox by the different Christian bodies represented. Others looked more directly at theological conversations between the Orthodox and other Christian bodies, and especially the doctrine of theosis (deification). The remaining papers offer an insight into specific moments of Orthodoxy’s involvement with other Christian traditions.     

Luther Research and Ecumenism

Abstract : The article discusses the fundamental conceptual problems underlying the ecumenical vocabulary. These problems result from issues present available in academic studies that often aim at emphasizing the great divide between Luther and medieval theology, as well as providing a justification for the specific and distinctive characteristics of Lutheran theology. The author aims at overcoming the problematic confessionalism which results from these conceptual presuppositions.     

Ecumenism and Global Governance

On 21 June 2018, on his 23rd international journey, Pope Francis travelled to Geneva to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the World Council of Churches. The Swiss city also hosts a large number of representative international institutions dealing with global governance and the issues of peace, human rights, and migration. After reviewing the main highlights of the journey, this article discusses its significance: to appeal to the common commitment of Christians to proclaim the gospel and its power of salvation in a divided and wounded world. In this way, Pope Francis underlined that in the pluralistic society of today, harmony is not possible if we just ignore faith and focus on what it means to be human while excluding the transcendent. Indeed, it is the gospel that promotes harmony and commitment to a better world.     

Political Ecumenism and 1968

The political night prayers in Cologne were a project that reflected the politicization and ecumenism that occupied the Christian confessions in 1968, not only in Uppsala. They were an attempt to consistently bring public policy and faith together. A large group of organizers, influenced by the work of women intellectuals, held monthly services that dealt with current issues. They were distinguished by the information they provided and by discussions, which aimed at stimulating meditation and concrete actions. The services attracted up to a thousand participants and became well known throughout Germany. The political night prayers encountered resistance from church leaders and conservative theologians. In this project, ecumenism was realized as local political ecumenism.