Receptive Ecumenism and the Reconstruction of Christian Identity in Christian Higher Education

My essay "Receptive Ecumenism and the Reconstruction of Christian Identity in Christian Higher Education” has been published in the Easter 2019 issue of The Cresset: A Review of Literature, the Arts, and Public Affairs. It's adapted from my plenary address for the National Conference of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts at Hope College, Holland, MI, October 13, 2018. The contents of the whole issue are linked here.

Ecumenical thoughts on post-election unity

Some thoughts from an ecumenist about the post-election call for American national "unity":

According to Ephesians 4, "making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (v. 3) entails "speaking the truth in love" (v. 15), which contributes to the body's growth toward mature unity (vv. 15-16).

The history of the modern ecumenical movement includes failures to do that (for example, the failure of the Conference on Life and Work to denounce the Reichskirche and recognize the Confessing Church as the authentic church in Germany, which greatly frustrated Dietrich Bonhoeffer) as well as more faithful acts (for example, the efforts of the World Council of Churches' Programme to Combat Racism in relation to the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' expulsion of that church, with both forms of truth-speaking leading to eventual restoration of that church to ecumenical fellowship).

All this may be applied to this moment in our national civil life and the days ahead. Speaking truth is a way of embodying love for our national community. When people are publicly grieving and lamenting and calling for justice and engaging in acts of nonviolent protest, they are loving their national community and making their own contributions to its unity--not a quick and ultimately false unity superimposed on division and its causes, but a unity forged out of our earnest and honest contestation of what sort of community we are going to have. Let the truth-speakers speak, and let us enter into genuine dialogue with them.

"Real Baptists Pursue Church Unity"

The new issue of Baptist World, the magazine of the Baptist World Alliance, includes my article "Real Baptists Pursue Church Unity" (vol. 63, no. 4, October-December 2016, pp. 9-10). The article is part of a feature section of articles on Baptists and unity, with other contributions by John Briggs, Elizabeth Newman, Ross Clifford, and Frank Rees and several news articles reporting on various regional and national expressions of Baptist involvement in the pursuit of Christian unity. The issue is available online; an excerpt from the beginning of the article follows:

The experiences of many Baptists and the impressions of many of their external observers run counter to the assertion made by this article’s title. Baptists have their origins in ecclesial division, and their subsequent history is marked by ever-increasing intra-Baptist divisions. Division is certainly a DNA sequence in the genetic code of “real Baptists.” Yet intertwined with it are genetic markers of an impulse toward ecclesial unity, and Baptists are being “real Baptists” when they allow that impulse to move them toward the full participation in the life of the Triune God and in the life of the body of Christ that Jesus prayed would mark his followers: “that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17:22 NRSV)....(read the full article and other articles in this issue here)

Molly Marshall on Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future

In her Baptist News Global opinion column "Can a Baptist Be a Catholic?" published today, Molly T. Marshall, President and Professor of Theology and Spiritual Formation at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas, references my new book Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future: Story, Tradition, and the Recovery of Community (Baylor University Press). Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the column:

A cadre of Baptist scholars has been writing about emerging catholicity, the holy desire for unity among all ecclesial communions. Taking tradition more seriously as a source for theological construction, these Baptists urge usage of the ancient creeds of the apostolic heritage of the whole church to supplement their reading of Scripture. A leading theologian in the movement, Steven Harmon, contends, “Baptists have their own distinctive ecclesial gifts to offer the church catholic, without which even the churches currently in communion with the bishop of Rome are something less than fully catholic themselves.”

As a staunch Baptist I, too, long for catholicity. In many respects the future of Christianity depends upon a greater ecumenicity .... (read the full column at Baptist News Global)

Interested in reading Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future? Order the book from Baylor University Press or via Amazon.

40% off Ecumenism Means You, Too--now only $9.60

Speaking of holiday offers: Wipf & Stock, publisher of my book Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity through its Cascade Books imprint, is running a 40% off holiday sale until December 31 that includes this book--retail $16.00/web price $12.80, but only $9.60 after discount! Enter code "Noel" at checkout (follow hyperlinked title for purchase details).

Judson University Founders' Day address

This Friday (October 16, 2015) I will deliver the Founders' Day Convocation Address at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois. I'll speak on the theme "Judson, Baptists, the Whole Church, and God's Mission." Information about the day's events is posted on the Judson web site in the linked articles below:

Judson University to Celebrate History and Heritage During Founders’ Day 2015

Founders' Day 2015 Featuring Dr. Steven R. Harmon

Baptists excited and hopeful about papal visit (Baptist News Global)

Last week I granted a telephone interview to Jeff Brumley of the Baptist News Global staff regarding Baptist perspectives on this week's papal visit to the United States. Some quotations from that interview appear in this story released today (follow hyperlinked title to read the story at Baptist News Global):

Baptists excited and hopeful about papal visit

Book announcement: Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future

I'm pleased to announce that my book Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future: Story, Tradition, and the Recovery of Community has entered the production phase and is scheduled for a March 2016 release by Baylor University Press. I'll post updates regarding the book's publication, including pre-ordering information, here at Ecclesial Theology during the next few months. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a draft of the copy for the catalog and back cover description:

Baptists tend to be the “problem children” of the ecumenical movement. The Baptist obsession to realize a true church birthed a tradition of separation. While Baptists’ misgivings about ecumenism may stem from this fissiparous genealogy, it is equally true that the modern ecumenical movement itself increasingly lacks consensus about the pathway to a visible Christian unity.

In Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future: Story, Tradition, and the Recovery of Community, Steven R. Harmon explores the relationship of the Baptist calling to be a pilgrim community and the ecumenical movement. Harmon argues that neither vision can be fulfilled apart from a mutually receptive ecumenical engagement. As Harmon shows, Baptist communities and the churches from which they are separated need one another. Chief among the gifts Baptists have to offer the rest of the church is their pilgrim aversion to overly realized eschatologies of the church and their radical commitment to discerning the rule of Christ by means of the Scriptures. Baptists, in turn, must be willing to receive from other churches neglected aspects of the radical catholicity from which the Bible is inseparable.

Embedded in the Baptist vision and its historical embodiment are surprising openings for ecumenical convergence. Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future urges Baptists and their dialogue partners to recognize and embrace these ecumenically oriented facets of Baptist identity as indispensable provisions for their shared pilgrimage toward the fullness of the rule of Christ in their midst, which remains partial so long as Christ’s body remains divided.

Also in the meantime, check out some other forthcoming releases from Baylor University Press.

Harmon reviews Kinnamon in Christian Century

 

The May 13, 2015 issue of the Christian Century (vol. 132, no. 10) includes my review of Michael Kinnamon's book Can a Renewal Movement Be Renewed? Questions for the Future of Ecumenism (Eerdmans, 2014). The review appears on p. 39 of the print edition; an electronic version of the review is currently available on the Christian Century web site. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the review:

Lament over the current “ecumenical winter” and analysis of the factors that have contributed to it have become commonplace in recent ecumenical literature. As he considers the future of ecumenism in Can a Renewal Movement Be Renewed? Michael Kinnamon gives four reasons for why the ecumenical movement stands in need of renewal: “loss of commitment among church leaders to the goal of Christian unity,” “divisions and other signs of weakness within the ecumenically supportive churches,” “an increasing split between two sets of ecumenical priorities,” and “diminishment of key instruments of the ecumenical movement, including councils of churches”....(read the full review at Christian Century)

GWU's Dr. Steve Harmon Serves as Keynote Speaker at Vatican II Symposium (press release)

Gardner-Webb University has issued a story about my participation last month in Creighton University's symposium on the legacy of the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio. Read the linked press release:  http://www.gardner-webb.edu/newscenter/?p=9886

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).

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

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

Global Baptist leader addresses World Council of Churches in unity plenary (VIDEO)

A previous post reported on Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam's address to the World Council of Churches in a plenary session on unity during the Tenth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea on November 5. Here is a video recording of the unity plenary (unfortunately audio and video are not fully synchronized); Callam begins speaking at 48:40 (click on this hyperlink to watch in a separate window on YouTube at the point that begins Callam's address). Callam's address is a grateful celebration of the progress that has been made toward full visible unity, an honest lament of the churches' failures in seeking this unity and incisive identification of contemporary impediments to the quest for visible Christian unity, and a stirring challenge to the churches to live into Jesus' prayer that his followers might be one in a way that the world can see, that the world might become unified under the Lordship of Christ.

I hope readers of Ecclesial Theology will listen to Callam's address and the other addresses in the unity plenary in their entirety. Below is a transcription of a portion of the "lament" portion of Callam's remarks:

We have reason to lament the painful divisions that still remain. We are the body of Christ, and we should reflect the koinonia inspired by the vision of the perfect unity existing in the Godhead. We are not what we should be. We lament persistence in cherishing our peculiarities and in failing to draw sufficiently from the from the well of divine provision that is able to quench our thirst for unity in the truth. We lament our inclination to seek in other expressions of the church a replica of the church to which we belong. We have not been content to seek in other churches, as much as in our own, signs of the one church of our Lord Jesus, nor have we been sufficiently vigorous in giving expression to the depth of communion in faith that already exists.

[Another previous post reproduces a BWA press release summarizing Callam's address and reporting on participation in the assembly by at least 77 Baptists from 24 countries.]

Baptist participation in World Council of Churches 10th Assembly

Today (November 8) the Baptist World Alliance issued the following press release regarding the noteworthy degree of Baptist participation in the Tenth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea October 30-November 8:

BWA leader appeals for church unity

Washington, DC (BWA)--Baptist World Alliance (BWA) General Secretary Neville Callam said the unity of the church, wherever and whenever it exists, should be celebrated.

 

Callam, who was speaking during the 10th assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, South Korea, lauded the work of the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC to aid the church in its quest for visible unity. The commission has published such ground breaking documents as Baptism Eucharist and Ministry (BEM), which came about through extensive theological engagement in the Christian ecumenical community. He argued for detailed study of the most recent Faith and Order documents, The Church: Towards a Common Vision and Baptism: Towards Mutual Recognition.

 

Callam also took note of bilateral theological dialogues that have taken place between various Christian traditions. These, he said, have resulted in an "increase in understanding" and have "facilitated responsible rapprochement between Christian communions."

 

Despite these and other signs of progress, Callam acknowledged that disunity is a stain on the church's life and witness. There is "persistence in cherishing our peculiarities" and an unwillingness to see "signs of the one church of our Lord Jesus" in other churches other than one's own. Callam asserted that the church has failed to "reflect the unity for which our Lord prayed in John 17."

 

Such disunity has "compromised our faithfulness in mission;" has led to a failure to confront social and other injustices such as racism, poverty, exploitation and disease; has resulted in self-centeredness that leads to the degradation of creation; and has caused a failure to "respect peoples of other faiths who are all creatures of the one God and inhabitants of a shared planet."

 

The appropriate response to Christian disunity, the BWA leader claimed, is "to repent of the sin of our divisions, to petition God's forgiveness and to pray for the joy of full communion."

 

Callam called the assembly's attention to serious challenges that compromise the mission of the church because of disunity. These include conflicting positions on moral issues, which pose difficulty for the unity of the church. "Churches are actually participating in the entrenchment of divisions in society by offering disparate teaching on issues that profoundly affect people's lives. The current situation is intolerable."

 

The solution, Callam asserted, is for the church "to commit, with greater urgency, to the search for convergence around the sources of authority in the church, and on how to interpret responsibly the sources we regard as authoritative."

 

Callam urged the Faith and Order Commission to provide additional resources, in a variety of media formats, to aid persons involved in assisting the church's quest for unity, especially at the international level.

 

At least 77 Baptists from 24 countries, including BWA President John Upton, attended the WCC meetings, held October 30 to November 8 in Busan, South Korea's second largest metropolis after capital city Seoul. The assembly, normally held every seven years, elected a 150-member Central Committee that includes eight Baptists. The Central Committee serves as the chief governing body of the WCC until the next assembly. It meets every 12 to 18 months and is responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the assembly, reviewing and supervising WCC programs and for adopting the budget.

 

Four BWA General Council members were elected to the WCC Central Committee - Samson Ayokunle from Nigeria, Yam Kho Pau from Myanmar, Karl Johnson from Jamaica and Carroll Baltimore of the United States. Other Baptist Central Committee members are Marceline Mbingasani Maluavanga from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joyanta Adhikari from Bangladesh, and June Totten and Angelique Walker-Smith from the US.

Note: This is an experiment in posting via iPhone using the Blogger app. Please pardon any resulting formatting oddities.

The Pilgrim Church and the Ecumenical Future--lecture texts now online

Last month I delivered lectures on the theme "The Pilgrim Church and the Ecumenical Future" as the 2013 Robert K. Campbell Memorial Lectures on Christian Unity sponsored by the Lehigh County Conference of Churches and held on the campus of DeSales University near Allentown, Pennsylvania. The texts of these lectures are now available online (click on hyperlinked text). Lecture 1 is "A Pilgrim Church Theology, Discovered through Dialogue," and Lecture 2 is "Embodying the Story of Jesus: The Pilgrim Identity of the Body of Christ." The Campbell Lectures Archive on the Lehigh County Conference of Churches site includes texts of some of the other lectures delivered since 2001, though the lectures have been held annually since 1993.