Ecclesial Unity Research Articles

The Use of Military Imagery as an Exhortation for Ecclesial Unity in 1 Clement 37 and 2 Timothy 2:3–4

The problem of schism is one of the major issues in 1 Clement. To resolve this problem, the author of 1 Clement exhorts the Corinthian believers to submit to their leaders by using military imagery. While the use of military imagery is often understood in reference to the author’s emphasis on peace and concord, what remains to be explored is the way in which the militaristic imagery in 1 Clement 37 can be read alongside 2 Timothy 2:3–4. Although there is no clear evidence of whether Clement draws on 2 Timothy or vice versa, I suggest that the militaristic imagery in 2 Timothy 2:3–4 offers a helpful analog for understanding the meaning of the use of military imagery in 1 Clement 37.

Qualifying Religious Truth and Ecclesial Unity: The Soteriological Significance of Difference

Qualifying Religious Truth and Ecclesial Unity: The Soteriological Significance of Difference

Toward an East–West Ultramontane Polyphony: On Dogma, Ecclesial Unity, and the Filioque

Toward an East–West Ultramontane Polyphony: On Dogma, Ecclesial Unity, and the Filioque

Historical Meaning and the Care of the Soul: Ethical Reflections on the War in Ukraine with Edith Stein and Jan Patočka

ABSTRACT Amidst the human tragedy represented by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ideological and historical justifications for the conflict as they have been framed by Russian president Vladimir Putin themselves call for a philosophical response and ethical critique. Putin’s political theological justification for the war, grounded in the commonalities of language, historical affinity, and ecclesial unity, which he posits constitute Ukraine and Russia as one people and justifies the imposition of Russian imperial authority over the Ukrainian state, is philosophically problematic and ultimately totalitarian. In contrast, the phenomenological philosophies of Edith Stein and Jan Patočka, whose political philosophies were shaped in spiritual resistance to similar ethnic and ideologically driven imperialisms of the twentieth century, offer resources for understanding and critiquing the world-historical interpretations of the meaning of civilization, peoplehood, and national destiny which drive Putin’s foreign policy, and which have important ethical and political implications far beyond the Ukraine/Russia conflict.

Yves Congar’s Vision on the Role of the Holy Spirit Regarding the Unity of the Church in his Late Writings.

This article is the last of a series of three studies on the role of the Spirit regarding the ecclesial unity in Yves Congar’s theological thought. It presents Congar’s understanding of the Spirit as co-institutor of the Church together with Christ. In his early writings, Congar understood the Spirit as the soul of the Church which animated the structures founded by Christ. In his middle career, Congar developed a more nuanced role of the Spirit. However, throughout this time, the ecclesiological model used by Congar was Christological. In this article, one can see how Congar moved from those models toward a communion model of the Church in which the Spirit brings about and stimulates diversity in the Church. This novelty in Congar’s thought is, however, in continuity with his early thought. More important is the overall conclusion at the end of these three studies that that ecclesiology and pneumatology developed and influenced mutually throughout Congar’s career (beginning in 1937 with his Chrétiens désunis/ Divided Christendom and not only in 1953 when he publishes “The Holy Spirit and the Apostolic College, Promoters of the Work of Christ”).

Yves Congar’s Vision of the Role of the Holy Spirit Regarding the Unity of the Church: 1953-1971

This article is a follow-up of a previous study: “The Holy Spirit as the Principle of Ecclesial Unity in Yves Congar’s Early Writings,” which concluded that “Congar never understood unity as uniformity, but after 1946-1947, he became increasingly attentive to diversity and even defined the visible unity of the Church as communion”. It was only natural to continue the research on the same topic with the subsequent writings of Congar. Therefore, this article presents how Congar’s vision on the role of the Holy Spirit regarding the unity of the Church developed between 1952 and 1971. Which are some of his discoveries on the topic? Which are the factors that contributed to the development of his thinking during this period of time? Did his overall vision of the Church change?—these are some of the main questions that this article will try to answer. “Le Saint-Esprit et le Corps apostolique, réalisateurs de l’oeuvre du Christ” (1952) opened a period when Congar emphasized a certain freedom of the Spirit with regard to the institutions of the Church (not with regard to the mission of Christ). This period included for Congar a discovery of diversity in the Church, the charisms of the Spirit, the status and role of the faithful, of the relation of the Church to the world, the rediscovery of the eastern tradition, the beginnings of a rediscovery of the Reform, a wide awareness of the modern ‘secular’ world. In Congar’s words, this was for him a period of “a mass sortie from the ghetto, which could also be called an emergence from the era of Constantine or of the Counter-Reformation with its largely polemical outlook.”

Limits to Justice, Ecojustice and Climate Justice?

In ecumenical theology, there have been long-standing debates on the relationship between justice, peace and the integrity of creation (WCC), as well as between ecclesial unity, reconciliation and justice (Belhar), or between love and justice (Niebuhr). Is love “higher” than justice or is justice an end in itself? This yields a dual recognition, namely an impatience that justice is so often frustrated but also that doing justice to the victims of history is never fully possible given the arrow of time: the period when injustices endured can never be undone. Only the consequences of past injustices can be addressed and then only partially. Does this suggest some limits to climate justice? What would doing justice to the victims of climate change mean if lands that are destroyed cannot be recovered for the foreseeable future? What would one make of comments from Maina Talia (from Tuvalu) that what is needed in that context is not justice but good neighbours? This contribution explores such questions. It argues that the need for justice may be sharpened precisely by contemplating its limits. Keywords: Climate Justice, Ecojustice, Ecotheology, Justice, Limits, Restoration, Sustainability

Missionary Cooperation as a Common Witness of Christian Hope and Fraternity

AbstractSince the Second Vatican Council to our own day, the awareness of the correlation between ecclesial unity and mission has increased within the Roman Catholic tradition and beyond. At the same time, our contemporaneity has challenged Christian traditions to develop the understanding of their evangelizing mission. In this framework, the implications of the link between missionary cooperation and Christian unity can be expressed in terms of a common witness of Christian hope and fraternity. While the first part of this article focuses on perspectives the Second Vatican Council introduced in Ad gentes 35–36, the second part illustrates aspects of their development in today’s context, which open up paths for our future as well.

Prvenstvo u Crkvi u svetlu pojave oicoymenicόs u titulaturi konstantinopoljskog patrijarha - protesti pape Grigorija I Dvojeslova patrijarhu Jovanu IV Posniku

The sixth century was a time of still-existing imperial unity and complete unity of Universal Church. Pope Gregory the Great was worried that this unity could be broken by adoption of title oicoymenicόs in the Constantinople by Patriarch John IV Faster. In the West this title is translated with the term of universalis and in language differences it is understood that Constantinople patriarch wants to be the head of the Whole (Universal) Church. Pope Gregory begins to strongly protest and to demand that the patriarch reject the title oicoymenicόs as a profane addition. Theological problematization of the title was created in dispute between Old and New Rome. Pope considered that addition of title brings canonical problem and danger of schism. But he saw greatest danger in the Ecclesiological and Christological consequences. They implied that oicoymenicόs makes patriarch as the Head of Universal Church instead of Christ and makes dilaceration Corpus of the Lord. Through the mediation of the Eastern Patriarchs and clarification of the etymologically key pope preserves Ecclesial Unity.

Mass Markets and the "Liturgical Long Tail"

Mass Markets and the "Liturgical Long Tail" Stephen Bullivant (bio) ABSTRACT This article offers a social-scientific perspective on the theme of "Liturgical Reconciliation: That They May be One." Specifically, it presents a positive case, on pastoral and evangelistic grounds, in favour of liturgical diversity. This argument applies equally to individual parishes and broader—e.g., deanery, diocesan, national, Church-wide—levels. Different, concrete factors influencing church/congregation growth or decline are delineated, and the rationale for applying economic models to thinking about pastoral life is explained. The paper introduces the concept of "the liturgical long tail," and argues for its disproportionate importance for ecclesial vitality. KEY WORDS Church growth, liturgical diversity, economics of religion, long tail, Catholic INTRODUCTION And just as, whereas stubble is naturally destructible by fire . . . if a man . . . encloses it with a quantity of asbestos, the substance said to be an antidote to fire, the stubble no longer dreads the fire, being secured by its enclosure in incombustible matter; in this very way, one may say, the body . . . [having] put on the incorporeal Word of God, no longer fears either death or corruption, for it has Life as a garment, and corruption is done away in it. —St. Athanasius of Alexandria1 [End Page 1] I present the above quotation, wherein a saintly Church Father likens Christ to asbestos(!), for two reasons. The first is simply that if, as may well be the case, you find nothing else of insight, interest, or entertainment in this paper, you will at least have gained this memorable nugget of theological trivia. (This is, I venture, a rather greater reward than some papers applying social-scientific theory to liturgical matters offer to their readers.) The second is that, over the coming pages, I will deploy a number of models and metaphors for thinking about Catholic pastoral life which people of good will can sometimes find off-putting, if not outrightly offensive. But if a Doctor of the Church can use a flame-retardant chemical to explain how, in the Incarnation, Christ clothes humanity in his eternal-flames-retardant nature, then I hope that some of my own metaphors, used for exploring links between liturgical diversity and church vitality, may be granted a prima-facie benefit of the doubt. I also note here that St. Thomas Aquinas argues, in the Summa's first few pages, that since we cannot but resort to "verisimilitudes and figures" when discussing divine matters, it is better to draw our analogies to "material things" that are furthest from the things we are trying to explain.2 This is to avoid our metaphors being misunderstood as literal descriptions. Hence no one comes away from De Incarnatione thinking that the divine nature is really a white powder with some odd properties (though they do get an analogical inkling of how the Incarnation might make possible our salvation). So too, I trust, no one will come away from this paper thinking that I really believe diocesan bishops to be area managers of Domino's Pizza. Disclaimers aside, the purpose of this article is to present a social-scientific sidelight on the theme of "Liturgical Reconciliation: [End Page 2] That They May be One."3 Specifically, I will present a positive case, on pastoral and evangelistic grounds, in favour of liturgical diversity. This will apply both to individual parishes, as well as (and more importantly) at the broader—e.g., deanery or diocesan—levels. This is important, since it may be tempting to suppose that greater ecclesial unity might best be fostered by increased liturgical uniformity. But even if that were the case, it is important to recognize the significant pastoral collateral damage that would likely accompany it. It would also, as I shall briefly explain below, be inimical to the liturgical and ecclesiological vision set out in Sacrosanctum Concilium. To make my case, I will take what is known as an economic approach to thinking about religion. While this theoretical perspective has a long history (note, for example, how many of Jesus' parables elucidate the Kingdom of God by analogy to the primary business concerns—vineyards, fishing, agriculture—of his own day), it owes much of its modern inspiration...

Consecration of Chrism: Symbol of Ecclesial Unity?

Consecration of Chrism: Symbol of Ecclesial Unity?

The mystery and the unity of the Church: Considerations from an Eastern Orthodox perspective

This article attempts an approach to discuss the mystery and the unity of the church and firstly, it underlined that the church cannot have a formal definition as the divine life extended from Christ’s resurrected body into those who believe and receive the Holy Mysteria. At the same time, the process of becoming part of the church is a mystical one. In order for life in Christ to be possible, Christ must be formed in the human being. Becoming a Christian is described in terms specific to the process of birth (cf. Gl 4:19), its end being the formation of Christ in us. Then, the theme of unity is dealt with from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, not in isolation, but in connection with the Roman Catholic, Protestant and ecumenical concerns for unity and collaboration amongst Christians. The cosmic unifying vocation of the church was accomplished because of the five syntheses realised by her Head, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then there are references to the Theotokological aspect of the church, Holy Baptism as the bond of church unity; Holy Eucharist as the Mysterion of ecclesial unity, the ministry of the bishop for unity and the unity of Christians in the one Church.Contribution: The author, having experience in ecumenical dialogues as a former member of the Commmission on World Mission and Evangelism and, at present, of the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches, tried to offer a balanced perspective on the sensitive theme of the unity of the Christians in the one Church, referring to some of the main relevant sources, which facilitate dialogue, mutual knowledge and collaboration.

The Holy Spirit Makes the Church One by Making her Catholic, Apostolic, and Holy According to Yves Congar’s Latest Vision

Yves Congar’s scholars agree that there is “no “Copernican turn” in his ecclesiological itinerary. While this is true, nonetheless, there is also significant evolution in his ecclesiology. One of the reasons of this progress is due to Congar’s continuously evolving understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Therefore, this article shows Congar’s later pneumatological ecclesiology with regard to the four notes of the Church which are contained in each other. Thus, Congar moved from a mainly Christological position to a more pneumatological one, in three directions. First, if catholicity was comprehended as the capacity of the Church to assimilate in its unity all the values of the world (in the first Christological model), now the Holy Spirit is the principle that stimulates diversity and guarantees the Church’s unity (in the second model). For Congar, the Spirit stimulates and resolves the fruitful tension between the universal and particular (churches). Ecclesial unity and pluralism are both necessary—pluralism in unity and unity without uniformity. Second, for Congar, apostolicity means the continuity between the Alpha and the Omega of the Church, and the Holy Spirit is the principle of this substantial identity throughout history. Therefore, the Holy Spirit keeps the Church one by making her apostolic. In turn, apostolicity means that the unity of the Church is original and eschatological. Third, the Holy Spirit purifies and sanctifies the Church by giving her new life. Doing so, the Spirit makes the Church the bride of Christ, his mystical body. It can be concluded that, sanctifying the Church, the Holy Spirit makes her one because he makes her “one flesh” with her bridegroom, Christ.

From timely exegesis to contemporary ecclesiology: Relevant hermeneutics and provocative embodiment of faith in a corona-defined world – Generosity during a pandemic

In a world where economies have no moral conscience, biblical theologians can challenge local cultures with ancient wisdom about generosity and equity. Systemic solutions require changes in the habits of virtue, and this study focuses on the habit of generosity. Building on the work of Stephan Joubert’s Paul as Benefactor, this study concentrates on Paul’s collection in one notable instance: what he says about generosity in 2 Corinthians 8-9 and, in particular, what he means by isotēs in 2 Cor 8:13–15. Does it mean “equality” or “equity”? Beginning with a reinvigorated interest in the economic vision of the apostle Paul about what is meant by “weak” and “good works” and what the Pastoral Epistles communicate with eusebeia (not “godliness” but “social respectability and civility”), we reconsider the collection as an act on the part of the Pauline mission churches to express more than ecclesial unity. This act embodied a theology of grace in mutual reciprocity and in equitable provision on the part of the wealthy for the poor, not least and not limited to those in their own Christian assemblies. The term isotēs is too easily glossed over when translated as “fair balance”, “fairness”, and so the translation of the term with “equity” or “equality” comes closest to the vision of the apostle. Too few studies on this term baptize it sufficiently in the economics of the ancient world and the early Christian radical vision of siblingship and family.Contribution: From the perspective of the Historical Thought and Source Interpretation of the work of Paul, the question of systemic equality or equity is as crucial to navigating the current economic climate as it has ever been. Equality or equity is not limited to Christian communities but following the early church in embodying a theology of grace.

Mission, Reunion and the Anglican Communion: The ‘Appeal to All Christian People’ and approaches to ecclesial unity at the 1920 Lambeth Conference

This article explores the understanding of unity articulated in the ‘Appeal to all Christian People’ issued by the 1920 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. It first examines the expression of the Appeal’s vision in terms of organic unity and mutual recognition, the way that this developed through the drafting process and how this vision related to later Anglican approaches to unity. It then explores the relationship of the Appeal to the Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888, particularly with respect to the episcopate, arguing that the Appeal took an ambiguous approach to episcopacy which was in tension with the language of mutual recognition. Finally, acknowledging that the overarching theme of the 1920 Lambeth Conference was ‘fellowship’, the article considers the Appeal’s vision of unity in the context of the approach to unity taken by the 1920 Lambeth Conference more widely, including the Conference’s other ecumenical resolutions, and its resolutions on mission and the Anglican Communion and the bishops’ Encyclical Letter, particularly its approach to international relations. The article concludes that, while the vision of organic unity that was articulated in the Appeal was reflected in the conference’s resolutions on mission, in other aspects of its work the 1920 Lambeth Conference tended to take a federal approach to unity and fellowship and was thus not fully consistent.

Scriptural Plurality in the Writings of Thomas Aquinas: The Case of Psalm 67, 7

Abstract Thomas Aquinas makes occasional references to the coexistence of multiple versions of the Bible. In particular, Thomas was familiar with several versions of the Latin Psalter used in liturgical and scholarly contexts. This article examines Thomas’s references to Ps. 67, 7 as a test case for understanding the role of scriptural plurality in his biblical hermeneutics. Thomas associates this verse with the theme of unity within religious life, the relation of the Eucharist to ecclesial unity, and ecclesial unity in itself. Thomas’s citations of alternate versions of this verse often appear to be consciously chosen in accord with his exegetical purposes.

Beyond Unity in Diversity: Race, Culture, and Communion Ecclesiology in U.S. Catholicism

U.S. Catholic parishes are steadily becoming more diverse. Seeking a theological basis for ecclesial unity in diversity, U.S. theologians and bishops have, over the past two decades, drawn heavily on post-Vatican II communion ecclesiology. The purpose of this article is to examine how the ecclesiology of communion has shaped contemporary pastoral approaches to diversity in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. I contend that the failure of mainstream communion ecclesiology to confront structures of racism in church life has limited its adequacy as a model of ecclesial community in the contemporary U.S. context. Yet the ubiquitous ecclesiological model also contains the resources for its more critical retrieval by U.S. womanist and feminist theologians, who have done so by emphasizing difference over diversity and transposing the language of unity into the praxic key of solidarity.

Unity in Identity or Unity in Entity?

Without any question, ecclesiology along Christology remain the crucial issues for theologians in the modern Ecumenical dialogue. And while we take as granted that we, as Christians coming from different Churches, have reached a common place regarding the doctrines of Christology, at the same time we experience and we live within our various confessional bodies a different Christ. We are the receivers of the baptismal gift (unum baptisma) and of the calling to be workers of unity, but still, we are living in a “not yet” unity situation. We all witness the paradoxical phenomenon of accepting that baptism bring us in communion with God, but not with one another, exceptionally not with those who come from different Christian denomination. We are “already” in God’s grace, but “not yet” in that same gracious acceptance of one another. We tend to want to correct each other before we encourage one another; to judge before we accept. Statements of faith tend to carry more value than acts of faith. This paper aims to answer the question of ecclesial unity. Keywords: unity, identity, entity, Christian Church, ecclesiology, Body of Christ

Confessional, International, and Cosmopolitan

Abstract Recent critiques of Protestantism argue that its theological principles undercut ecclesial unity while creating endless interpretive plurality. This plurality, in turn, perpetuates the secular conditions that characterize the contemporary Western world: the nurturing of personal autonomy, a buffered self that deafens theological dimensions of existence, and an unenduring institutional visibility that renders Protestant churches incapable of engaging the modern world with a unified theological voice. In this context, this article retrieves Herman Bavinck’s understanding that a specifically Protestant view of the church can properly ground a catholicity that centers on a unity-in-diversity that is “confessional, international, and cosmopolitan” in character.

Under Which Flag? Reflections on Christian Unity and Identity

Under Which Flag? Reflections on Christian Unity and Identity William Swan In an increasingly pluralised and globalised world, human identity is being challenged and expanded. When I first attended primary school, the student next to me at the desk asked me where I was from and I answered with the name of my townsland in the parish where my home was located – Blackhall. When I attended secondary school, I was asked the same question and this time I named my parish – Glynn. When I moved to college in Dublin, to the same question I gave a different answer – Wexford. Finally, when I went abroad to live and study in Rome, I proudly identified myself as ‘Irish’. In the international environment of a Roman university, my Irish identity made me equal to others from all over the world, and brought a realisation that together we were part of a universal family of brothers and sisters, children of our heavenly Father. The important point is that in an international context comes the realisation that we are a global fraternity of Christians. While this identity does not dissolve other identities, such as one’s home parish, county or country, it does supersede them in a way that overcomes division and leads to communion. United diversity in the early church From the birth of the church, Christianity has demonstrated a remarkable ability to acknowledge specific identities but in a way that transcends them and moulds them into a greater and unified corporate identity. This began with Jesus’ calling of a group of Jewish fishermen, tax collectors and zealots, drawn into unity by their attraction to and ultimately their faith in Christ himself. Then at Pentecost, this dynamism of unification is repeated when Parthians, Medians, Judeans, Mesopotamians,Asians, Egyptians and Romans are unified by the Holy Spirit in a way that transcended their specific national, cultural and linguistic identities. Here, at the moment of the church’s birth, she is already catholic, already a world church. St Paul was particularly concerned with unity among Christians and the Studies • volume 107 • number 425 87 challenge to maintain unity in a church made up of Jewish and Gentile converts. Indeed Paul himself was marked by at least three distinct identities: Jewish, Roman and Christian. As an apostle for whom ecclesial unity was paramount, Paul knew that any distinct identities within his churches had to be transcended so that a greater, more unified and inclusive identity could be established. We see this clearly in First Corinthians, when he challenges factions that have emerged in the community along the lines of allegiances to Cephas, Apollos and Paul himself (cf. 1 Cor 1,10). The Apostle protests: ‘Christ has been divided into groups’ (1 Cor 1,13). In addressing the issue of unity, Paul insists that, through baptism, we are inserted into Christ and united with him as a single subject; no longer many alongside one another, but ‘one only in Christ Jesus’ (Gal 3,28). In Ephesians, Paul teaches that ‘there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, over all through all and within all’(Eph 4,5-6). He outlines this to a community made up of Jewish and Gentile Christians in a letter that most scholars agree was written to address issues of unity in the church at Ephesus.1 For Paul, the place and time where all distinctions were transcended was at the Eucharist. He offers this teaching in First Corinthians where he writes: ‘The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because it is one bread, we, the many, are one body’(1 Cor 10,16). This is the same letter in which he first develops the doctrine of the church being the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12,12). Therefore, for Paul, the celebration of the Eucharist and the unity of the church are intrinsically linked. Celebrating the Eucharist breaks down barriers of subjectivity and gathers believers into a greater communion of existence, where distinct identities are acknowledged but transcended in the greater corporate identity of the Body of Christ made up of many parts. The Irish context When the...