The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries

Abstract

The progress that was made during the nineteenth century began to bear fruit in the twentieth, a transformation explainable by a number of factors. In the first half of the century Russian émigrés in Paris began a constructive re-engagement with the West following the Bolshevik Revolution. Roman Catholic theology was, at the same time, enjoying a renaissance of biblical and patristic studies, coupled with a renewed interest in the place of the Spirit in the life of the Church. For the first time in centuries the nascent ecumenical movement brought theologians and hierarchs together for formal dialogues, all aimed at healing the divisions that had grown up between them. These dialogues, both bilateral and multilateral, were remarkable in the level of consensus reached on the filioque, and provide reason to hope that a resolution to this centuries old problem is not far off.