Ecumenical Dynamic: Living in More than One Place at Once by Keith Clements, and: Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes, with a Practical Guide ed. by Jooseop Keum, and: Can a Renewal Movement Be Renewed? Questions for the Future of Ecumenism by Michael Kinnamon (review)

Abstract

Keith Clements, Ecumenical Dynamic: Living in More than One Place at Once. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 2013. Pp. 222. $20.00, paper. Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes, with a Practical Guide. Edited by Jooseop Keum. Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications, 2013. Pp. 81, with DVD. $ 20.00, paper. Michael Kinnamon, Can a Renewal Movement Be Renewed? Questions for Future of Ecumenism. Grand Rapids, MI, and Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014. Pp. 167. $24.00. After Spring sparked by ecumenical dialogues in 1980's and 1990's, some now describe ecumenical scene as one of Winter. ecumenical accords hardly seem to have been noticed by churches. Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested that change may be result of unfulfilled expectations. But, dialogues are only part of ecumenism, and two works here reviewed, by Clements and Kinnamon, both with long ecumenical experience, offer suggestions leading to a broader ecumenical vision. Clements, an English Baptist, was active in Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland and Conference of European Churches. His Ecumenical Dynamic proposes transcending narrow confines and entering into and identifying oneself with a dynamic that unites people. central section of work, The Dynamic Illustrated, presents movements and individuals who represent this larger approach. Although 1910 Edinburgh Conference is acknowledged as beginning of ecumenical movement, Clements suggests that it was mutual visits, the peace exchanges of Anglo-German churches in 1908 and 1909, when, as war clouds were rising, historic voyages of two ships--one from England and other from Germany, each with hundreds of Christians visiting their brothers and sisters of other county--laid foundation for World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship. Other towering figures of this larger ecumenical vision were J. H. Oldham and the Moot, a group of British intellectuals founded to explore role of Christian belief in modern society and relation between social environment and gospel; and George Bell, the apostle of Unity, dean of Canterbury, for whom ecumenism was grounded in sovereignty of Christ and expressed in personal relationships. 1934 Barmen Declaration had ecumenical implications: It was not only a statement of faith but also an invitation to be identified with Confessing Church. last section, The Dynamic Continued, looks to future, one not dominated by ecclesial structures but with less-clericalized communities such as Taize, Bruderhof, Focolare, Iona, and Corrymeela. …