Undivided Church Research Articles

A critical evaluation of the context and history of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa’s “One and Undivided Church” statement

The statement “one undivided church” has always been at the centre of theology since New Testament times. Jesus in his greatest prayer in (John 17) appealed to God that his followers may be one, as he and God are one. For Jesus, oneness was proof that he was sent by God. In the history of Methodism, John Wesley, as late as a month before he died in 1791, wrote to Ezekiel Cooper in Philadelphia saying, “lose no opportunity of declaring to all people that the Methodists are one in all the world and that it is their full determination so to continue” (Wesley, 1997:260). Furthermore, the oneness theme was underscored by the World Methodist Council as their theme and logo for the 2016 Conference. The theme was used both to reflect the Council’s goal of being a body that unites the eighty member-churches and also to recall John Wesley’s quote. In 1958, the Methodist Church of Southern African (MCSA) Conference, added “and” to the statement and proposed the statement that the MCSA is a “one and undivided church”. Using the examples of Jesus, John Wesley and the World Methodist Council, this paper interrogates the MCSA’s 1958 statement to find out to what extent the MCSA is in fact one and undivided. The paper will conclude by proposing a novel theological approach that MCSA can consider, for it to be one truly undivided church. The article uses desktop methodology and reviewed credible and relevant academic literature available on the topic under study.

DID RESURRECTED JESUS CHRIST APPEAR TO HIS MOTHER?

The article offers a reflection on why in the writings of the New Testament there is no mention of an apparition of the Risen Lord to his Mother. In seeking the answers through testimonies from both the Western and Eastern traditions, there come often some themes that are always current and interesting for theological reflection, such as the relationship between Revelation and Tradition; between transmission and acceptance of Scripture – above all, canonical and non-canonical Scriptures; between Christology and Mariology: the place of Mary in the mission of the Son, both in the moment of the incarnation and in the fulfillment of the paschal mystery, thus more easily seeing the incarnation in the light of the resurrection. What and how much there is in common between the Eastern and Western traditions; relationship between the theology of the Incarnation – that of the first councils of the undivided Church – and the theology of the paschal mystery: the one who died and rose is the same Word of God who became incarnate in Mary's womb; Mary, who not only welcomes the announcement of the Incarnation but who also welcomes the announcement of the Resurrection of her Son. It is precisely the reflections matured on the role of Mary in the history of Salvation that give substance to the statement that the Lord appeared to his Mother, both in the East and in the West, though in the West in a more restrained way.

Review Article

Review Article

Polityka rosyjskiej Cerkwi prawosławnej wobec cudownych obrazów katolickiej proweniencji na wschodnich terenach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej w XIX w. na kilku przykładach

Due to the liquidation of the Union in 1839 and the transfer of Catholic churches to the Orthodox Church after the rebellions of 1830–1831 and 1863–1864 in the territories of the former Polish -Lithuanian Commonwealth which were incorporated into the Russian Empire, a great deal of sacred art pieces of western -Christian art became property of the Orthodox Church. As per directions of the Church authorities, the images of Jesus Christ, Our Lady and the Saints of the Undivided Church could remain in Orthodox churches, while those of Catholic and Greek -Catholic Saints were to be given back to Catholics. The images that were left in Orthodox churches were to be changed to meet the Orthodox rules. That usually meant addition of an inscription or repainting of the image partially or fully.
 The situation was different in relation to miraculous images. After being transferred to the Orthodox churches they remained unchanged, even in the cases when their iconography was unacceptable for the Orthodox Church or when they represented Catholic Saints, such as Ignatius Loyola or Anthony of Padua. This was related to the effect miraculous images had on local communities. The cult of miraculous images was above -confessional; believers of different Christian confessions went on pilgrimages to them. Leaving these images as is they were aimed at converting Catholics to Orthodoxy to strengthen the position of the Russian Empire on the land of the former Polish - -Lithuanian Commonwealth. To justify the functioning of western -Christian images in the Orthodox Church, both new legends were developed stating the images had Orthodox origins and were taken by Catholics, and attempts of theological rationale were made. These activities were successful: the images that survived through the disasters of the 20th century are still in the cult of the Orthodox Church along with the legends of their Orthodox origin developed in the 19th century.

The symbolism of national glory in the “Freischütz” by K. M. Weber

The purpose of the study is to highlight in the generalized expressiveness of the famous opera by K.M. Weber the means of embodying national glory through the spiritual greatness of heroes in accordance with the mysterious and theatrical traditions of the German cultural world. The methodological basis is the analytical, historical, comparative, interdisciplinary methods presented in the works of A. Losev, V. Lychkovakh, as well as the hermeneutic section of the intonational musicological expedition, which we find in the works of B. Asafiev, as well as in the works of E. Markova, O. Muravskaya, etc. The scientific novelty is due to the innovative perspective of expressing the named opera by K. M. Weber as the embodiment of the religious ideals of the Undivided Church, which were in the center of attention of Biedermeier as national-artistic refraction of the ideas of the Restoration. Conclusions. The national fame as the cultural and artistic heritage of the German nation in the conditions of the state and confessional delimitations was recognized in the Biedermeier wave at the level of revealing the spiritual chosenness of heroes, consecrated in the musical interpretation by the traditions of the «Hubert Mass» with indicative symbols of horn heights and timbre, and in the plot, the nomination of the figure of the Hermit as a vestige of primitive Christian virtues, placing the chosen one at the rank of a feat of action of Agatha in Atonement but. The final chorus raises female devotion to the level of national glorification; and this represents a new turn in national thinking in memory of the forgotten and revived glory of the first Christian sacrifice.

РОЛЬ СЛАВІЛЬНОЇ СЕМАНТИКИ В ОБРАЗНО-СМИСЛОВІЙ ТА ІНТОНАЦІЙНІЙ КОНЦЕПЦІЇ «ПОТОПА» І. СТРАВИНСЬКОГО

Мета статті – виявлення інтонаційно-смислової специфіки відтворення образів хваління-славослів’я в концепції «Потопа» І. Стравинського. Актуальність теми визначена ключовою роллю творчої фігури І. Стравинського для культури ХХ ст. та затребуваністю його спадщини в сучасній виконавській практиці. Композитор не тільки відкрив нові горизонти в музичному мистецтві, але й узагальнив таку найважливішу якість культурної парадигми епохи, як стильове різноманіття. Твори автора, особливо пізнього періоду, та їх духовна складова і нині потребують ґрунтовного дослідження в сучасному мистецтвознавстві. Методологічна основа роботи базується на інтонаційній концепції музики в аспектах стилістичного й етимологічного аналізу, а також на міждисциплінарному й історико- культурологічному підходах, що дають змогу виявити духовні та жанрово-інтонаційні особливості трактування славільної семантики в зазначеному творі композитора. Наукова новизна. Уперше узагальнено духовно-смислову, жанрово-інтонаційну та драматургічну роль поетики Te Deum та Sanctus в композиційному цілому містеріального задуму «Потопу» І. Стравинського. Висновки. «Потоп» І. Стравинського, створений на перетині різноманітних жанрових традицій (опера, кантата, балет), які поєднані типологічними ознаками містерії («телемістерії»), символізує базові духовно-стильові настанови композитора в пізній період його творчої діяльності, зверненої до біблійної тематики. Славословні розділи «Потопу» І. Стравинського (Te Deum та Sanctus) репрезентують, з одного боку, жанрово-стильові шукання автора, що відкриває для себе інтонаційно-семантичні можливості серійної техніки, яка в загальній концепції твору стає символом «Вселенського порядку». З іншого боку, вони визначають духовно- релігійні настанови світовідчуття І. Стравинського, які засвідчують схильність митця до екуменізму в дусі традицій «Неподіленої церкви» та її східнохристиянської ґенези.

Melos of the Undivided Church. Notes on the Interchurch Researches of Early Music

New attention towards the ancient Church chant is especially on time in today’s Ukraine, where the renewed autocephalous Church is entering the global Christian community, looking back at its own historical and liturgical roots and trying to overcome the stereotypes about its tradition. The present article deals with the myths of different Christian musical traditions concerning themselves and their neighbors. Such myths implicitly express the yearning for the lost unity of the Church and condemn the Other for this loss. Hence they continue the dogmatic polemics in the domain of aesthetics. As we have demonstrated, such myths were constructed by the 19th-20th centuries historiographies of Church chant as an ideological impetus for the renewal of the relevant traditions. However “positive” mythologization of one’s own chanting tradition, firstly, retouched those dimensions of its image that were underestimated at that time, and secondly, often denigrated the neighbor traditions. So, the one-sidedness of such mythologization has provoked some modern cantors to engage into the joint reconstruction of authentic history of music together with their foreign colleagues. In this paper such collegial reconstructions - theoretical as well as practical - were for the first time assessed as an important dimension of interconfessional and interchurch dialogue. As we tried to show, they are not less necessary than the discussions in dogmatic field and their fruits are much more powerful than any “musical Esperanto” of popular Christian hymns.

INTONATIONAL-SEMANTIC ASPECTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IMAGES OF GLORIFICATION-PRAISE IN THE GERMAN PROTESTANT MUSICAL AND HISTORICAL TRADITION

The purpose of the article is to identify the intonational-semantic specifics of the implementation of praiseglorificationimages in the German Protestant liturgical and singing and creative musical and historical traditions. Themethodology of the work on the intonation concept of music from the perspective of stylistic, etymological analysis, aswell as on interdisciplinary and historical-cultural approaches that allow revealing the spiritual-semantic and genreintonationalfeatures of the interpretation of the designated figurative sphere of German spiritual culture and music. Thescientific novelty of the article is determined by the fact that it first generalized the poetic-intonational specificity ofdepicting praise-glorification images in line with the religious attitudes of Lutheranism ("theology of glory," "theologyof the cross"), as well as the work of German composers of the 18th-19th centuries. Conclusions. Glorious-gloriousthemes occupy one of the essential places in European Christian culture, in particular, in German Protestant, definingthe vectors of its spiritual and semantic orientation. Genetically dating back to the Byzantine Eastern Christian traditionand to the spiritual precepts of the early Middle Ages of the Undivided Church, the confessional tradition in translatingthe images of praise and glorification («Te Deum» and «Gloria» in their German version) was formed at the intersectionof the Protestant doctrines of «theology of glory» and «theology of the cross». The intonational-semantic specificity ofLutheran chorales associated with the designated figurative-semantic sphere demonstrates contact with a variety ofconfessional Christian traditions – Catholic (appeal to the intonational material of Gregorianiс), Eastern Christian(appeal to the spiritual texts of the early Middle Ages), thereby revealing the specificity of spiritual and creativeGerman composers of the 18th-19th centuries.

Istota eklezjologii pierwszego tysiąclecia w ujęciu prawosławnym i rzymskokatolickim w świetle dokumentu: „Synodalność i prymat w pierwszym Tysiącleciu: Ku wspólnemu rozumieniu w służbie jedności Kościoła”, Chieti 2016

This article consists of two parts. The first part presents the achievements of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue which commenced in 1982. The second part contains a Polish translation of a document which was adopted at the 14th plenary session of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue in Chieti in 2016. The first phase of the dialogue, which took place between 1982-2000, raised issues which are in essence common for both the Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church and in many aspects convergent. Starting in 2006, the Commission addressed the relations of synodality and primacy in the Church. The Chieti Document addresses the question of understanding primacy in the first millennium of the undivided Church. As the authors of this document point out, the history of this period should serve as a benchmark in the quest for Church unity in the future.

The Decorations in the Left Aisle of Santa Maria Antiqua within the Context of the Political History of the Iconoclastic Era.

The topic under consideration is a fresco of the left aisle of the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum. It depicts a row of holy men flanking Christ sitting on His Throne dating back to the time of the Pope Paul I (757-767). The author focuses on images of saints on the fresco, their hierarchy, and their garments. It is revealed that the holy men on the right hand of Christ are venerated saints of the Roman Church and those on the left hand are mostly Eastern holy bishops, great theologians and champions of orthodox faith who fought against various kinds of heresies. They have never been really popular in Rome. The author has come to the following conclusion: the saints on the left and the saints on the right represent together the united and undivided Church fighting against the heresy of Iconoclasm. The main weapon of the Western Church being its firmness in the orthodox faith, the main weapon of the Eastern Church was its theological erudition.

Pusey, Newman, and the end of a ‘healthful Reunion’: The Second and Third Volumes of Pusey's Eirenicon

This paper addresses the second and third volumes of Edward Bouverie Pusey's Eirenicon, which were published as open letters to John Henry Newman. Written in the run up to the First Vatican Council in 1870, these books discuss respectively the Marian dogmas and infallibility. Like the first volume they reveal the profound difference between Pusey's Anglo-Catholicism, which was a ‘catholicism of the word’ defined by the explicit doctrinal formulations of the undivided church, and Newman's Roman Catholicism with its emphasis on the doctrine of development. Compared to the first volume, which provoked significant discussion, the impact of the second and third volumes was modest primarily because the declaration of infallibility meant that ecumenical discussion no longer seemed possible. Pusey's hopes for reunion were completely dashed and he removed himself from ecumenical discussion permanently.

The Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht

The Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht have different historical backgrounds. The Dutch Church has her roots in the Catholic Counter‐Reformation, the German‐speaking Churches in the protest‐movements against Vatican I, and the Polish Churches in the problems of emigrants to USA. However, they adhere in common to the conciliar and synodical tradition of the Catholic Church. They lay stress on the relative autonomy of the local church, the episcopal apostolic succession, and the Eucharist as the manifestation of the Church. The autonomy of the local church is not seen as detached from the universal Church or the responsibility to stay in or to restore Church unity. This leads to an ecumenical engagement which has resulted in full communion with the Anglican Churches and a doctrinal consensus with the Orthodox Churches. Reference back to the undivided Church is a key feature of Old Catholic ecclesiology, though this does not lead to uncomplicated ecumenical solutions.

TRADITION AND INTERPRETATION

Doing catholic systematic theology means: interpreting the great Tradition of the undivided Church in such a way as, perhaps, to help further it. This involves presenting oneself to, and letting on...

Unity and Diversity in Christianity II

The restoration of churchly unity among all Christians is the agreed aim of ecumenical work. It is the programme announced in the opening phrase—Unitas redintegratio— of the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism (which is thus also the title). Such phraseology suggests that the unity to be restored did at some stage actually exist—that there was once, historically and empirically, an “undivided Church”, prior to the conflicts among Christians that gave rise to schisms and heresies. Reflective study of church history seems, however, to keep pushing further and further back to the point at which the Church was visibly and organically one. The Decree of Ecumenism dates the first of the divisions at the refusal of what was to become the Nestorian Church to accept the dogmatic pronouncement of the Council of Ephesus in the year 431. The convoking of that council had itself been an attempt to restore Christian unity. The further one goes back into history the more evident it becomes that it has always been necessary to restore unity. The “undivided Church” begins to look more like an endless task rather then any historically dateable empirical reality. The variety and complexity of divisions among Christians become increasingly obvious. It is not at all clear that anybody, either in the World Council of Churches or in the Catholic Church, not to mention the many other participants, has yet succeeded in working out a doctrine of the Church which does justice to the tangled anomalies of the situation.

The view of the Ecumenical Synods on the state

When one wants to learn to know the basic principles of the Ancient, undivided Church concerning the State, as authoritatively and validly as possible, one has to turn to the teachings of the so-called Ecumenical Synods, which is the term used of those great synods of the bishops which were recognised as representing the mind of the Church and whose declarations and rulings thus were—and are, from the Orthodox point of view—binding on the whole Church. The period, during which the said synods of the ancient Church took place, falls between the 4th and the 8th centuries, the latest of them being held in 787.

In Praise of Quakers

In the year 1924 the Society of Friends, which cherishes an ancient ‘testimony’ against the celebration of special days, waived its scruples to celebrate the birth of George Fox, who, if not exactly the founder, was the coherer of those wandering souls who became known as Quakers.About the time the Quakers [I must be forgiven if from time to time I call them Friends] are, if not celebrating, at least turning their minds to the tercentenary of their existence as a religious body. I believe also that other religious bodies, especially Christian bodies, will according to their capacity give thanks to God for the Quakers. Even that Christian body to which I have been given the grace to belong, that body without which there could not be in any sense a Christian body, very properly and without retracting in the slightest degree from her witness to herself as Christ’s one and undivided Church outside which there is no salvation, may rejoice.Strictly and narrowly the thing called Quakerism is a heresy and as such it must be condemned and detested. As a Catholic I abjure with all my heart and mind the heresy of Quakerism. Yet very few Quakers are heretics. They are not because very few have received the sacrament of baptism. Those who have received it are those who have joined the Society of Friends from some Christian group which gives valid baptism. Looking at the Society of Friends still in this narrow way, we may doubt whether it is, in fact, a Christian body at all.

The Prayer of Jesus

The liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church is known and appreciated by the Catholic West. Less known are its non-liturgical devotions. One such devotion, ‘the prayer of Jesus,’ has for centuries been encouraged in the Eastern Church, though, leaving the freedom of choice in spiritual ways to her faithful, she never imposed it or ascribed to it any particular merits (a practice unknown to the East). With this proviso the Prayer can be compared with the Rosary in the West; and as its roots go back to the early, undivided Church, it could be claimed by the West no less than by the East.‘Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.’ This invocation has behind it volumes of spiritual writings and centuries of ascetico-mystical tradition. It is known as ‘the art or mental prayer.’Many seem to have built their whole spiritual life on the prayer of Jesus, though it cannot be regarded as detached from the rest of the Christian life: Bible reading, sacramental grace, practice of the Commandments and theological virtues. In monasteries it was combined with special ascetical practices. Beginners in the use of the prayer abstained from devotional reading in order to concentrate, and the prayer replaced private psalmody in the cell, outside the services. Some kept it as a unique rule. It was repeated with beads several thousand times and was accompanied by prostrations. This acted as the first ascetical exercise of the will in obedience to the rule imposed by one’s spiritual father, teaching also control over the body.

The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church: their Canons and Dogmatic Decrees

The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church: their Canons and Dogmatic Decrees Get access Notes and Queries, Volume s9-XI, Issue 284, 6 June 1903, Pages 458–459, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s9-XI.284.458e Published: 06 June 1903

The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church. Their Canons and Dogmatic Decrees, Together with the Canons of All the Local Synods Which Have Received Ecumenical Acceptance. Henry R. Percival

Previous articleNext article FreeRecent Theological LiteratureThe Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church. Their Canons and Dogmatic Decrees, Together with the Canons of All the Local Synods Which Have Received Ecumenical Acceptance. Henry R. Percival Eri B. HulbertEri B. Hulbert Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 5, Number 2Apr., 1901 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/477725 Views: 121Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in The American Journal of Theology (1897-1920), which is continued by The Journal of Religion (1921-present). PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:N. Tomov, N. Dimitrov, D. Atanasova, J. (Yanko) Dzhanozov Impregnation as a method for preservation of relics used by the Christian Church, Trakia Journal of Sciences 16, no.33 (Jan 2018): 254–257.https://doi.org/10.15547/tjs.2018.03.014