Introducing FaithConnectsUs

In the days since the March 15 release of Ecumenism Means You, Too, I've enjoyed new connections with others who have similar hopes for the involvement of "ordinary Christians" in the quest for Christian unity at the grassroots. One of those is with the FaithConnectsUs project. Here's the description of the project on the FaithConnectsUs web site:

As its title indicates, FaithConnectsUs is a web-based tool that seeks to connect ecumencially engaged young adults through awareness, education and relationship. Recently, there has been a resurgence of young adult ecumenical dialogue and activity in the US, North America, and around the world. This includes young adult programs through the US Conference for the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches-USA, to the grassroots activities of the World Student Christian Federation North American Region and the Young Adult Ecumenical Forum, and many other organizations that have strong young adult ecumenical initiatives such a ECHOS WCC Commission on Youth, Ecumenical Advocacy Days, Sojourners, and others listed in our US and Global Partners section. FaithConnectsUs seeks to connect young adults from all of these different organizations and initiatives through a web-based forum where they can all share news and events, jobs and opportunities, educational resources, personal story and witness, and strategies for activism. It is our belief that we are much better off in dialogue and relationship for the good of the ecumenical movement into the future. We invite all those who are new to the ecumenical movement, as well as engaged ecumenists to use FaithConnectsUs to broaden your own networks, while connecting into the greater body of Christ. We also encourage you to contribute to FaithConnectsUs with news and opportunities, as well as through story and dialogue.

There's also a facebook page for FaithConnectsUs, which kindly referred its fans to Ecumenism Means You, Too recently.

Celebrating the Celebrating Grace Hymnal

Last month I delivered the annual Lourdes College Ecumenical Lecture at Lourdes College in Sylvania, Ohio. In that lecture on the topic "How Baptists Receive the Gifts of Catholics and Other Christians," I suggested this about the ecumenical implications of the Baptist practice of hymn singing:

"Baptist hymnals are arguably the most significant ecumenical documents produced by Baptists. They implicitly recognize hymn writers from a wide variety of traditions throughout the history of the church as sisters and brothers in Christ by including their hymns alongside hymns by Baptists....[In addition to numerous] patristic hymns, Baptists receive through their hymnals the gifts of Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Jesus, Martin Luther, the post-Reformation Roman Catholic author of 'Fairest Lord Jesus' from the Münster Gesangbuch, the Methodist Charles Wesley, and more recently the Pentecostal pastor Jack Hayford, to name a few hymn writers whose ecclesial gifts Baptists have gladly received with their voices and hearts."

As an example of the sort of receptive ecumenism Baptists have long practiced through their hymnody, I mentioned the recently launched Celebrating Grace Hymnal developed and published by an independent editorial board and staff but closely associated with the churches of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. In this blog post I celebrate four things I like about this hymnal beyond the ecumenical range of its hymns that I highlighted in the lecture.

First, I like the twofold theological structure of the hymnal: the Triune God (hymns 1-244) and the church as the people of this God (hymns 245-707). In many ways this is an improvement over the "unitarianism of the second person" implied by earlier Baptist hymnals that emphasized hymns about Jesus and "gospel songs" about the salvation he brings.

Second, I'm gratified by the attention to the full Christian year. The sections of hymns devoted to God the Son and God the Spirit in the first theological division of the hymnal are arranged according to the seasons of the "festival half" of the Christian year: Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, and Pentecost. An appendix to the hymnal includes a helpful outline of the seasons, themes, and liturgical colors of the Christian year and a brief essay by Deboroah Carlton Loftis (Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond) and Paul A. Richardson (Samford University) explaining how the observance of the full Christian year can enhance congregational worship.

Third, this ecumenical theologian who cut his teeth working on patristic theology as a Baptist doctoral student is glad to note an expanded presence of hymns with texts composed during the patristic period (about AD 100-800), the era of the "Great Tradition" that all divisions of the contemporary church share as their common heritage. The Baptist Hymnal published in 1991 by the Southern Baptist Convention, the hymnal used for the better part of the past two decades not only by most Southern Baptist congregations but also by those that now identify more closely with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, included seven patristic hymns. The Celebrating Grace Hymnal retains six of the seven patristic hymns in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal and adds three others: the fifth-century Latin hymn "That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright"; "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain" by John of Damascus; and "Christ Be Near at Either Hand" from the Breastplate attributed to St. Patrick.

Fourth, I'm delighted that the Celebrating Grace Hymnal has resisted the practice of altering the wording of hymns by non-Baptist hymn writers that were sometimes perceived in their original wording to be at odds with aspects of Baptist theology. While perhaps done with the best of intentions, such Baptist tweaking of hymn texts often results in disasters both theological and aesthetic. Case in point: “The Church’s One Foundation” by nineteenth-century Anglican priest and hymn writer Samuel John Stone (1839-1900). The first stanza of the hymn originally began with this couplet: "The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord; she is his new creation, by water and the word." That last phrase seemed to suggest a theology of baptism that was a bit too sacramental for Baptist voices to sing, so many Baptist hymnals--including the two hymnals of most of the period of my own Baptist formation, those published in 1975 and 1991 by the Southern Baptist Convention--altered "water and the word" to "Spirit and the word." Not only did that ruin a nice alliterative pair of words; it communicated a soteriology that is ultimately Gnostic. Thankfully, the Celebrating Grace Hymnal retains Stone's original wording. Many Baptist hymnals also excised the third stanza, which describes a church "by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed," and also omitted the original fifth and final stanza that began, "Yet she on earth hath union with God, the Three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won." With the omission of those two stanzas, many Baptists missed the opportunity to be formed by an ecclesiology that values the visible unity of the church, the doctrinal catholicity of the church, and the nature of the church as a Trinitarian fellowship in which all the redeemed of all the ages participate in God and in one another. The Celebrating Grace Hymnal restores these stanzas, too. (The new Baptist Hymnal published by LifeWay Workshop of the Southern Baptist Convention, however, continues the earlier Baptist doctrinal doctoring of the hymn.)

I offer my sincerest thanks to everyone involved in making the Celebrating Grace Hymnal a much improved Baptist hymnal from the standpoint of its capacity for fostering receptive ecumenism even while it fulfills its primary function of facilitating the worship of God and its secondary function of forming Christians in faith and faithfulness. The range of musical styles represented makes it possible for the hymnal to serve each of these ends in congregations that blend the "contemporary" with the "traditional" as well as in self-consciously "liturgical" churches. May it be so.

Ecumenical Trends highlights the Pentecostal-Roman Catholic dialogue report "On Becoming a Christian"

In a previous post I called attention to the report "On Becoming a Christian: Insights from Scripture and the Patristic Writings With Some Contemporary Reflections," which summarizes the findings of the fifth phase of the ongoing dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and representatives of Pentecostal churches. The January 2010 issue of Ecumenical Trends, currently available online as a sample issue, features a symposium on the report. Dale M. Coulter of Regent University (Virginia Beach, Va.) introduces this thematic issue with his article "Pentecostals and Catholics: On Learning to Read the Fathers Together." Teresa Francesca Rossi, Associate Director of the Centro Pro Unione and Professor of Ecumenical Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, offers a Catholic perspective on the report in "On Becoming a Christian: Reflections and Insights." (Dr. Rossi is also a member of the Catholic delegation to the current series of conversations between the Baptist World Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church in which I am participating as a member of the Baptist delegation.) Glen W. Menzies of North Central University (Minneapolis, Minn.) offers "A Pentecostal Response to On Becoming a Christian." Appropriately the remainder of the issue includes two additional articles by theologians from each communion: "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day--2010" by Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., an Assemblies of God theologian teaching at Fuller Theological Seminary, and "Immigration Ministry: An Ecumenical Opportunity?" by John T. Ford, CSC, Professor of Theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity book preview

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By all accounts, the modern ecumenical movement is not moving much these days. Despite dramatic breakthroughs in the past few decades, the quest for a visibly united church—in which there is common confession of the apostolic faith, full Eucharistic communion, and mutual recognition of members and ministers—now meets with indifference by many, impatience by some, and outright hostility by others. In part, this is because the movement has not given enough attention to grassroots ecumenical engagement. This book is written to convince ordinary Christians, especially Christian young adults, that they too have a stake in the future of the ecumenical movement as its most indispensable participants.

Ecumenism Means You, Too draws on the music of Irish rock band U2 to cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. Whether one is a U2 fan or not, and whether one thinks the ecumenical movement is a good thing or a bad thing for the church, everyone who reads this book will learn something about the Christian theological framework apart from which neither the modern ecumenical movement nor the meaning of U2’s music can be understood. The book includes an annotated bibliography of resources for ecumenical engagement and a glossary of key ecumenical terms for readers who want to learn more about the Christian practice of seeking the unity of the church.

Steven R. Harmon is currently Adjunct Professor of Christian Theology at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, having previously served on the faculties of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama and Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina and as Visiting Professor at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. A member of the Baptist World Alliance delegations to the international theological conversations with the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a plenary member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, he is the author of Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision (2006) and Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought (2003). He blogs about his work in ecumenical theology at http://www.ecclesialtheology.blogspot.com/.

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

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Ecumenism Means You, Too book excerpt #1

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The following is an excerpt from chapter 1, "Here to Play Jesus: Why Ecumenism Isn't Dead" (pp. 2-6 and 14-16). Follow the hyperlinked song title for supplementary audio/visual content.

A couple of years ago I e-mailed my associate dean at Campbell University Divinity School to propose teaching a divinity school summer term course on ecumenism, which is theologian-speak for the quest for Christian unity. His reply kindly commended the proposed course and concluded with the observation, “After all, as U2 said, ‘We’re one, but we’re not the same.’” That line from the band’s song “One” (Achtung Baby, 1991) was appropriate for that course proposal and this book in more ways than he may have had in mind. Bono has offered various explanations of the song’s meaning. It’s about a lovers’ quarrel; it’s about the differences between men and women that pull them together and drive them apart; it’s about a son coming home to tell his father that he’s dying of AIDS. Bono lends the song yet another layer of meaning in the band’s official memoir U2 by U2, where he recounts the pre-history of that line: We had a request from the Dalai Lama to participate in a festival called Oneness. I love and respect the Dalai Lama but there was something a little bit “let’s hold hands hippie” about this particular event. . . . I sent him back a note saying, “One—but not the same.”

ECUMENISM NOT PLURALISM

Bono’s reply to the Dalai Lama’s invitation points to an important distinction: ecumenism is not pluralism. Ecumenism is the quest for unity among Christians now divided by denomination. It is not the effort to find some generic essence of religion that might minimize conflicts between the religions. Interreligious dialogue that respects the real differences between the religions is necessary to clear up misunderstandings that Christians, Jews, Muslims, and adherents of other religions may have of one another, and this too is an important task for the church’s theologians. But even though interreligious dialogue is sometimes called a “wider ecumenism,” it is not the same thing as the quest to embody the unity of the church as the one body of Christ.

Ecumenism is not a relativistic pan-religious pluralism, and the healthiest approaches to ecumenism—the quest for specifically Christian unity—do not minimize the significant differences of faith and practice that exist between churches. We are one body of Christ, but we are not the same, and it remains to be seen which of our differences are healthy forms of Christian diversity and which differences reflect patterns of faith and practice that must be transformed en route to the full visible unity of the body of Christ.

HOPE FOR THE ECUMENICAL FUTURE

Many observers of the quest for Christian unity are convinced that for a variety of reasons the modern ecumenical movement is dying or already dead. Not everyone is ready to declare this movement dead. One theologian respected internationally as a key long-term participant in the quest for Christian unity has been overheard to remark, “the ecumenical movement isn’t dead, but it hasn’t breathed in a long time.” That may be true. Yet I am hopeful that the ecumenical movement may not only breathe again but even flourish in the future, for many Christians today have perspectives on the church that can contribute to the re-emergence of ecumenism as a vital force in contemporary Christianity.

Typical American Christians increasingly do not feel bound to the denomination of their upbringing. If they were raised in a churchgoing family, they have probably belonged to congregations of more than one denomination along the way. While in college, they routinely attend more than one church, and there’s a good chance that those congregations are not of the same denomination. Many younger Christians today are attracted to a tradition significantly different from the one in which they were raised and have experimented with participation in that other tradition. At the Baptist university where I previously taught and delivered the series of lectures that served as the basis of this book, more than a few students came there as Baptists and left as Catholics, Episcopalians, or Presbyterians, for example, and more than a few students came there from another tradition and graduated as Baptists. Some will one day return to embrace the tradition that nurtured them in the faith, while others will continue exploring. At both private and public universities, Christian students’ participation in Christian organizations on campus doesn’t necessarily match their stated denominational preference. A Baptist Student Union will regularly provide a spiritual home for many non-Baptists. Curious evangelical students may sojourn for awhile with a Roman Catholic-sponsored Newman Center. A great many Christians away for college will eschew the student fellowships sponsored by the denominations of their preuniversity nurture for involvement in non-denominational organizations such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship or Campus Crusade for Christ. These younger Christians tend to attribute denominational divisions to human sinfulness, and they instinctively embrace unity as something that God desires for the body of Christ. Many younger evangelical Christians today have a keen interest in the ancient patterns and practices of worship and spirituality that have continued in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions but have long been absent from evangelicalism. This interest in recovering ancient liturgy for contemporary worship figures prominently in the “emergent” or “emerging church” movement with which many younger Christians identify.

Some of these perspectives on the church can also be causes for concern. Abandoning denominational commitments in the interest of being “non-denominational” can actually undermine the quest for Christian unity in some unanticipated ways, and moving easily from a church of one denomination to a congregation of another can be a symptom of the consumer mentality that is endemic to American Christianity. Yet I see aspects of these trends as evidence that a critical mass of ordinary American Christian laypersons want what Christ wants for his church. In the words of the lyric from “One,” they know that they are “here to play Jesus.”

(pp. 7-15 are not available as part of this book excerpt)

YOU, TOO, CAN BE AN ECUMENIST

Ecumenism Means You, Too is not a book about theological themes in the music of U2. Now that these themes have persisted across the three-decade span of the band’s career, ministers and academic theologians have already written such books. This book rather invokes the theological dimensions of U2 songs when they cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. The lyrics of “One” and other songs referenced in each chapter do not have the unity of the church in mind, yet the Christian theological framework apart from which the import of U2’s art cannot be fully appreciated is the same framework that makes sense of the ecumenical enterprise. The members of the band would probably not agree with my interpretations of that theological framework and how it functions in their music, nor with everything that I have to say about the nature of Christian unity (though I imagine that they might concur that the visible oneness of the body of Christ is a good thing). Nonetheless, U2 and their music will help me make the case that inasmuch as seeking the unity of the body of Christ is an inescapable obligation of Christian discipleship, ecumenism means you, too (and I hope you’ll pardon the pun).

Toward that end, the chapter titles incorporate snippets from the lyrics of the studio version of “One,” plus an extended coda from live concert performances of the song on tour in the case of the final chapter. Chapter 2, “One, but Not the Same: Ecumenism 101,” is an introduction to the history of the ecumenical movement and the divisions that it seeks to heal. Chapter 3, “One Life with Each Other: The Theology of Ecumenism,” explains the biblically-grounded theological concepts that drive the quest for visible unity and make it an unavoidable obligation for all churches and all Christians. Chapter 4, “Leaves You If You Don’t Care for It: 10 Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church,” outlines an action plan for ecumenism as an embodied practice of grassroots Christian activism in which all Christians can and must participate. Chapter 5, “Hear Us Call: The Eschatology of Ecumenism,” is a theological epilogue that encourages patient perseverance toward a goal that is not likely to be realized in the lifetime of anyone reading this book (but God has done surprising things before, and may yet again in our lifetimes). Appendix 1, “Resources for Ecumenical Engagement,” provides an annotated bibliography of books, periodicals, and Internet resources that will provide additional help for those who may take up the challenge of this book to pray and work for the unity of the body of Christ. Appendix 2, “Glossary of Key Ecumenical Terms,” defines the technical language that may be encountered when utilizing those resources.

Many of the resources included in Appendix 1 will make concrete proposals for convergence on the issues that continue to divide the church, to which I hope readers will give serious future consideration. In this book I refrain from making any such specific proposals for ecumenical progress, save one: that the quest for Christian unity includes you, too, and its future depends in part on your personal commitment to embark on that quest as a matter of being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Want to read more? Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

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Ignatius of Antioch on the Incarnation and Social Justice

With lots of people talking about Christian perspectives on "social justice" in the wake of the remarks of a certain on-air personality, it seemed an opportune time to point to one of my favorite passages from Ignatius of Antioch, an early Christian bishop who was martyred in the first decade of the second century (perhaps AD 107) only a few years after the later New Testament documents were written. In letters Ignatius wrote to various churches in Asia Minor while a guard of Roman soldiers escorted him from Antioch to his martyrdom in Rome, he took issue with proponents of an early heresy called Docetism. The Docetists, whose name derives from the Greek dokeo, "to seem" or "appear," taught that it was unbecoming of God to share in corrupt human flesh or to experience the imperfection of human suffering. Thus they taught that while Christ was fully God, his divinity could not really be embodied in human flesh and he could not really suffer; therefore he merely seemed to be human and to suffer and die. In his letter to the Smyrneans, Ignatius drew clear connections between this erroneous understanding of the identity of Christ and their shunning of the social obligations of Christian faithfulness:

But take note of those who have wrong-headed ideas about the gracious gift of Jesus Christ that has come to us, and see how they are opposed to the mind of God. They have no interest in love, in the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the one who is in chains or the one set free, the one who is hungry or the one who thirsts (Smyrneans 6.2).

It's not saying too much to suggest that the claim that the mission of the church does not involve the pursuit of social justice is heresy in the traditional Christian sense of the term. I think Ignatius of Antioch would agree.

Ecumenism Means You, Too table of contents

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Contents

Acknowledgments • ix

1 Here to Play Jesus: Why Ecumenism Isn’t Dead • 1

2 One, But Not the Same: Ecumenism 101 • 17

3 One Life with Each Other: The Theology of Ecumenism • 39

4 Leaves You If You Don’t Care for It: 10 Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church • 55

5 Hear Us Call: The Eschatology of Ecumenism • 71

Appendix A: Resources for Ecumenical Engagement • 87

Appendix B: Glossary of Key Ecumenical Terms • 110

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

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Ecumenism Means You, Too endorsements

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“… at once profound and straightforward, deeply reflected yet highly accessible, theologically rich yet directly practical… a source of wisdom to be absorbed into the life-blood of each of our widely differing communities for their mutual enrichment… a superbly inviting and practical manifestation of what has come to be referred to as Receptive Ecumenism.”

—Paul D. Murray, Durham University, UK

“Whether you are passionate about, disappointed by, or indifferent to the church: if you love God, you need this book. Harmon shows you why mutual tolerance is not the unity that Jesus desired for his Body, and he gives you the tools to start knitting back together the broken pieces of the church—so the world might believe. This little book should be the marching orders for every Christian!”

—Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France

“Few books on the ecumenical movement are as readable, and I would wager none has as appealing a soundtrack. Harmon invites us to strive for the hope of fuller visible unity with sisters and brothers in Christ not by ignoring denominational differences, but by acknowledging what divides us while refusing to settle for division. The ‘Ten Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church’ list alone is worth the price of the book.”

—Beth Maynard, co-editor of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Ecumenism Means You, Too book description

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

By all accounts, the modern ecumenical movement is not moving much these days. Despite dramatic breakthroughs in the past few decades, the quest for a visibly united church—in which there is common confession of the apostolic faith, full Eucharistic communion, and mutual recognition of members and ministers—now meets with indifference by many, impatience by some, and outright hostility by others. In part, this is because the movement has not given enough attention to grassroots ecumenical engagement. This book is written to convince ordinary Christians, especially Christian young adults, that they too have a stake in the future of the ecumenical movement as its most indispensable participants.

Ecumenism Means You, Too draws on the music of Irish rock band U2 to cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. Whether one is a U2 fan or not, and whether one thinks the ecumenical movement is a good thing or a bad thing for the church, everyone who reads this book will learn something about the Christian theological framework apart from which neither the modern ecumenical movement nor the meaning of U2’s music can be understood. The book includes an annotated bibliography of resources for ecumenical engagement and a glossary of key ecumenical terms for readers who want to learn more about the Christian practice of seeking the unity of the church.

Steven R. Harmon is currently Adjunct Professor of Christian Theology at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, having previously served on the faculties of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama and Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina and as Visiting Professor at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. A member of the Baptist World Alliance delegations to the international theological conversations with the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a plenary member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, he is the author of Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision (2006) and Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought (2003). He blogs about his work in ecumenical theology at http://www.ecclesialtheology.blogspot.com/.

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Ecumenism Means You, Too now available for order

I'm happy to announce that Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity is now officially available for order from Cascade Books (a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers) via telephone (541-344-1528), fax (541-344-1506), or e-mail (orders@wipfandstock.com). The book is priced at $16, but the publisher is offering discounts for direct orders: 20% off orders of 1-4 books, 40% off orders of 5+ books. The ISBN (13-digit) is 978-1-60608-865-4.

A page for the book with online shopping cart ordering will appear on the publisher's web site within a week, and I'll post a link to it here when available. (Update: here's the link to the publisher's online store page for the book.) Availability through Amazon and Barnes & Noble will follow within 6-8 weeks.

Over the next several days I will be posting preview information for the book: the back cover book description, endorsements, table of contents, and a book excerpt. Stay tuned.