The Eucharistic Theology of Richard Field (1561-1616): Confusion,Contradiction, or Creative Synthesis?

Abstract

This examines the eucharistic thought of Richard Field, a Church of England clergyman scholar, as found in his major work, Of the Church (1610). This provided thorough treatment of a number of other topics. He argued that many of the differences apparently dividing Protestants were illusory. Field tends to be portrayed in the secondary literature as having obscured his own eucharistic views in his efforts to reconcile Lutheran and Reformed eucharistic doctrine. In addition, his eucharistic theology tends to be viewed in the literature as conforming to the English Reformed tradition. This paper argues that Field actually clarified his beliefs through his attempts to reconcile differing Protestant camps, and that he espoused not so much a wholly Reformed eucharistic doctrine as a creative synthesis of Lutheran and English Reformed elements, somewhat in tension but not necessarily in contradiction.     

Histories and Landscapes: Two Categories of Artwork Suitable for Reformed Churches

Abstract

There are few examples of paintings or sculptures in churches of the Reformed tradition today. I argue that, despite this, it is in fact consonant with the writings of early Reformed thinkers, such as John Calvin, Martin Bucer, and Huldrych Zwingli, to allow for the use of certain types of artwork in these churches. I make a start by arguing that each of these thinkers affirmed works of art that may be described as histories. I then go on to look at how we can use ideas central to the theology of John Calvin to argue for the use of landscapes in Reformed churches. Finally, I consider how we might use such works of art in churches in order to address concerns about their use that members of the Reformed community may have.     

In the Triune Name: Some Aspects of Baptismal Practice in Early Reformed Churches

Abstract

Within the wider Reformation in the sixteenth century, liturgical development of the early Reformed tradition saw a major departure from the rites of the medieval Catholic church including those for baptism. Part of this shift was determined by the spatial setting for baptism as well as by differences in the form of water container used for the rite. This article explores some of the baptismal practices that developed in early Reformed churches in light of such factors, and in relation to the understanding of the notion of adiaphora. After a brief reflection on the variety of ritual usage, the study examines the setting for baptism at the heart of the worshipping community along with the three types of water container used at the critical moment of baptism: the font, the ewer, and the basin. It concludes by noting that such diversity is characteristic of the multi-stranded Reformed tradition.     

Eucharistic priority in Hilary of Poitiers' trinitarian theology: a critique of contemporary approaches to divine–human communio

The notion of koinonia or communio is at the heart of contemporary ecclesiology, and trinitarian theology has become its necessary presupposition. This article argues that the way many contemporary theologians have envisaged this link between divine and human communion is deeply problematic. Hilary of Poitiers was the first theologian of communio, and he offers a bold critique of contemporary discussions. Hilary gives eucharistic priority to trinitarian theology, that is, there is a movement from Eucharist to Trinity in his thinking on the relation between divine and human communion. A retrieval of Hilary's eucharistic priority in trinitarian discourse can provide constructive avenues in trinitarian theology which avoid the anthropocentric tendencies of contemporary social doctrines of the Trinity and reject the misdiagnosed problem of trinitarian ‘relevance’ in current discussions. Such a retrieval recovers trinitarian doctrine as a practised, performed reality, lived out in human communio itself through the eucharistic life of the Church.     

Reformed church buildings in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the early-modern period*

Abstract

This article introduces the history of Reformed churches in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Against the backdrop of the history of the Reformation there, it discusses the cooperation between the Reformed and Lutherans, the response of the Counter-Reformation, and the history of the most important Lithuanian Reformed churches. It focuses on the nobility, especially the Radziwi?? family, the most important protectors of the Reformed. The family saw the Reformed faith as the key to the unity of the Grand Duchy, and an important way of strengthening the position of Lithuania vis-à-vis the Kingdom of Poland. They hoped that the Reformed faith could become the foundation of a sovereign Lithuanian state. As well as discussing the foundation and fate of Reformed communities in Vilnius and across Lithuania, the article also presents the first detailed account of the interiors and furnishings of their church buildings.     

Ecclesial communion: The letters of St Basil the great revisited

Abstract

The German word Kirchengemeinschaft, translated as ‘ecclesial communion’ or ‘communion of churches’, is a term frequently used in contemporary ecumenical discourse. Are ‘communion of churches’ or ‘ecclesial communion’ leading concepts for future ecumenism? Starting from the fact that modern ecumenism and ecclesiology often refer to communio/κo?vωvíα in the Early Church as their model or ideal, this article investigates more closely how κo?vωvíα worked in that period. Basil the Great's letters serve as an example to show not so much the theoretical but the practical impact of κo?vωvíα on everyday church life. They also demonstrate how Basil applied κo?vωvíα on different levels and indicate what is required to facilitate it. Finally, they give some indication of what this could mean for ecumenism today.     

The Anglican Covenant proposed by the Lambeth Commission 1

Abstract

The Lambeth Commission (2004) proposed a number of short-term and long-term solutions to issues raised by recent and highly controversial developments in the Episcopal Church (USA) and the diocese of New Westminster (Canada). From these events have emerged important questions about the nature of communion between, and the autonomy of, each of the 44 member churches of the Anglican Communion, and the way in which decisions of common concern are made. In order to consolidate this communion, as a long-term project, the Commission proposes the adoption of an Anglican Covenant by all 44 churches of the Communion. This article describes the terms of the proposed Covenant and identifies their provenance, in order to establish that the proposal is for the most part a restatement of classical Anglicanism. Only in serious cases of disagreement which substantially risk the unity of the Communion is the proposal innovative. The article also describes briefly reactions to and possible implementation of the proposed Covenant.     

Calvin and the Ecclesiastical Power of Jurisdiction

Abstract

This study offers a hypothesis that the two marks of the Church in the Calvinist Reformed tradition, together with its disciplinary power, restate the twin classical powers granted to the Church in Catholic tradition, namely the powers of order and jurisdiction. Unlike Luther, for whom the chief ecclesiastical power was the authority to preach and teach, Calvin not only acknowledges the teaching and sacramental functions of the Church, but also stressed a jurisdictional power (jurisdictio fori) with autonomous legislative and judicial competence. This jurisdictional dimension is the key to explaining the role played by Geneva-inspired Reformed churches vis-à-vis the State and differences from other other Protestant traditions.     

The Trinity Hymnal

ABSTRACT

The Trinity Hymnal, published in 1990, is a complete hymnal for churches of Presbyterian and Reformed convictions. The hymnal is a major revision of the original version prepared in the 1950s. Trinity is unique in that it has neither capitulated to current trends in contemporary Christian music, nor broadened its doctrines to encompass a lowest-common-denominator theology. This article is written by the editor who guided the production of the hymnal through its seven years of “gestation.” He provides personal reflections of the behind the scenes work of the committee describing how they made their decisions.     

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.     

Not Scotist

Abstract

Several lines of recent scholarship have identified developing Protestant thought as Scotist and, specifically, have contended a dominance of the Scotist concept of the univocity of being in early modern Protestantism. The present essay examines early-modern Reformed metaphysics and theology and demonstrates that the contention is unfounded. Rather, the more typical approach to the language of being and related issues of predication concerning God and creatures in Reformed circles was advocacy of the analogia entis, often understood in a classical Thomist manner as an analogy of proportionality.     

Gender and Sexuality in the Pastoral Encounter

Abstract

At the ‘Embodied Ministry: Gender, Sexuality and Formation’ conference at which the articles in this special issue were delivered, three people in active ministry in different denominations — United Reformed Church, Metropolitan Community Church and Roman Catholic — were invited to take part in a panel discussion on gender and sexuality in the pastoral encounter. Their remarks were originally delivered in this conversational context. Martin Pendergast chaired this panel discussion.     

A Eucharistic Understanding of “Fresh Expressions”

Fresh expressions of church are a growing and important example of emerging missional churches. They can be viewed theologically through the lens of eucharistic ecclesiology. This is because they mirror the theological logic of the eucharist – its nature as a gift, the dispersal of this gift, the appropriate sharing of the gift (appropriate to the context and the tradition), the eucharistic action of handing over the gift, the incorporation of worshippers into the whole church by means of the gift, the dying‐and‐rising transformation the gift makes possible, and the return gift to God in thanksgiving. The birth of these new Christian communities gives discipleship a eucharistic shape. The implication is that just as the eucharist is central to the church's life, so should be these new communities.     

Bucer as Mediator in the 1532 Kempten Eucharistic Controversy

Abstract

Bucer's intervention in the Kempten eucharistic controversy provides a hitherto little-studied example of the Strasbourg Reformer's understanding of the Lord's Supper in its practical, local implications during the years immediately prior to the Wittenberg Concord of 1536. Only months after being accused of ‘Lutheranism’ by his friends in Constance and Augsburg for having claimed the compatibility of the Augsburg Confession with his own Confessio Tetrapolitana at the Schweinfurt Assembly, Bucer made his influence felt in Kempten in such a way that the ‘Lutheran’ pastors there were forced to leave and the position of the local ‘Zwinglian’ pastor was consolidated, much to the chagrin of Luther's supporters. It would be entirely erroneous, however, to describe the Strasbourg Reformer's eucharistic position at this time as ‘Zwinglian'. Bucer's understanding the Lord's Supper, despite having appropriated certain formal elements of Luther's eucharistic interpretation during the early 1530s, remained distinct from both the Wittenberg Reformer's and Zwingli's position on this issue.     

Who is the Church?

Abstract : Although the question of survival is on the mind of most mainline congregations in the United States, the real crisis facing the churches is one of identity. After briefly reviewing three theological paradigms for the church (Word‐event, communion, and missio dei), I propose that the question of the church's identity is best answered by returning to the “story of the church,” which properly “starts with the Spirit,” and by reclaiming a concept of the church as a Spirit‐breathed people who are called and sent.     

The Way of Ecumenism: Gratitude and Commitment

This address to the Ecumenical Kirchentag in Germany in 2003 takes as its starting point the symbol of the church as the people of God on the way together to describe the ecumenical movement. This is a path that leads out of the security of structures, relying on the promise of God as a response to the call of the gospel to faith and the path of discipleship – the way of pilgrimage as it was described by the World Conference on Faith and Order in 1993 in Santiago de Compostela. After looking back at the milestones on the ecumenical journey toward communion in life, faith, and witness, the address highlights the significance of a mutual recognition of baptism by churches as representing a “Copernican revolution” in ecumenical dialogue, in which churches would commit themselves to mutual accountability in matters of faith and church order.     

‘Mystic Atheism’: Julia Kristeva's Negative Theology

Abstract

This article examines Julia Kristeva's paradoxical concept of a ‘mystic atheism’. It falls into three parts. First, it briefly surveys Kristeva's psychoanalytic account of Christian theology in Au commencement était l'amour (1985). Secondly, it assesses Kristeva's analysis of the Christian mystical tradition from Teresa of Avila to Angela of Foligno in such works as Le féminin et le sacré (1999) and the three volumes on Le génie féminin (1999-2002). For Kristeva, Christian mysticism represents a key moment in the transition from theology to psychoanalysis: what she locates within the work of the female mystics is a so-called ‘mystic atheism’, that is to say, an affirmation of an other within the subject as opposed to the divine other that supposedly lies outside it. Finally, the article offers some critical comments upon Kristeva's own ‘mystic atheism’: I argue that—like much negative theology—Kristeva's psychoanalysis remains ontotheological in form and that this dimension expresses itself in a problematic tendency to anthropomorphize the other within. In conclusion, I will suggest that Kristeva's ‘mystic atheism’ ultimately remains within the theological tradition it seeks to call into question.     

Unity and Distinction: The Nature of God in the Theology of Lucas Trelcatius,Jr

Abstract

The theology of Lucas Trelcatius, Jr belongs to both the broader trajectory of developing Reformed, academic formulation in the era of early orthodoxy and the carefully defined program of the Leiden University. Its way of arguing the ‘locus' on God provides an index to the nature and character of these formulations and, specifically, to issues of sources and method as well as to the still-debated questions of degree of metaphysical interest and the status of the doctrine of the Trinity. The present essay finds claims of excessive metaphysical ‘speculation’ and of de-emphasis on the doctrine of the Trinity unfounded.     

Martin Bucer and Church Renewal in Europe

Abstract

Owing to his many personal contacts and tireless activity as a letter writer, Bucer presided over an extensive network of correspondents and ideas in Europe. However, Bucer differs from other great Reformation figures in so far as he considered his connections with the churches in Europe to be a theological mission. Each of these churches was expected to live in community with the others and to inform them of successes, failures and difficulties, thereby sharing or receiving inspiration for the work of Church renewal. At the centre of Bucer's efforts stands the proclamation of the lordship of Christ. The discursive nature of this theology enabled Bucer to tolerate great religious diversity. This flexibility ended where a church—such as the Roman church—or the political power—such as Emperor Charles V after the collapse of the Schmalkaldic League—dictated a single form of Christian belief. In this instance Bucer, in the name of the lordship of Christ, issued a summons to spiritual and religious resistance.     

Imputation as Attribution: Union with Christ, Reification and Justification as Declarative Word

Calvin's integration of the christological features of the eucharistic controversy with soteriological questions in his refutation of Andreas Osiander marks a critical development in Reformed theology. In this article, that development is extended further in reconsideration of the nature of imputation as a linguistic action. It is argued that imputation is a soteriological corollary of the christological idea of attribution. Imputation thus conceived clarifies not only how it is located within the doctrine of union with Christ, but how that union and imputation provide clarity in ongoing discussions about reification of sin and righteousness as well as the nature of justification as a declarative word.