Pan‐African Women of Faith and a Vision of Inclusive Global Theological Education

This article provides an introduction to the Pan‐African Women's Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN), formally established as a network in 2015, but which traces its origins back to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, the Republic of Korea, in 2013. PAWEEN provides an opportunity for a mutual invitation to deep listening and concerted engagement to make the realities of past and present living, of faith and agency visible. It is one example of a network under development, grounded in the liberating gospel message and committed to the aim of a transformative theological education, which extends this invitation to all who share this common concern and vision.     

Message from the Just Community of Women and Men Pre-Assembly Meeting

This is the message of the meeting on the Just Community of Women and Men held prior to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, which met in Karlsruhe, Germany, in August–September 2022. The pre-assembly noted the continuing and even exacerbated tragedy of gender-based violence and abuse in multiple forms, in all regions, and within and outside churches. The report acknowledges that sociocultural realities that impose themselves on religious lives distort God's vision of life in fullness, abundance, and love. In this context, patriarchy hurts and exploits women, men, and people of all genders.     

Greeting of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches

This is the text of the greetings of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 31 August to 8 September 2022.     

Message from the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network Pre-Assembly Meeting

This is the message of the meeting of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network held before the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe, Germany, August–September 2022. The network recognized the God-given gifts of people with disabilities and the importance of making available those gifts for the body of Christ to function fully. It called on churches to continue to develop and encourage more people with disabilities to be involved in church leadership at local and denominational levels, and for wider representation in WCC assemblies and activities, especially for non-speaking people: people who communicate through alternative and augmentative devices and people who are neurodivergent, have learning disabilities, or have invisible disabilities.     

Celebrating Women,Addressing the Wounds

A consultation commemorating the 20th anniversary of the culmination of the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women took place in Kingston, Jamaica, in October 2018 to reflect on the achievements and challenges in building a just community of all people in church and society, and to strengthen ecumenical collaboration in reading the signs of the times. The Decade was launched in 1988, following a decision of the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). It was “addressed to churches and to women at the local level to empower women to challenge structures and to respond to the issues in the society around them” and focused on “the situation of women in the churches as well as the churches’ participation in improving the conditions for women in society.” It concluded in December 1998 with a festival held in Harare, Zimbabwe, immediately before the WCC’s 8th Assembly. The global consultation in October 2018, hosted by the Jamaica Council of Churches, gathered intergenerational women and men from WCC member churches and their theological institutions and ecumenical partners. Below we document several of the contributions at the Jamaica consultation as well as the report of the event.     

Mentoring in Caribbean Theological Education

This article addresses the issue of mentoring in theological education, drawing against the context of the Caribbean and the insights of Pan‐African Women, such as in the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, as well as support and accountability groups such as Caribbean Women Theologians for Transformation and the Caribbean and North America Council for Mission. Drawing on biblical models of mentoring, the article argues that while the ways that individuals are mentored during their theological education programmes can and will vary, women in leadership can be sounding boards, cheerleaders, advocates, facilitators, coaches, guides, role models, and even critics as they help to shape and develop other women leaders in the church.     

Diakonia and diaconate in the World Council of Churches

Since the World Council of Churches (WCC) was founded in 1948 both diakonia and diaconate have been on the agenda of the organisation. As time has passed the understanding of these concepts has changed, and the theological importance given to them has varied due to external and internal factors. In this article I shall describe this development. My basic hypothesis is that the reflection on diakonia and diaconate has followed two separate tracks, the first considering diakonia as inter-church aid in contexts of human need, while the entry point of the second has been the ecumenical perception of the Church's ministry and within it a possible renewal of the diaconate. It is my hypothesis that these two tracks to a large degree have not been interrelated, but have mainly been isolated from each other. In my opinion this has limited the reflection on both concepts, and consequently both have lost momentum in ecumenical theology.     

The Legacy,Leadership, and Hope of Pan‐African Women as a Missional Focus for Theological Education

This article analyzes the experience and self‐understanding of Pan‐African women of faith, who have often been viewed at the margins of church history and in the larger context of this history. This article challenges this marginal location. It argues that through the theological lens of the ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace—and under the tenets of via positiva, via negativa, and via transformativa—the historical, present, and future pilgrimage of Pan‐African women of faith and their vision of hope needs to be further examined for a more inclusive embrace and accompaniment of the ecumenical community. Theological education should be a priority in preparing leaders for advancing the agenda of justice and peace. The article concludes by detailing the past, recent, and future work of the Pan‐African Women's Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) and its partners.     

The Future of Multilateral Ecumenical Dialogue

This article offers an overview of work undertaken in multilateral ecumenical dialogue, as it has been conducted at the international level by the commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC), to clarify the issues discussed in this dialogue and the methods used. In particular, the article analyzes the statements on unity made at various WCC assemblies. While they demonstrate a certain continuity regarding the key points of church unity they identify, they clearly mark a shift in the overall understanding of how unity is conceived. The second part of the article examines the current ecumenical situation and its importance for this dialogue, to show how Faith and Order has responded and what further progress in multilateral dialogue might look like.     

Report of the Acting General Secretary to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches,Karlsruhe, 2022

This is the text of the report on 31 August 2022 of the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the WCC's 11th Assembly, which took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 31 August to 8 September 2022.     

The renewal of the diaconate and the holistic mission of the Church

Research on the diaconate in recent years has provided a stimulus for discussion on possible reform and renewal of the ordained ministry. Whilst some critics see this as arising merely from an attempt at a uniformity which might further the search for unity in the Church, this article argues that there are in fact certain natural reasons for reforming the diaconate. The author focuses on the relationship of mission and diakonia and the renewal of the diaconate with each other. Though the term ‘mission’ is not often used, the article follows the central points of ecumenical missiological discussion, addressing the crucial question, ‘What is the place of diakonia and the diaconate in the holistic mission of the Church?’ There is thence a certain logic in the argument, leading to the conclusions the author finally draws.     

The World Council of Churches and churches in China: partnerships and diaconia

ABSTRACT

Between 1956 and 1991, Chinese church leaders, and Protestant churches active from the formation of the World Council of Churches, experienced a dramatic break in their relations with the international ecumenical movement. This paper will focus on the ecumenical relations between the WCC and the churches in China after 1978, when reforms and the opening up of the country under Deng Xiaoping provided new opportunities for the renewal of ties. The China Christian Council resumed its official ties with WCC in 1991 but between 1978 and 1991, new expressions and new modes of ecumenical relations had already emerged. Central to these ties were the upholding of the Three-Self Principles and the practice of the ‘ecumenical sharing of resources’ influenced by the outcome of the WCC’s El Escorial meeting (1987). These ‘post-colonial’ partnerships contributed substantially to making Christianity better appreciated in China and were important channels for the practice of ecumenism in a rapidly transforming China.     

Willem A. Visser ‘t Hooft: The Future of Peace

This is an edited translation of an address given on 20 July 2017, the 73rd anniversary of the bomb plot against Adolf Hitler, at the Adam von Trott Foundation in Imshausen, Germany. It recalls the contacts of Willem A. Visser 't Hooft, the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches, with the German resistance during the Second World War, discusses the relevance of their vision of the post‐war future to contemporary politics, and highlights the significance of Visser 't Hooft for the ecumenical movement.     

The Fortieth Anniversary of Women's Ordination in the Lutheran Church

Abstract : This article offers a perspective on the present and future roles of women in the ELCA. It gives some analysis of women's roles in the trend of declining traditional congregations and rising megachurches while imagining the role of clergywomen in the church's next forty years as new models of ministry emerge.     

While We Wait: The Foolishness of Scarcity,the “Devalued Other,” and Pedagogies of “Becoming”

This article considers how Christian women leaders might, in the absence of global economic equality for women, reframe theological dialogue that affirms the work and worth of the “devalued other” – 21st‐century women living in economic insecurity – and to declare that Jesus' eschatological hope is in the feminization of abundance. The article engages the parable of the wise and foolish virgins as a messianic requirement to deconstruct the barriers that keep the devalued other from seeing her full potential and to challenge the foolishness of scarcity that has taken hold of the daughters of privilege. It seeks to engage an African feminist hermeneutic as the primary methodology and to craft an emerging pedagogy of “becoming” that speaks to the cosmic shift to strengthen the agency of women as we await the coming Parousia.     

The World Council of Churches and Pentecostals

This article recalls the history of the relationships between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Pentecostal churches from the early years of the WCC until today. One of the greatest challenges currently facing the WCC is the shift in focus of Christianity to the South and the East, a phenomenon to which emerging Pentecostal and charismatic churches and communities are contributing. Alongside global cultural trends in the context of globalization, Pentecostal and charismatic piety and spirituality are increasingly affecting the older churches as well. While some see this negatively, many see it as an expression of adaptation to new challenges necessary for the survival of these churches. The article shows how the changing ecclesial context led to the WCC to explore new avenues for building relationships such as a Joint Consultative Group and the Global Christian Forum.     

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.     

More Catholic than Rome; more reformed than Geneva: Joseph P. Cassidy and possibilities for renewal in the Church of England

This article traces the integration of theology, spirituality and ethics in the work of Dr Joseph P. Cassidy from his life as a Jesuit, then as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church and then of the Church of England, as well as the new possibilities his work opened up for re-thinking decision-making both in ecclesial groups and in social and political life, not least re-thinking the importance of the laity.     

Learning from the patient: The East,synchronicity and transference in the history of an unknown case of C.G. Jung

This article presents the history of one until now unknown case of C.G. Jung: Maggy Reichstein. Born in Indonesia in 1894 in a very aristocratic family, she brought her sister to Zurich to be treated by Jung in 1919, and later she herself was in analysis with him. Jung used her case as example in his lecture in 1937 on the realities of practical psychotherapy, relating it to the process of transference and countertransference. Jung deepened his studies in Eastern psychology after a series of dreams she had, which culminated in the Yoga Kundalini Seminars. She was also the case presented in his article of 1951 on the concept of synchronicity. Jung wrote that her case, concerning synchronicity, remained unique in his experience. Jung also published some of her mandalas. He considered her able to understand his ideas in depth. Reichstein was for Jung an important case, which challenged and triggered his interests in different subjects.