A Tale of Two Images

The icon on the left of Peter and Andrew embracing, "The Holy Brother Apostles," was presented by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras to Pope Paul VI on the occasion of their meeting in Jerusalem on January 5, 1964 in the midst of the Second Vatican Council (1963-65). The photo on the right is from the meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul this past weekend, the latest in a series of encouraging contacts between the two communions divided since the schism of 1054. Those who pray and work for the unity of Christ's church await future chapters of this tale in hope.

New publication--"James Wm. McClendon, Jr.'s Narrative Christology in Ecumenical/Ecclesiological Perspective"

The November 2014 issue of the Pacific Journal for Baptist Research (vol. 9, no. 2) includes my article "James Wm. McClendon, Jr.'s Narrative Christology in Ecumenical/Ecclesiological Perspective," The issue in its entirety is available online in PDF (click on hyperlink above); the abstract for the article follows:

ABSTRACT

The reception of Baptist theologian James Wm. McClendon, Jr.’s proposal of a “two-narrative” Christology has focused on its relation to the Chalcedonian “two-natures” Christology. While not ignoring this question, this article addresses the ecumenical and ecclesiological implications of McClendon’s Christology by turning to a pair of different questions. First, what does McClendon’s seemingly non-Chalcedonian Christology look like when viewed through the lenses of the attention bilateral ecumenical dialogue has given to Christology as central to efforts toward confessing “one faith,” in particular in light of the progress in overcoming the fifth-century Christological divisions made in the ecumenical dialogues between the non-Chalcedonian churches of the East and Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches during the past four decades? Second, what are the ecumenical implications of McClendon’s suggestion of a link between his two-narrative Christology and ecclesiology?

Happy 50th birthday, Unitatis Redintegratio

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of Unitatis Redintegratio (Latin for "the repair of unity"), the Decree on Ecumenism issued by the Second Vatican Council on November 21, 1964. Here's a brief summary of the significance of this decree from a previous publication:

After acknowledging that "division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching to Gospel to every creature," the decree recognizes the modern ecumenical movement that began among Protestants as nothing less than the work of God....This Decree on Ecumenism was the major twentieth-century turning point in the progress of the quest for Christian unity. It acknowledged that all the churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, share responsibility for their contributions to the present divisions. It explicitly affirmed that non-Catholic Christians experience the grace of God through the presence of Christ and the work of the Spirit in Christian communities that are outside the Roman Catholic Church....The decree called for all Catholics, clergy and laity alike, to learn about and learn from the distinctive gifts that the other denominational traditions contribute to the body of Christ. It irrevocably committed the Roman Catholic Church to participation in the various forms of the worldwide ecumenical movement, and thus it also opened the way for many other denominations to follow through on their own ecumenical convictions by entering into formal dialogue with Roman Catholicism. -- From Steven R. Harmon, Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity (Eugene, Ore.: Cascade Books, 2010)

Various commemorations of this anniversary are underway and forthcoming. I'm looking forward to speaking at one such event, a symposium on Unitatis Redintegratio at Creighton University on February 7, 2015, at which I will offer reflections on the significance of this document and its implications for the ecumenical future along with Fr. John Crossin of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and William Rusch, former executive director of the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches (USA). In the meantime, I hope readers of Ecclesial Theology will join me in marking today's anniversary by praying for the unity of Christ's church and reading the text of the Decree on Ecumenism, which makes for edifying devotional reading for all Christians.

New publication--"Free Church Theology, the Pilgrim Church, and the Ecumenical Future"

The new issue of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies (vol. 49, no. 3, Summer 2014) includes my journal article "Free Church Theology, the Pilgrim Church, and the Ecumenical Future" (pp. 420-42). The précis published at the beginning of the article follows below:

Within the framework of receptive ecumenism, this essay addresses the question: is there anything distinctive about theology in the Free Church tradition that constitutes some portion of the ecclesial gifts that the rest of the church might contemplate receiving from the Free Churches? The author’s own Baptist tradition serves as a particular example that represents the larger Free Church tradition in this connection. A survey of the international bilateral dialogues with Baptist World Alliance participation reveals a Free Church theology that is both radically biblical and radically catholic and yet relentlessly pilgrim in its resistance to overly realized eschatologies of the church and its doctrinal formulations. After establishing connections between Free Church and ecumenically shared expressions of a pilgrim church theology, the essay concludes by proposing seven ecclesiological theses rooted in the narrative Christology of Baptist theologian James Wm. McClendon, Jr., regarding what it might mean ecumenically for the church to embody the story of Jesus as a pilgrim people.

French Baptist sole female fraternal delegate to Synod on Family

Today the Extraordinary Synod on the Family convened by Pope Francis concludes the first week of its two-week gathering at the Vatican. The synod is intended to be representative of the universal church: among the 253 men and women from five continents participating in the synod are not only Catholic clerical representatives, including 114 presidents of Catholic bishops' conferences, 13 heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and 25 heads of divisions of the Roman Curia among Catholic clerical representatives, but also laypersons--including 13 married couples and 16 experts in various fields germane to the matters under discussion--as well as 8 "fraternal delegates." representing non-Catholic traditions. Among these, Valérie Duval-Poujol, a professor of biblical exegesis at the Catholic Institute of Paris, France, is representing the Baptist World Alliance and is the only woman among the eight fraternal delegates to the synod. On Friday, October 10, she gave an address to the synod. A transcript of her address appears on the web site of the Fédération des Églises Évangéliques Baptistes de France (en Français). Earlier this week she was interviewed on Vatican Radio (audio also en Français).

Prof. Duval-Poujol, whose academic specialty is Septuagintal studies, serves as President of the Ecumenical Commission of the Protestant Federation of France and is a member of the Baptist delegation to conversations between the BWA and the World Methodist Council. An interview with Duval-Poujol about her role as a fraternal delegate to the synod appears on the web site of the Protestant Federation of France (print; also en Français). (In the course of the interview she also mentions the work of an ongoing national bilateral dialogue between Baptists and Catholics in France that has produced several significant reports on their work over the past two decades, including most recently a document summarizing their conversations on Mary.)

The other seven fraternal delegates to the synod are as follows. Ecumenical Patriarchate: His Eminence Athenagoras, metropolitan of Belgium; Patriarchate of Moscow: His Eminence Hilarion, president of the Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Russian Federation; Coptic Orthodox Church: His Eminence Bishoy, metropolitan of Damietta, Kafr Elsheikh and Elbarari, Egypt; Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch: His Eminence Mar Yostinos, archbishop of Zhale and Bekau, Lebanon; Anglican Communion: His Grace Paul Butler, bishop of Durham, England, Great Britain; Lutheran World Federation: Mr Ndanganeni Petrus Phaswaha, president of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in South Africa; World Communion of Reformed Churches: Rev. Benebo Fubara-Manuel, president of the Nigerian Communion of Reformed Churches, Nigeria.

(Many thanks to Jane Stranz, a French Reformed pastor who coordinates ecumenical relations on the staff of the Fédération protestante de France, for making me aware of Prof. Duval-Poujol's participation in the synod via Twitter and Facebook contacts.)

Update: A YouTube clip is available from a press conference in which Valérie Duval-Poujol summarizes (in French) her address to the synod, beginning at 14:58 in the clip. After she speaks, a translator summarizes her remarks to the press corps in English.

Update #2: Jane Stranz has posted as a Facebook note an English translation of the text of Prof. Duval-Poujol's address to the synod on behalf of the Baptist World Alliance.

GWU Divinity Professor Reviews New U2 Album (Office of University Communications)

The Gardner-Webb University Office of University Communications has published a story drawing on my review of U2's new album Songs of Innocence for Associated Baptist Press / Herald and my radio interview for the campus radio station WGWG. The press release "GWU Divinity Professor Reviews New U2 Album" begins:

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. —U2 forged a music career by blending the spiritual and secular worlds, and the band revisits its theological roots in its latest album, Gardner-Webb University Professor Dr. Steve Harmon offered in recent reviews for the Associated Baptist Press and WGWG.org.

Harmon teaches in the GWU School of Divinity and specializes in Christianity, religion and theology.  After discovering U2 as a high school student about 30 years ago, he has maintained an interest in the band, often reviewing the group’s albums...(read the full story at Gardner-Webb University NewsCenter)

U2 Songs of Innocence radio interview

Last week I sat down in the studios of WGWG, the campus radio station of Gardner-Webb University, to discuss U2's new album Songs of Innocence (on which I had previously offered my theological first impressions in an Associated Baptist Press / Religious Herald guest commentary). The embedded SoundCloud player above should play the interview (which also includes three full-length songs from the album thanks to Gardner-Webb's streaming license) within this blog post; here is the direct SoundCloud link:

https://soundcloud.com/wgwgdotorg/u2s-new-album-dr-steven-harmon.

(I should point out by way of correction that contrary to a comment in the interview introductory remarks, the members of the band were not all "Catholic schoolboys" once upon a time.)

Updated information on January 2015 ecumenism course at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity

Peter and Andrew Embracing, icon
presented in 1964 by Pope Paul VI to
Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras

Important format and date updates for the January 2015 short-term M.Div. course on ecumenism I'm teaching at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity:

DSTH 401 Special Topics in Theology: The Quest for Christian Unity will now be offered as a one-week intensive course Monday, January 5 through Friday, January 9, 8:00 A.M.-4:30 P.M. each day.

The new format and schedule may make it possible for additional students to take advantage of this opportunity, which is available not only to current Gardner-Webb divinity students but also to students enrolled elsewhere who would like to transfer the course credit to their home institutions, to non-degree students, and to registered auditors. For more information, see the previous Ecclesial Theology post Ecumenism divinity course opportunity--January 2015 short term.

Mount Aloysius College Fall Ecumenical Lectures

Mount Aloysius College

For the information of readers of Ecclesial Theology in Pennsylvania and the surrounding region, I am delivering the Fall Ecumenical Lectures at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania on October 9. At 12:30 I will present the lecture "The Baptist Eschatological Vision and the Ecumenical Future" (registration required); at 3:30 I will present a public lecture, "What Do Catholics Have in Common with Baptists?" (open to the public free of charge).

For more information, see the MAC press release "Mount Aloysius Fall Ecumenical Lectures to Feature Baptist, Catholic Commonality"; to inquire about registration for the luncheon lecture, contact the office of Mount Aloysius College’s Vice President for Mission Integration, Sr. Helen Marie Burns, RSM (814-886-6510 or hburns@mtaloy.edu).

Baptist theology and Baylor University Press

I received the Fall 2014-Spring 2015 Baylor University Press catalog in the mail at the office yesterday. Its new releases include two substantial constructive projects by Baptist theologians: Contesting Catholicity: Theology for Other Baptists by Curtis W. Freeman and Baptists and the Communion of Saints: A Theology of Covenanted Disciples by Paul S. Fiddes, Brian Haynes, and Richard Kidd. In addition, BUP is releasing The Collected Works of James Wm. McClendon, Jr., vols. 1 and 2, ed. Ryan Andrew Newson and Andrew C. Wright.

These follow on the heels of BUP's 2012 republication of McClendon's Systematic Theology (vols. 1, 2, and 3). With these publications, Baylor University Press is making significant contributions to the furthering of Baptist constructive theology.

U2's Songs of Innocence: first impressions (ABP News/Herald)

The Associated Baptist Press / Religious Herald has published my first impressions theological review of the new U2 album Songs of Innocence, "On first take, the latest U2 album still offers grace." Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the article:

I’d told myself I wouldn’t do it this time.

Writing a theological review of the latest U2 album has been de rigueur for me since offering my two cents on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. With increasingly credible rumors pointing to the release of the next album this fall (while I’m deep in the midst of a writing project about the “pilgrim church” character of the Baptist ecclesiological vision in relation to the ecumenical future), I’d decided to enjoy listening to whatever the band released but excuse myself from the self-imposed expectation to publish something about it.

Then I made the mistake of intermittently watching the live stream of Apple’s Sept. 9 product launch for its iPhone 6 and Apple Watch to see how the rumored U2 involvement in that event would unfold....(read the full article at ABP News/Herald)

In Memoriam: Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928-2014)

Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg died Friday, September 6 at the age of 85. Pannenberg's former student Philip Clayton, a theologian at Claremont School of Theology, has blogged a nice personal tribute on Tony Jones' blog.

Most theological students recognize Pannenberg's name as a theologian mentioned in their systematic theology courses, probably in connection with concepts of revelation and Christology (the two loci in which I consistently reference Pannenberg in my courses at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity). Fewer may be familiar with his work as an ecumenist. In my article “Ecumenical Theology and/as Systematic Theology,” Ecumenical Trends 38, no.9 (October 2009): 6/134-9/137, 15/143, I wrote this about Pannenberg's ecumenical work:

The close relationship between ecumenical and systematic theology is epitomized by the career of Wolfhart Pannenberg, who long served in the dual role of Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Munich, participated actively in various forums for ecumenical dialogue, wrote extensively on ecumenical themes, and treated each of the systematic loci with ecumenical comprehensiveness in his three-volume Systematic Theology with the purpose of contributing to the ecumenical goal of the visible unity of the church clearly in mind (p. 7/135).

Ecumenism divinity course opportunity--January 2015 short term

Peter and Andrew Embracing, icon
presented in 1964 by Ecumenical
Patriarch Athenagoras to Pope Paul VI

In the January 2015 between-semesters term at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, I will be teaching a Master of Divinity course titled "Special Topics in Theology: The Quest for Christian Unity" (DSTH 401). The course will meet in a one-week intensive format January 5-9 (Monday-Friday), 8:00 A.M.-4:30 P.M. each day, on the Boiling Springs campus.

For M.Div. students at Gardner-Webb, the course will fulfill the Historical/Theological Studies Electives requirement for the Pastoral Studies concentration and the General Electives requirement for all concentrations. The course is also open to transient students who are enrolled in a degree program at another institution and wish to arrange transfer credit, as well as to non-degree students and registered auditors.

By the course's conclusion, students should be able to meet these objectives:

1. Be familiar with the broad outlines of the history of ecclesial divisions and efforts to overcome them.
2. Consider the current divisions of the church in light of the biblical imperative for Christian unity.
3. Articulate a theological rationale for ecumenical engagement.
4. Offer informed responses to some of the key proposals and agreements of the modern ecumenical movement.
5. Appreciate the quest for Christian unity as central to the task of congregational ministry.
6. Propose concrete practices of grassroots ecumenical engagement.

In addition to various ecumenical documents available online, the following are the required texts:

• Michael Kinnamon, The Ecumenical Movement: An Anthology of Key Texts and Voices (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1997)
• Steven R. Harmon, Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010)

Students will also select one of the following books about the ecumenical movement and its future as the subject of a written response and class presentation:

• Walter Cardinal Kasper, That They May All Be One: The Call to Unity Today (London/New York: Burns & Oates, 2004)
• William G. Rusch, Ecumenical Reception: Its Challenge and Opportunity (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2007)
• John H. Armstrong, Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ's Mission is Vital to the Future of the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010)
• Michael Kinnamon, Can a Renewal Movement Be Renewed? Questions for the Future of Ecumenism (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2014)

In addition to participation in class lecture and seminar-style discussion sessions, course requirements will include an exam, an analysis of a national- or international-level dialogue between the student's own denominational tradition and another Christian communion, a response to one of the books about the ecumenical movement and its future, and a proposal for practices of concrete ecumenical engagement that can be implemented in local church settings. The exam will be completed at the end of the week; the remaining writing assignments will be due later in the spring.

Gardner-Webb divinity students will register through the usual process. Students at other institutions wishing to arrange transfer credit should confer with their academic dean early in the process and contact Kheresa Harmon, Director of Admissions for the School of Divinity at Gardner-Webb, for information about application procedures for transient students (kharmon@gardner-webb.edu; 704-406-3205). Others interested in taking the course as non-degree students or registered auditors should contact Kheresa Harmon as well. Applications from prospective students for the course not currently enrolled at Gardner-Webb will need to be received by December 1, 2014.

Baptist-Catholic dialogue report in PCPCU Information Service

The most recent issue of the Information Service bulletin published by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (No. 142, 2013/II) includes in its "Documentation Supplement" the full text of "The Word of God in the Life of the Church: A Report of International Conversations between the Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance, 2006-2010," along with an official Catholic commentary on the document written by Thomas A. Baima. The issue can be downloaded in its entirety in PDF from the Vatican web site; the report was previously published in an issue of the American Baptist Quarterly and as an HTML document on the Vatican site.

Other articles and notices in the issue are of interest to followers of ecumenical developments. The Table of Contents appears below:

Pope Francis and Ecumenism (July-December 2013)

Visit to Rome of His Holiness Moran Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, 4-6 September 2013

Tenth General Assembly of the World Council of Churches

Busan, South Korea, 30 October – 8 November 2013 

Visit of a Delegation of the Holy See to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the Feast of St Andrew, 28 November – 1 December 2013

Message of Pope Francis to His Holiness Bartholomew 

Address of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew 

Ecumenical News

International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue: Sixth Round of Conversations
Baltimore, MD, USA, 13-19 July 2013 

Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews

Documentation Supplement

The Word of God in the Life of the Church
A Report of International Conversations between the Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance, 2006-2010 

Commentary on "The Word of God in the Life of the Church"
A Catholic Reflection on the Report of the International Conversations between the Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance 2006-2010, by Thomas A. Baima

Associated Baptist Press on Freeman's Contesting Catholicity

A previous Ecclesial Theology post linked a notice by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology blog of Curtis Freeman's new book Contesting Catholicity: Theology for Other Baptists, due for release September 15 by Baylor University Press. Now Associated Baptist Press has issued a story by Bob Allen titled "New Book Proposes a Theology for 'Other' Baptists" offering a substantial preview of Freeman's book. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the article:

Four centuries after originating as a protest movement within the church, Baptists today have evolved into a distinct sect committed to preserving its place in a hierarchy of denominations, Baptist theologian Curtis Freeman argues in a new book.... (read the full article at ABPnews.com)

Fr. William Henn on Pope Francis and Ecumenism

Fr. William Henn, O.F.M.Cap., has been one of the Catholic Church's leading ecumenical theologians since the 1987 publication of his dissertation on The Hierarchy of Truths According to Yves Congar. Currently serving as the Robert Bellarmine Professor of Ecclesiology and Ecumenism at Gregorian University in Rome and consultant to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Henn represents the Catholic Church as a member of the Standing Commission of the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order and has served on the Catholic delegations to international bilateral dialogues with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, representatives of Pentecostal churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Mennonite World Conference, and the second phase of conversations with the Baptist World Alliance. I had the privilege of serving as a member of the Baptist-Catholic joint commission with Fr. Henn, for which we both presented papers on the relationship between Scripture and tradition in the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum and co-drafted a preliminary version of the section on "The Authority of Christ in Scripture and Tradition" in The Word of God in the Life of the Church: A Report of International Conversations between The Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance 2006-2010.

A month after the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis last year, Fr. Henn granted an interview to the National Catholic Reporter offering his perspectives on the ecumenical implications of the beginning of Pope Francis' papacy. I discovered it only today, but it's such an insightful article, with observations that hold true a year-and-a-half later, that I thought it worth calling to the attention of readers of Ecclesial Theology now.

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of John L. Allen, Jr.'s interview article:

Rome – For years, experts on ecumenism have said that the main stumbling block to putting the divided Christian family back together again isn’t so much the papacy, but a certain overly monarchical model of it. If we could find new ways of exercising primacy, they prophesied, unity might move a massive step closer to reality.

One veteran expert believes those “new ways” may have arrived with Pope Francis, predicting that this pontiff will prove a “boon” to ecumenism.

“He’s bringing to life what Vatican II added about the role of the papacy being understood from within the college of bishops and the communion of churches,” said Capuchin Fr. William Henn of Rome’s Gregorian University....(read the full article at National Catholic Reporter)

Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology on "Baptist Catholicity"

The Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology blog has posted a notice for Curtis Freeman's book Contesting Catholicity: Theology for Other Baptists, about which I'll say more here at Ecclesial Theology when it's released by Baylor University Press next month. The post situates Freeman's book in a trajectory of Baptist theology that includes my book Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision; it mentions Ecclesial Theology, too.

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the post:

An interesting development of the last decade or so has been the appearance of a distinctively Baptist strain of “evangelical catholic” theology.  It is strongly ecumenical and seeks to affirm Baptist links with the larger tradition of the Church  Perhaps the most prominent advocate of this approach has been Steven Harmon.... (read the full post at Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology)

Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque for the 21st Century--now available

Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque for the 21st Century, ed. Myk Habets (New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark), a book to which I contributed the Foreword "Ecumenical Reception of Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque," has now been released in the North American market. It's available directly from the publisher and from Amazon.com (in both hardcover and Kindle formats). The book description and Table of Contents appear below.

About Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque for the 21st Century

The volume presents a range of theological standpoints regarding the filioque. With some contributors arguing for its retention and others for its removal, still others contest that its presence or otherwise in the Creed is not what is of central concern, but rather that how it should be understood is of ultimate importance. What contributors share is a commitment to interrogating and developing the central theological issues at stake in a consideration of the filioque, thus advancing ecumenical theology and inter-communal dialogue without diluting the discussion. Contributors span the Christian traditions: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and Pentecostal. Each of these traditions has its own set of theological assumptions, methods, and politics, many of which are on display in the essays which follow. Nonetheless it is only when we bring the wealth of learning and commitments from our own theological traditions to ecumenical dialogue that true progress can be made. It is in this spirit that the present essays have been conceived and are now presented in this form.

Table Of Contents

Contents
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword: Ecumenical Reception of Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque. Steven R. Harmon
List of Contributors
1. Introduction: Ecumenical Perspectives and the Unity of the Spirit. Myk Habets
Part 1: The Filioque in Context: Historical & Theological
2. The Filioque: A Brief History. A. Edward Siecienski
3. Theological Issues Involved in the Filioque. Paul D. Molnar
4. The Filioque: Reviewing the State of the Question, with some Free Church Contributions. David Guretzki
Part 2: Developments in the Various Traditions
5. The Eternal Manifestation of the Spirit ‘Through the Son’ According to Nikephoros Blemmydes and Gregory of Cyprus. Theodoros Alexopoulos
6. The Spirit from the Father, of himself God: A Calvinian Approach to the Filioque Debate.
Brannon Ellis
7. Calvin and the Threefold Office of Christ: Suggestive Teaching Regarding the Nature of the Intra-Divine Life? Christopher R.J. Holmes
8. The Baptists ‘And The Son’: The Filioque Clause In Noncreedal Theology. David E. Wilhite
9. Baptized in the Spirit: A Pentecostal Reflection on the Filioque. Frank D. Macchia
Part 3: Opening New Possibilities: Origin, Action, & Intersubjectivity
10. Lutheranism and the Filioque. Robert W. Jenson
11. On Not Being Spirited Away: Pneumatology and Critical Presence. John C. McDowell
12. The Filioque: Beyond Athanasius and Thomas Aquinas: An Ecumenical Proposal. Thomas Weinandy
13. Beyond the East/West Divide. Kathryn Tanner
14. Getting Beyond the Filioque with Third Article Theology. Myk Habets
Index

Pacific Journal of Baptist Research 9, no. 1 published

The most recent issue of the Pacific Journal of Baptist Research, for which I serve as a member of the Editorial Board, has now been published and is available online. Vol. 9, no. 1 (May 2014) is a Festschrift issue in honor of New Zealand Baptist theological educator Laurie Guy, with contributions from John Tucker, David Bebbington, Peter Lineham, Allan Davidson, and Martin Sutherland, along with a bibliography of Guy's published work. Click the embedded reader above to read the issue here; it is also available as a PDF download on the Pacific Journal of Baptist Research web site, where back issues are available in PDF as well.

AAR-SE Constructive Theologies 2015 Call for Papers

As chair of the Constructive Theologies section of the American Academy of Religion--Southeast Region meeting in connection with the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, I am pleased to call attention to the Call for Papers for our upcoming meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, March 6-8, 2015:

(AAR) Constructive Theologies

Themes: (1) Invited panel responding to Amos Yong’s work on theology and disability, with response from Professor Yong. (2) “Theological Anthropologies” (open call). Proposals engaging theological anthropologies with implications for theological reflection on disability are encouraged, but this session is not limited to papers making such connections. Submit all proposals to Steven R. Harmon, Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity (sharmon@gardner-webb.edu).

Further instructions and guidelines for paper proposals are available in the full 2015 Call for Papers on the SECSOR web site.

Matthew Emerson on Towards Baptist Catholicity

I'm grateful for the appreciative response to my book Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision offered by Matthew Emerson on his blog Secundum Scripturas. I'm also grateful to know that eight years after its 2006 publication, the book is still finding readers and eliciting response.

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of Emerson's post:

I recently read Steve Harmon’s Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision. I’m beginning some sustained work with my friend and colleague Luke Stamps on Baptist life and its relationship to the larger Christian tradition, and Harmon’s collection of essays is one of the most prominent works on the subject. In this post I hope to affirm much in Harmon’s book, but also offer some pointed questions and critiques from a different perspective (i.e. conservative Southern Baptist evangelical) than his own.

First, the affirmations. I cannot say strongly enough how much I agree with Harmon on the need to position Baptist life within the larger body of Christ.... (read the full blog post at Secundum Scripturas)

I am currently wrapping up work on a follow-up to Towards Baptist Catholicity (under contract with Baylor University Press with working title The Baptist Vision and the Ecumenical Future: Radically Biblical, Radically Catholic, Relentlessly Pilgrim), which will more fully develop and extend some themes from the earlier book in ways that may answer to some of the questions and critiques expressed in Emerson's post. In the meantime, I'll offer some brief responses below.

1. The role of liturgical practices

I'm with Emerson (and Augustine and James K. A. Smith) on the role of embodied liturgical practices in the holistic Christian formation of persons. There is a reductionistic cognitive emphasis in the Baptist appropriation of Zwingli on the anamnetic function of the Supper as a memorial meal, for example, that extends to other dimensions of worship, and I'm on board with efforts to resist such a reduction. I grant that there is something of a lingering cognitive emphasis in the chapter on worship in Towards Baptist Catholicity--e.g., "As worshippers have the divine story imprinted upon their consciousness and find their place within this story week after week over a long period of time, they are formed in the faith and fitted for the practices that constitute the Christian life" (p. 157). However, the over-arching concern of that chapter was the retrieval in contemporary Baptist worship of the patristic coinherence of liturgy and theology as summarized in the formula lex orandi, lex credendi drawn from Prosper of Aquitaine, with the theological formation of Christians through what happens in worship as a particular point of application. Thus there is a focus on the cognitive in that chapter, but it is not intended to be exclusive of the other dimensions of formation through liturgical practices. A broader application is suggested by my descriptive and prescriptive definition of worship therein as "the participatory rehearsal of the story of the Triune God" (p. 155), a definition that I've tweaked slightly for a somewhat different application in a chapter on the function of Scripture in the life of the church in my forthcoming book, where its current formulations is "the participatory rehearsal of the biblical story of the Triune God." The more broadly suggestive term is "participation." The practices of worship are intended to draw us into ever-fuller participation in the life of the Triune God, a participation that cannot be merely cognitive. I'm in the midst of preparing a response to Sarah Coakley's God, Sexuality, and the Self: An Essay 'On the Trinity', the first volume in her projected four-volume systematic theology On Desiring God, for a panel discussion of the book at next week's annual meeting of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion in Atlanta (my particular responsibility is assessing her re-reading of the formative, patristic sources for the origins of the doctrine of the Trinity). A significant contribution of Coakley's work is her recovery of a neglected dimension of the patristic concept of the Trinity, namely its pneumatic orientation in which the Spirit draws us ever more fully into participation in the life of the Triune God through practices of prayer and asceticism. I'm on board with this, too, and see it as connected with my proposals about the role of liturgical practices.

2. Scripture and divine revelation

My intention in distinguishing between the ultimate authority of the Triune God and the derivative authority of the Scriptures was not to dichotomize them, but rather to characterize properly the dynamic and integral relationship between them in an economy of revelation. (Yes, speech-act theory does have a finely nuanced way of doing this, as seen not only in Vanhoozer but also Stanley Grenz.) I do, however, think it important to qualify the relationship between revelation qua revelation and Scripture's participation in that revelation in a way that is not "direct," and that qualification is related to my reply below regarding Emerson's concerns about my treatment of the relationship of Scripture and tradition.

3. Scripture and tradition

Revelation, in Christian understanding, is mediated. To be sure, revelation is first and foremost God speaking and acting, but this speaking and acting is received, remembered, and recorded by a community that mediates revelation by handing on--traditioning--what it has received, remembered, and recorded. My characterization of the coinherence of Scripture and tradition is not intended as an anthropocentric account of Scripture's participation in divine revelation, for the Spirit is at work among the people of God in its traditioning of revelation. (With reference to the development of the New Testament canon, by the way, I do not intend to suggest that it was merely decided by the church in the fourth century. In fact, the fourth-century definitions of the scope of that canon--in regional synods and episcopal communications, it should be noted, rather than in ecumenical councils--are affirmations of a long-developing consensus in the early church, with substantial second- and third-century attestation to the early formation of this consensus.)

4. Authority and community

Emerson writes that I "seem to root the church’s beliefs about the Trinity, Christology, and Scripture in a communitarian practice rather than in revelation." Here what I intend is not a contrast between the authority of the community and the authority of divinely-given revelation, but rather one between the authority of the community and the authority of the individual. Furthermore, the community that functions in a pattern of authority is not community per se, but the community that is actively seeking to participate ever more fully in the reign of God by bringing its life together under the rule of Christ through the guidance of the Spirit. This vision of Christian community belongs, I think, to the essence of the Baptist vision and serves to correct a reductive individualism that became intertwined with the Baptist tradition in the wake of the Enlightenment, especially in its American instantiation. Here it's also important to keep in mind that the concrete ecclesial community of reference from which I write is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which has its origins in controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1970s through early 1990s. Emerson's concrete ecclesial community of reference is the continuation of one trajectory within that tradition; mine is one with a trajectory that once co-existed with it but has continued differently. That different trajectory has historic affinities with mainline Protestant liberalism, and I think the way forward for this trajectory is along the lines of postliberal theology--thus the invocations of Lindbeck. Another postliberal/narrative influence closer to home is the late Baptist theologian James Wm. McClendon, Jr. I agree that if Emerson's "conservative Southern Baptist evangelical" trajectory is to engage fruitfully the issues I treated in Towards Baptist Catholicity, it will have to be done in a different manner--not along the lines of Lindbeck/McClendon but probably in a postconservative path as exemplified by Vanhoozer. But I think that when the two trajectories, postliberal and postconservative, take up the concerns that are important to both Emerson and me, they are angled toward many of the same ends. Thus there is the potential for good developments in intra-Baptist relations as well as in Baptist interdenominational ecumenical relationships.

5. Church-dividing doctrinal differences

I don't mean to suggest that there are no significant remaining church-dividing matters of doctrine, though I do think the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification has rendered soteriological objections moot, and while Mariological concerns do remain significant, the progress in mutual understanding of one another's perspectives on the role of Mary in the life of the church reflected in that section of the report from the 2006-2010 conversations between the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church offers hope that this too is not insurmountable. (Emerson also refers to Peter Leithart in this connection; I have my own issues with Leithart, but I think he's cleared himself of the charge of sliding over doctrinal difference with Catholicism and Orthodoxy in his post "Too catholic to be Catholic"--see especially his comments on "liturgical idolatry" therein.) Rather, my intention with the final chapter of Towards Baptist Catholicity was to make clear my conviction that there are more significant reasons than doctrinal disagreement with Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or Anglicanism for remaining Baptist (or some other tradition) instead of following the yearning for a fuller qualitative catholicity to Rome, Constantinople. or Canterbury. In that chapter I suggested that the quest for the visible unity of the church at present calls for the fuller cultivation of this catholicity within our divided churches rather than moving to another church we might believe already possesses that catholicity to a greater degree than our own. That's a conviction that I'm developing more fully in my current project, with "receptive ecumenism" as a paradigm.

There's much more that could be said in response, but for now I'm going to return to crafting my response to Coakley's engagement with patristic trinitarian theology. I'm grateful for Emerson's interest in my work and for the constructive and cordial manner in which he's engaged it. This sort of theological dialogue is surely a good thing for the church, within and beyond Baptist ecclesial life.

Fr. Gregory Fairbanks on dialogue and unity

Fr. Gregory J. Fairbanks

Fr. Gregory Fairbanks has responsibilities for relationships with ecclesial communities of the West in his role as an official with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. In that connection he was one of our dialogue partners in the conversations between the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church in which I participated from 2006 through 2010. (The report from those conversations, The Word of God in the Life of the Church, is available online on the Vatican web site.) In comments offered to the Catholic News Service for its May 8 story "Hope and hard work: U.S. priest trusts Christian unity is possible," Fr. Fairbanks reflects on these conversations in testifying to the surprising work of the unifying Spirit that can emerge from honest dialogue between divided Christian communities. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the article:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The issues dividing Christian communities have changed over the past 50 years, but a Philadelphia archdiocesan priest working in ecumenical dialogue at the Vatican is confident that Christian unity is possible.

"We are people of hope. We trust we have the same Scriptures, the same belief in Christ," said Msgr. Gregory J. Fairbanks, an official at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.... (read the full article at Catholic News Service)

"Don Draper's Progress" (ABPnews Blog)

Today the ABPnews Blog maintained by Associated Baptist Press/Religious Herald published my post "Don Draper's Progress," which originally appeared as a guest commentary for ABPnews/Herald under the title "'Mad Men' as an exploration of human fallenness" last week. Here's an excerpt from the opening; full text will appear here on Ecclesial Theology in a few days.

“I keep wondering: have I broken the vessel?”

Don Draper’s mid-flirtation confession to his airline seatmate in the April 13 premiere of the seventh (and final) season of the AMC drama Mad Men may prove to be the single most theologically significant line of the series.

Man Men has been rich in material that evokes theological reflection on the human story, for this tale of the excesses of 1960s-era Madison Avenue advertising executives is really an exploration of the fallenness of the human condition. Lest anyone miss what the show is really about, the opening sequence features an image inspired by the falling man poster for the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo — a silhouetted businessman falling from a Manhattan skyscraper, tumbling through the advertised symbols of American affluence.... (read the full post on the ABPnews Blog)

'Mad Men' as an exploration of human fallenness

Every now and then I engage in a little theological reflection on expressions of popular culture. My guest commentary "'Mad Men' as an exploration of human fallenness" for ABPnews/Herald is one such excursion.

Here's an excerpt from the opening:

“I keep wondering: have I broken the vessel?”

Don Draper’s mid-flirtation confession to his airline seatmate in the April 13 premiere of the seventh (and final) season of the AMC drama Mad Men may prove to be the single most theologically significant line of the series.

Man Men has been rich in material that evokes theological reflection on the human story, for this tale of the excesses of 1960s-era Madison Avenue advertising executives is really an exploration of the fallenness of the human condition.... (read the full article on ABPnews/Herald)

Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque for the 21st Century--available for pre-order

Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque for the 21st Century, ed. Myk Habets (New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, forthcoming July 2014), a book to which I contributed the Foreword "Ecumenical Reception of Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque," is available for pre-order directly from the publisher and from Amazon.com. The book description and Table of Contents appear below.

About Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque for the 21st Century

The volume presents a range of theological standpoints regarding the filioque. With some contributors arguing for its retention and others for its removal, still others contest that its presence or otherwise in the Creed is not what is of central concern, but rather that how it should be understood is of ultimate importance. What contributors share is a commitment to interrogating and developing the central theological issues at stake in a consideration of the filioque, thus advancing ecumenical theology and inter-communal dialogue without diluting the discussion. Contributors span the Christian traditions: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and Pentecostal. Each of these traditions has its own set of theological assumptions, methods, and politics, many of which are on display in the essays which follow. Nonetheless it is only when we bring the wealth of learning and commitments from our own theological traditions to ecumenical dialogue that true progress can be made. It is in this spirit that the present essays have been conceived and are now presented in this form.

Table Of Contents

Contents
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword: Ecumenical Reception of Ecumenical Perspectives on the Filioque. Steven R. Harmon
List of Contributors
1. Introduction: Ecumenical Perspectives and the Unity of the Spirit. Myk Habets
Part 1: The Filioque in Context: Historical & Theological
2. The Filioque: A Brief History. A. Edward Siecienski
3. Theological Issues Involved in the Filioque. Paul D. Molnar
4. The Filioque: Reviewing the State of the Question, with some Free Church Contributions. David Guretzki
Part 2: Developments in the Various Traditions
5. The Eternal Manifestation of the Spirit ‘Through the Son’ According to Nikephoros Blemmydes and Gregory of Cyprus. Theodoros Alexopoulos
6. The Spirit from the Father, of himself God: A Calvinian Approach to the Filioque Debate.
Brannon Ellis
7. Calvin and the Threefold Office of Christ: Suggestive Teaching Regarding the Nature of the Intra-Divine Life? Christopher R.J. Holmes
8. The Baptists ‘And The Son’: The Filioque Clause In Noncreedal Theology. David E. Wilhite
9. Baptized in the Spirit: A Pentecostal Reflection on the Filioque. Frank D. Macchia
Part 3: Opening New Possibilities: Origin, Action, & Intersubjectivity
10. Lutheranism and the Filioque. Robert W. Jenson
11. On Not Being Spirited Away: Pneumatology and Critical Presence. John C. McDowell
12. The Filioque: Beyond Athanasius and Thomas Aquinas: An Ecumenical Proposal. Thomas Weinandy
13. Beyond the East/West Divide. Kathryn Tanner
14. Getting Beyond the Filioque with Third Article Theology. Myk Habets
Index

Ecumenical news update: Pan-Orthodox council announced, Baptist-Methodist dialogue begins

Baptist World Alliance-World Methodist Council joint delegation

Catching up on sharing on Ecclesial Theology some recent ecumenical news:

At a meeting of the archbishops of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches at the Phanar in Istanbul March 6-9, they issued a "Message of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches" which announced that "The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will be convened by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2016." This Pan-Orthodox Council would be the first such assembly since the Second Council of Nicaea in AD 787, reckoned by many churches as the Seventh Ecumenical Council. In Orthodox perspective, this could be considered the Eighth Ecumenical Council, since as Metropolitan Kallistos (Timothy Ware) notes in his book The Orthodox Church, "...the Orthodox Church also believes that, if it so desired, it could by itself convene and hold another ecumenical council, equal in authority to the first seven. Since the separation of east and west the Orthodox (unlike the west) have never in fact chosen to summon such a council; but this does not mean that they believe themselves to lack the power to do so." (It should be noted that there was a Fourth Council of Constantinople in 879-80, an attempt at East-West reunion, that some regard as an Eighth Ecumenical Council.) At the very least, the 2016 council has the potential to be something of an "Orthodox Vatican II."

In other news, the bilateral international ecumenical dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the World Methodist Council had its initial meeting January 30-February 5 at Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Below is the official communique from the meeting as posted on the World Methodist Council Ecumenical Relations page:

Communique from the Bilateral Dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and The World Methodist Council

Representatives of the Baptist World Alliance and the World Methodist Council met January 30-February 5 at the Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The meeting was the opening round of conversations in the first international dialogue between Methodists and Baptists. The overall theme of the dialogue is faith working through love. The delegations were welcomed by the Provost and Executive Vice President of the University, Dr. J. Bradley Creed, as well as Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and Rev. Dr. Mike McLemore, Director of Missions for the Birmingham Baptist Association.

Participants discussed presentations on the history, theology, and contemporary global situation of Methodists and Baptists. The dialogue is co-chaired by Rev. Dr. Tim Macquiban, Superintendent Minister of the Cambridge Methodist Circuit and minister of Wesley Methodist Church in Cambridge, England, and Rev. Dr. Curtis Freeman, Research Professor and Director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. Rev. Dr. Paul Chilcote, Dean of Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio, and Rev. Dr. Fausto Vasconcelos, BWA director of Mission, Evangelism, and Theological Reflection, serve as co-secretaries.

Other members of the Methodist delegation present were Dr. Ulrike Schuler, Professor at the Reutlingen School of Theology in Germany; Rev. Malcolm Tan, Pastor of Barker Road Methodist Church in Singapore; Rev. Lauren Matthews, Minister, Umngeni Circuit, Natal Coastal District, Methodist Church of Southern Africa; and the Rev. Christine Gooden-Benguche, Secretary, Jamaica District Conference, Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas. The additional Baptist members present were Rev. Dr. Deji Isaac Ayegboyin, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; Dr. Valérie Duval-Poujol, Professor of Biblical Exegesis, Catholic Institute, Paris, France; Rev. Dr. Timothy George, Chair, BWA Commission on Doctrine and Christian Unity and Dean of Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, Alabama; and Rev. Dr. Stephen Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Theology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland. Also attending were Rev. Professor Robert Gribben, chair of the ecumenical relations committee of the WMC, from Melbourne, Australia, and Rev. Dr. Neville Callam, General Secretary of the BWA.

The participants worshipped together each day drawing on the two traditions, and attended the Sunday service at the Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham. They made a pilgrimage to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where they met with Rev. Carolyn McKinstry, author of the book While the World Watched based on her experience as a survivor of the 1963 bombing of the church. They then visited the Civil Rights Institute where they particularly noted the participation of local churches in the struggle for racial justice.

The meeting next year is planned for Singapore where they will take up the conversations on the nature of the church with special attention to justification and sanctification.

5th February 2014  



National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion--Southeast Region 2014 Annual Meeting

As Vice President for the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion--Southeast Region, I am pleased to announce the program for our 2014 annual meeting that will convene at McAfee School of Theology on the Mercer University--Atlanta campus on Friday, March 7. Below is the program for the meeting; a map of the Mercer University--Atlanta campus is available here.

National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, Southeast

2014 Southeast Regional Meeting

Friday, March 7, 2014

McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia

8:30-9:00  Registration and Refreshments

(McAfee School of Theology Student Lounge)

9:00-9:15  Opening Session (Cecil B. Day Auditorim)

Welcome from the President—Mikael Broadway (Shaw University Divinity School)

Welcome from the Host—Alan Culpepper (McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University)

Announcement of Program—Steven Harmon (Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity)

9:15-10:00  Presidential Address: “When Jesus Says Good News”

Mikael Broadway (Shaw University Divinity School)

10:00-10:15  Responses from Membership

10:15-10:30  Break

10:30-11:15  Panel Discussion:

The Challenge of Teaching World Religions in Baptist-Related Universities

Lisa Battaglia (Samford University)

Don Berry (Gardner-Webb University)

Kathryn Muller Lopez (Campbell University)

Marc Mullinax (Mars Hill University)

11:15-11:45  Discussion by Membership

11:45-12:00  Business Meeting

12:00  Adjournment for Lunch

Divine Immanence in Christian Philosophical Theology seminar

This weekend I'm headed to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where on March 1 I'm presenting guest lectures for an Analytic Theology Cluster Group seminar on "Divine Immanence in Christian Philosophical Theology." The cluster group involves students and faculty from the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond and Regent University, led by Elizabeth Newman, the Eula Mae and John Baugh Professor of Ethics at BTSR, and T. Ryan Byerly, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry in the area of Philosophy at Regent. My lectures are titled "Natures and Narratives: Patristic Accounts of Divine Immanence in the Incarnation" and "Natures vs. Narratives: Suffering as a Test Case for Accounts of Divine Immanence in the Incarnation." My lectures will focus on the incarnation of God in Christ as an instance of special/local divine immanence; they will be paired with lectures by Alexander R. Pruss, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, who will give attention to the Eucharist as an instance of special/local divine immanence. (The cluster group seminar will also meet on April 5 in Richmond, with guest lectures by David Schindler, the Edouard Cardinal Gagnon Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family of The Catholic University of America, and Katherin Rogers, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware.)

This cluster group seminar is funded by a grant from the Analytic Theology Project of the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. The Analytic Theology Project is in turn funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Baptists and Catholics together--Twitter edition

(The following post was originally published by the Associated Baptist Press/Religious Herald ABPnews Blog]

What do Baptists and Catholics have in common?

That sounds like the set-up for a joke of some sort–or at least for a very brief response, given the anti-Catholicism that has marked much of the Baptist tradition (even when we were defining ourselves over against the Church of England).

When the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church engaged in a series of international conversations from 1984 through 1988 to see what they might be able to say together, the two communions were actually able to say a great deal about their agreement on “God’s saving revelation in Jesus Christ, the necessity of personal commitment to God in Christ, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, and the missionary imperative that emerges from God’s redemptive activity on behalf of humankind,” as paragraph 2 of the 17-page report “Summons to Witness to Christ in Today’s World” summarized the matters on which Baptists and Catholics were able to say something together about our common commitment to the good news of our testimony that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

That report also identified deep differences evident in those conversations that warranted continued exploration: theological authority and method; the shape of ecclesial koinonia; the relationship between faith, baptism, and Christian witness; and the place of Mary in faith and practice.

When I served as a member of the Baptist delegation to a second series of conversations between the BWA and the Catholic Church from 2006 through 2010, we directly addressed those ongoing differences. The result was a nearly 100-page report, “The Word of God in the Life of the Church,”  published last summer and presented at the annual gathering of the BWA in Jamaica that July. The document is not a description of our differences. It is rather a statement of our surprisingly substantial consensus on the church’s participation in the koinonia of the Triune God, the authority of Christ in Scripture and tradition, baptism and the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper, Mary as a model of discipleship, and the ministry of oversight (episkope) and unity in the life of the church.

We presented these agreements as a “differentiated consensus”: paragraphs set in bold type expressed our basic consensus, followed by paragraphs set in regular type that offered commentary on the nature of that consensus and/or identified the ways in which there are remaining differences in how each communion understands and embodies what Baptists and Catholics have been able to say together.

Having said these things together, Baptists and Catholics now have the responsibility of “reception” of the report. In a “Glossary of Key Ecumenical Terms” in my book Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity, I offered the following definition of that task:

Reception—The process by which worldwide communions, national churches and denominations, local parishes and congregations, and individual Christians become informed about, consider, and act upon the proposals and agreements that result from bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogue.

 

When the “The Word of God in the Life of the Church” went online last October, I launched an experiment in utilizing social media to encourage reception of the report. Beginning on October 11, I began posting a semi-daily “tweet” from my Twitter account summarizing in 140 characters or less a statement of agreement from the bold-type consensus paragraphs of the report (actually a good bit less than 140 characters, as the inclusion of the hashtag #BaptistsCatholics and the condensed URL link to the report left only 89 characters for summary and paragraph number reference). Since Facebook status updates don’t have the 140-character restriction, I posted a parallel series of Facebook updates with the full consensus statements from which the tweets were abridged.

I posted the final #BaptistsCatholics tweet on January 3 of this year. Here’s the tweet-by-tweet “Twitter edition” of the bold-type consensus paragraphs from “The Word of God in the Life of the Church,” sans hashtags and URLs:

7. The one God exists from eternity in a life of relationship–a koinonia of persons

7. Jesus Christ, God’s self-revelation, draws us into communion with God & each other

7. The Word of God in the church in the fullest sense is Christ himself

11. The church is a koinonia (fellowship) grounded in the koinonia of the triune God

11. Believers are joined in koinonia through participation in communion of Triune God

11. Believers also in koinonia through participation in community gathered by Christ

11. “Communion ecclesiology” expresses the heart of the nature of the church

12. Principle of koinonia applies both to local church & to gatherings of congregations

12. Local church does not derive from universal church, nor is universal a mere sum of local forms

12. There is mutual existence & coinherence between local and universal church of Christ

16. The koinonia of the church may also be understood as a ‘covenant community’

16. Covenant is God’s initiating relationship with us & our commitment to each other & God

16. Church is gift in being gathered by Christ, & gathers in response to call of Christ

16. Koinonia of church is both gift & calling, as unity of church is both gift and task

20. Communion with triune God & whole church is continually actualized in Eucharist/Supper

20. In Euch we share communion not only w/ congregation but whole church in time & space

20. Because we hear word of God in eucharist, it is a sharing in both word and sacrament

23. Local churches must be in visible communion w/ each other, or communion lacks fullness

26. Local churches have communion w/ each other to hear Word of God & find mind of Christ

37. The Bible is the divinely-authorized written norm for faith and practice

37. The normativity of Scripture is principally located in the worship of the church

37. The Bible was canonized by and for the worshipping community

37. Bible supplies narrative content of acts of worship that recall/represent acts of God

37. Scripture is the source of story of the triune God in which worshippers participate

41/42. God is the author of Sacred Scripture…through human instrumentality

46. OT and NT together form coherent story that requires a Christ-centred interpretation

56. Bible is written embodiment of living tradition handed down through work of H. Spirit

56. The source of this process of transmission is the living Word of God, Jesus Christ

58. Scripture & tradition coinherent–mutual indwelling & interweaving of 1 in the other

58. Scripture and tradition should not be considered as separate and unrelated sources

58. Scripture & tradition = 2 streams flowing together from same source: God’s revelation

63. Apostolic tradition distinguished from merely ecclesiastical trad; apostolic normative

73. Sacraments/ordinances = signs through which God acts, visible signs of invisible grace

77. Sacrament and ordinance express both God’s gift of love & faith-filled human response

77. Sacrament/ordinance becomes intersection between divine commitment & human commitment

79. Christ central to meaning of sacraments/ordinances & their relationship to the church

81. There is a coinherence between sacraments/ordinances and preaching of the Word of God

83. Baptism and the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper are central to the life of the church

85. Sacraments/ordinances are encounters w/ Christ that transform worshipers by the Spirit

85. No experience of salvation is fully whole without entrance of the believer into church

85. There can be no experience of grace apart from faith

91. Rel. of faith & sacrament/ordinance involves faith of individual believer & community

93. We baptize in obedience to Christ’s command ‘Go therefore..baptizing them’ Mt 28:19-20

93. Baptism has its foundation & meaning in the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology

93. Through baptism we are brought more deeply into the communion of the triune God

93. Through baptism…we [also] share in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ

97. Faith is always necessary for baptism

101. Initiation into Christ & his church is a process wider than the act of baptism itself

101. Can recognize different forms of initiation as an entire journey of faith and grace

107. Baptism is with water, in name of Father & Son & Holy Spirit, & a once-for-all event

109. In baptism we are united with other believers in the church of Christ (1 Cor 12:13)

113. Baptism signifies forgiveness of sins and new birth

116. Eucharist/Lord’s Supper is essential to the church & celebrated in obedience to Jesus

119. The Bible must play a formative role in the liturgy of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

121. There is a trinitarian pattern in the order of worship of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

125. Christ is really present to his disciples in celebration of Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

130. There is a strongly ethical & eschatological dimension to the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

133. Mary has significant place in NT–witness to Christ, mother of Savior, called blessed

133. Beliefs about Mary should be rooted in, warranted by, & not contradicted by Scripture

135. Mary belongs to the Jewish people….Mary may be called ‘Daughter of Israel’

137. A number of Old Testament passages may be interpreted as referring to Mary

139. The Gospels present Mary as ‘hearer of the Word’–a disciple who heard, obeyed Word

140. Jesus conceived by Spirit, born of Virgin Mary–sign of divine origin & true humanity

143. Mary is properly named the Theotokos or ‘God-bearer’–safeguards identity of Christ

146. Mary has a special calling in plan of salvation, but also redeemed by Christ by grace

150. Mary is a model of discipleship in faithful listening and obedience to God’s Word

154. Mary is not only a member, but also representative figure, of the church of Christ

156. The church prays with Mary and learns to pray like Mary in the communion of saints

159. The representations of Mary in particular cultures are subject to the gospel as norm

162. Christ is the head of the church, her founder, creator and cornerstone

162. The church owes her whole existence to Christ, who is her ‘episkopos’ (1 Pet 2:25)

162. Christ nourishes/sustains church with Gospel & celebration of sacraments/ordinances

165. Episkope (oversight) is Christ’s gift to church to enable ministry of people of God

165. Christ calls whole people of God to share in his ministry as prophet, priest & king

165. The episkope of some is a gift of Christ to enable & equip body of Christ as a whole

168. Our differing patterns of episkope seek to be faithful to Scripture & apostolic trad

173. Episkope is exercised in personal, collegial and communal ways in the church

176. Episkope primarily exercised in local church, but always in communion w/ wider church

179. Personal episkope is established by Christ for the good of the church

182. One principal purpose of the ministry of episkope is the promotion of Christian unity

184. Jesus’ prayer for unity (=both spiritual&visible) sets out vocation of all Christians

186. The unity of the church reflects its apostolicity, expressed both by faith & ministry

186. Ministry is apostolic if it hands on apostolic faith & fulfills missionary mandate

200. Past failures of both Baptists & Catholics must be addressed with due repentance & appropriate action

The report itself says those things much more fully and with all the necessary qualifications and distinctions. I hope this radical abridgement of the essential Baptist-Catholic consensus expressed in “The Word of God in the Life of the Church” will pique the interest of ABPnews Blog readers enough to encourage further reception of the report—which is not necessarily agreement with its take on Baptist-Catholic consensus, but “the process by which worldwide communions, national churches and denominations, local parishes and congregations, and individual Christians become informed about, consider, and act upon the proposals and agreements that result from bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogue.”

That sort of reception starts with reading—even if it’s only 140 characters (or less) at a time.