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.     

Married with children: the experience of women ministers of word and sacrament in the United Reformed Church

The experience of women being admitted to full ministry has a much longer history within the Free Churches than in the Anglican Church, although from the way in which the Church of England debate on women priests and bishops has been reported this is often not acknowledged. The United Reformed Church (URC) has given equal access for men and women to ministry from the date of the union in 1972 between the Congregational Church and the Presbyterian Church. Both denominations have a long history of women in ministry. This paper examines the experience of 50 URC clergywomen who combine marriage, children and ministry to explore their experience of ministry, marriage and motherhood. The findings demonstrate that, overall, the women’s experience is mixed, although the general expectation among congregations and moderators is that women are the primary care‐givers within the family. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

A Consistent Ethic of Life: An American-Catholic Dialogue

Cardinal Bernardin provides an analysis of the Catholic Church and society at large for developing a consistent ethic of life. The Cardinal's position is that the pro-life position of the Catholic Church must be a comprehensive and consistent ethic of life. Furthermore, questions of abortion and nuclear war must be linked by a consistent ethic of life. Cardinal Bernardin closes with a conviction that there is a new openness today in society to the role of moral argument and moral vision in public affairs. The Catholic Church needs to commit itself to domestic and foreign policy changes that reflect a respect for life.     

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’.     

‘One Body’ – the Ecclesiology of Michael Ramsey

After outlining Michael Ramsey's biography and the public significance of his ministry, the different aspects of his ecclesiology are examined, revealing the richness and inner coherence of his thought. The Church emerges as the matrix of ‘living through dying’ to which individual Christians are called. Its unity is a hidden reality to be discovered through prayer and participation in the sufferings of Christ whose Body it is. Michael Ramsey's approach as a biblical theologian gave his teaching a prophetic character, and his affinity with Orthodoxy enabled him to discern ‘the inner schism of the heart’. His understanding of the Transfiguration enabled him to glimpse and to affirm the hidden glory of the Church, whose unity is rooted in God the Trinity. His ecumenical approach was guided by this conviction, seeing in the Church's fragmented order a sign of its perfection in imperfection. Spiritual renewal is the key to the ‘recovery of the inner soul of Christendom,’ and unity in suffering witnesses to the organic nature of the Church. The Eucharist constitutes the heart of the Church's life, and the communion of saints in heaven is the true perspective in which Christian experience of the Church is to be interpreted.     

The Egyptian Coptic Christians: the conflict between identity and equality

This essay will endeavor to explore the identity and situation of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, which constitutes the largest Christian community in the Middle East. I will start with a brief background of the community's history and introduction to modern Coptic life in the form of its liturgy, art, and music in order that those of us in the West might better grasp the richness and heritage in which Coptic Christianity grounds its worldview. The essay will proceed to explore the present situation in which Coptic Christians find themselves as a minority within the borders of a nation that officially designates itself Islamic. In the late 1960s and 1970s the Sunday School Movement brought about an age of reform in the Coptic Church that continues to this day. A large part of the reform has been to identify their origins as apostolic, monastic and marked by martyrdom and persecution. Under Pope Shenouda III, the Coptic Church has undergone some organizational changes that are clearly perceived as a threat to the Egyptian government under President Mubarak, despite groundbreaking progress towards ecumenism and cooperation between Muslims and Christians at large. This essay will explore the tension between Muslims and Christians in Egypt and the ways in which the minority status of the Copts is simultaneously defining and sustaining their tradition and self-image.     

Preparing Women for Baptist Church Leadership: Mentoring Impact on Beliefs and Practices of Female Ministers

Effective leadership is important in all organizations, and the Baptist church is no exception. Strong spiritual leaders can make a difference in the life of the institution and its members. Today, a growing number of African American women are answering the call to the Baptist church ministry; but the preparation, training, and mentoring are often insufficient. Ten African American women were interviewed to learn about their backgrounds, education, support, and roles as Baptist ministers in the church to discover perceptions of themselves as teachers, preachers, counselors, and leaders in the church and how they were trained and prepared to assume their leadership roles. Feminist and “servant leadership” theory provided the underpinning of this study. Research questions for study were: (1) In what ways did being mentored, or not, affect African American women ministers' perceptions of their effectiveness in ministry? (2) What relationship/role, if any, do mentors have in preparing these ministers to advance to a senior position of leadership within the Baptist Church? Major findings were that few ministers were willing to serve as mentors, although mentoring is vital for the growth in the position. Instead, women ministers were found to be self-motivated and personally inspired. Results also included role analysis of women ministers as teachers, preachers, counselors, and as mentors themselves. Sadly, the study found that in some cases women were not supporting other women in the Baptist church. Thus, being a woman in ministry is extremely challenging and this process is complicated even more when the minister is an African American woman.     

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.     

The Church in the commentaries of St Cyril of Alexandria

Abstract

The Church of Alexandria was a highly centralized institution, reflecting Alexandria's civil status rather than an ecclesiology comparable to that of Rome. Cyril's thinking on the Church was not ideologically driven but the product of his biblical exegesis. Of the many symbolic images of the Church he finds in the Scriptures, the most important are the tabernacle, the temple, the city of Sion, and the body of Christ. In discussing these images, he presents the Church as a community of faith in which humanity is recreated in Christ through the Holy Spirit, a community in which believers reproduce on the moral level the essential unity of the Trinity itself. With a strong sense of the Church as a society in the world, Cyril is anxious to protect this community from competitors who would thwart its purpose through wrong belief.     

Searching for salvation: An analysis of US religious searching on the World Wide Web

Ministerial itinerancy is characteristic of, although not exclusive to, the British Methodist Church. Rational choice theorists Finke and Starke have claimed that, historically, itinerancy has served to promote and reinforce instrumental commitment to the local church. This article develops and assesses a rational choice analysis of the effects of ministerial itinerancy on the organisational commitment of Methodist congregations and their ministers. It concludes that rational choice theory can only offer a partial analysis and fails to take into account less instrumental forms of organisational commitment. The article surveys the current debate within the Methodist Church about the future of ministerial itinerancy and suggests that the Church may be in the process of recognising that ‘moving ministers’ is not necessarily good at ‘moving congregations’ to embrace the national Church's priorities. The article predicts that itinerancy will remain an important feature, but not a defining characteristic, of the Methodist ministry and will no longer tend to ‘go with the job’.     

Calvin's Conversion as his First Step Towards the Ministry

Abstract

Scholars proposing an early date for Calvin's ‘sudden conversion’ (between late 1527 and 1529) are influenced by Theodore Beza's account (1564). Those who propose a later dating (1533-1534) have looked for signs that show Calvin as a convinced Protestant. A crucial question is whether his conversion actually coincided with his break with the Church of Rome. In this study we follow especially the thread Calvin offers in the preface to his Psalms commentary (1557). This leads to a breakthrough date of about December 1532. It also points to his conversion and later entry into the ministry as a unity, the former as the beginning, the latter as the conclusion. During the Disputation of Lausanne (late 1536) Calvin distanced himself both from the Church of Rome and from the strategy of prudence which the évangeliques of Meaux advocated: Calvin's anti-Nicodemism was born.     

Worship in the Early Reformed Tradition

Abstract

Joseph's House, a ministry of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., provides residential care for homeless men with the HIV virus/AIDS. The following article is excerpted from letters written to prospective donors by the director.     

The diaconate as ecumenical opportunity: historical ecclesiological layers in understanding the diaconate

This article gives an account of the background to the Hanover Report, The Diaconate as Ecumenical Opportunity (1996), and in particular to the West Wickham consultation (1995). Recognising that the diaconate offers new ecumenical perspectives on ordained ministry, the author presents and critiques the Hanover Report for its harmonisation of contradictory positions, especially among Lutherans. The idea of diaconal ministries in the report makes the distinctive diaconate indistinct and gives rise to a mainly functional understanding of ministry. Ecclesiologically historical layers contradicting each other are mixed in such a way that the ecumenically productive eucharistic ecclesiology derived from the Early Church and central to the report's understanding of the diaconate remains at the end rather indistinguishable among the variety of other perspectives conveyed.     

Pushing against Gender Barriers

This article presents the case study of Lilija Otīlija Grīviņa's calling to China. Her ministry is one example of how the practice of mission facilitates self-identification, as a person responds to the call of God regardless of their gender. The major sources of the study are archive materials from the Liebenzell Mission and the Latvian Lutheran Church, as well as Grīviņa's newsletters published in Chinas Millionen. To provide theological background for the missionary service of women, the study also looks at the work of German missiologists Gustav Warneck and Theodore Christlieb. The research uses a main historical comparative methodology to uncover the development of thought of women missionaries in the specific historical context.     

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     

Teachers in Early Christianity

This article presents the idea that the Early Church supported teachers as one of the ministry offices within the local church. These teachers worked to mature the spiritual life of the congregation and so helped to free the pastoral ministry to focus on other duties, many of which fall on pastors. Most ministers, pastors, and others teach at one time or another, but the main task of teaching in the Early Church was carried on by (not merely overseen or administrated by) highly qualified Christian teachers. Three questions help explore the position of teachers in early Christianity: How does the New Testament define the teacher? How did the early church employ teachers? What principles helped to direct the Christian “Life of the Mind” in the Early Church?     

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.     

Continuity and/or Discontinuity at Vatican II? Examining the Council in the Context of the ‘Long Nineteenth Century’

This article explores recent questions regarding the interpretation of Vatican II by examining the council's theological and historical relation to what John O'Malley has called ‘the long nineteenth century’. This period, which O'Malley dates from the French Revolution until the end of the pontificate of Pius XII (1958), connotes a time when political and philosophical developments ‘traumatized’ the Church. This sustained trauma left the Church in a defensive position which deeply informed its view of itself and its relation to the world. While a great deal of attention has been directed at examining the council's degree of continuity or discontinuity with the conciliar tradition, not enough has been done to understand its relationship to developments within this more immediate setting. This study argues that a more contextualized appreciation of the Church's efforts to respond to the challenges of the long nineteenth century, expressed especially in the teachings of Vatican I, can illumine key elements of the meaning of Vatican II's documents and the continuity and/or discontinuity that they represent.     

Life Care Ministry:

As St. John's Lutheran Church in Stamford, Connecticut recognized that senior citizens comprised about 18% of its membership, the congregation decided to hire a full-time staff person to develop and direct a ministry program with the elderly. The program offers group meetings, information and referral, direct services, and visitation. It provides spiritual, educational, and fellowship opportunities, and supports the elderly's independence. Instruction about aging, and involvement of younger members in this ministry, has drawn the congregation together with a sense of understanding, community, and mutual responsibility. St. John's approach demonstrates the important role churches can have in the support network of the elderly.     

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).