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Course 11 · Lesson 8.4

Ecumenism and the prospects for unity

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 11 outline

Module 1: What the Church Is

  1. Biblical images of the church: body, people, temple and bride
  2. One, holy, catholic and apostolic: the four marks
  3. The mission of the church
  4. The visible and invisible church in Augustine, the Reformers and the East

Module 2: Ministry and Apostolic Succession

  1. Ministry in the New Testament: apostles, elders, overseers and deacons
  2. The bishop in the early church: Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus
  3. Apostolic succession: three meanings (a line of bishops, the teaching, the mission)
  4. Ordination in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions

Module 3: Scripture, Tradition and Church Authority

  1. Scripture and tradition in the early church
  2. The Catholic account: Scripture, tradition and the magisterium
  3. The Orthodox account: the living tradition of the church
  4. The Reformation and the question of sola scriptura

Module 4: Three Systems of Authority

  1. The bishop of Rome in early history
  2. Papal primacy and infallibility in Catholic teaching
  3. Orthodox conciliarity and the role of the patriarchs
  4. Protestant principles of authority: Scripture, confessions and the priesthood of believers
  5. The strongest objections each tradition raises against the others

Module 5: Sacramental Theology

  1. Mystery and sacrament: the words and their history
  2. Augustine and the definition of a sacrament
  3. How many sacraments? Seven, two, or none
  4. Validity, efficacy and the role of faith

Module 6: Baptism and the Eucharist

  1. Baptism in Scripture and the early church
  2. Infant baptism and believers baptism
  3. The Eucharist in the early church
  4. Real presence: transubstantiation, the Orthodox mystery, Lutheran, Reformed and memorial views

Module 7: Reconciliation and Liturgical Worship

  1. The forgiveness of sins in Scripture
  2. Confession and penance in the history of the church
  3. Confession across the traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed practice
  4. Liturgy, word and table, and the church year
  5. Worship without a fixed liturgy and its principles

Module 8: Schism and Christian Unity

  1. Early schisms: the Donatists and the churches after Chalcedon
  2. East and West: the long division and the events of 1054
  3. The Reformation divisions
  4. Ecumenism and the prospects for unity

All courses

Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 8.4

What you will learn

  • Define ecumenism and trace the modern ecumenical movement from 1910.
  • Describe the main bodies and agreements, including the World Council of Churches, Unitatis Redintegratio, the Lima document and the Joint Declaration of 1999.
  • Compare different models of the unity that Christians seek.
  • Identify the obstacles that remain and the criticisms of ecumenism from within each tradition.

The big idea

Ecumenism is the movement to restore visible unity among Christians. It began in its modern form among Protestant missionaries in 1910, led to the World Council of Churches in 1948, and was joined by the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council. Dialogues have produced agreements on baptism, justification, Christology and other topics. Visible unity has not been achieved among the main traditions. The obstacles include papal authority, the nature of the church, ordained ministry and recent moral disagreements. Some Christians within each tradition are skeptical of ecumenism, and others hold it as a duty.

Key terms

Ecumenism
From the Greek oikoumene, the inhabited world. The movement for unity among Christians and churches.
World Council of Churches (WCC)
A fellowship of churches founded in 1948, now including most Orthodox and many Protestant and Anglican churches. The Catholic Church is not a member but cooperates.
Faith and Order
A movement and WCC commission that studies the doctrinal and structural differences between churches.
Visible unity
Unity that can be seen in shared faith, sacraments, ministry and fellowship, as against a unity known only to God.
Reconciled diversity
A model of unity in which churches keep their distinct traditions but recognize each other fully and share communion.
Receptive ecumenism
An approach in which each church asks what it can learn from the others, rather than only what the others should change.
Communion (full)
A relationship between churches in which they share the Eucharist and recognize each other’s ministries.

Background

Jesus prayed that his followers may be one (John 17:21), and Paul urged the churches to keep the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3). Divisions have lasted for centuries. The modern ecumenical movement is often dated to the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, where missionaries from many Protestant churches recognized that divisions hindered the spread of the gospel. Two streams followed: Life and Work, which dealt with practical cooperation, and Faith and Order, which dealt with doctrine. They joined to form the World Council of Churches at Amsterdam in 1948.

The Orthodox churches began to take part in the 1920s and 1930s, and most became members of the WCC in 1961 and after. The Catholic Church at first held back. Vatican II changed this. The decree Unitatis Redintegratio (1964) said that the division of Christians contradicts the will of Christ, recognized that other Christians are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and called Catholics to take part in ecumenical efforts. Since then, many bilateral dialogues have been held.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Main agreements

Dialogue has produced agreed texts. The 1982 Lima document of the WCC, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, was the work of Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and Catholic scholars. It stated areas of convergence and was sent to churches for response. It remains a major reference. The Leuenberg Agreement (1973) established fellowship among many Lutheran, Reformed and united churches in Europe. The Porvoo Agreement (1992) joined Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland with Lutheran churches of the Nordic and Baltic countries.

In 1999 the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. In 2006 the World Methodist Council joined, and later the Anglican Communion and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Catholic and Orthodox churches have a joint international commission, and agreed on statements on the church as communion and on synodality. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox have agreed on Christology, as an earlier lesson described.

Step 2: Practical and spiritual ecumenism

Ecumenism includes more than official dialogue. Christians of different traditions work together in charity, education and public life. They share in prayer, such as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, held each January. Vatican II spoke of spiritual ecumenism, the conversion of heart and holiness of life that is the soul of the movement. Communities such as Taizé in France welcome Christians of all traditions.

Popes and patriarchs have met in historic gatherings. Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow met in Havana in 2016. In 2017 Catholics and Lutherans held joint commemorations of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, in a spirit of thanks and repentance, in which Pope Francis took part in Sweden in 2016. Such events show changes in tone that would have been unlikely in earlier centuries.

Step 3: Different models of unity

The aim of unity is understood in different ways. In the Catholic view the unity of the church subsists in the Catholic Church, and the goal is full communion, which includes the ministry of the bishop of Rome. In the Orthodox view, the Orthodox Church is the one church, and other Christians are invited to unity in the same faith and sacramental life. Many Protestants speak of the unity of all believers in Christ, already real, and seek closer visible fellowship without a single structure.

Several models have been proposed: organic union, in which churches merge, as in the Church of South India (1947) and the Uniting Church in Australia; conciliar fellowship, in which churches are united by common councils; reconciled diversity, in which differences remain but are no longer church-dividing; and full communion agreements, in which two churches keep their own governance but share sacraments and ministers, as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and several Reformed churches do. No model has been accepted by all.

Step 4: Remaining obstacles

The main doctrinal obstacle between Catholic and Orthodox churches is the papacy: the definition of 1870, the exercise of primacy, and the filioque. Between Catholic and Protestant churches, the obstacles include the nature of ordained ministry and apostolic succession, the understanding of the Eucharist and sacrifice, authority, and Marian doctrines. Between Orthodox and Protestant churches, the questions of tradition, sacraments and the church are central.

More recent matters complicate relations. The ordination of women in many Protestant and Anglican churches, which Catholics and Orthodox do not accept, is a barrier to the recognition of ministries. Differences about marriage and sexuality have caused tensions within churches and between them. Political events, such as the war in Ukraine, have strained relations between Orthodox churches and between Orthodox and Catholics.

Step 5: Criticisms and hopes

Skeptics in each tradition raise concerns. Some Catholics and Orthodox fear that ecumenism may blur truth for the sake of peace. Some evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants regard it as compromise with error. Others argue that it is too much the project of church officials, and that the loss of church attendance in the West makes questions of structure seem remote.

Supporters reply that truth and love belong together (Ephesians 4:15), that division harms the church’s witness (John 17:21), and that dialogue has already removed misunderstandings. Many advocate receptive ecumenism, in which each church asks what it can learn from others: from Orthodoxy the sense of worship and mystery, from Catholicism a ministry of unity, from Protestantism a love of Scripture and preaching. A fair student can recognize both the progress made and the work that remains.

  1. What kind of unity is being sought: merger, communion, cooperation or something else?
  2. What has actually been agreed, and by whom?
  3. Which obstacles are about doctrine, which about structure and which about practice?
  4. What objections do critics of ecumenism within each tradition raise?
  5. What could each tradition learn from the others?
  6. What is the difference between visible and invisible unity?

Examples

Edinburgh 1910

Missionaries from different churches met to discuss the evangelization of the world. They found that the divisions of Christians were a major obstacle in lands where the gospel was new. The meeting led to the founding of Faith and Order and Life and Work, and is the common starting point of the modern ecumenical movement.

Week of Prayer

Each January, congregations of different churches in a town hold joint services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which was widely established in the early twentieth century. A Catholic parish may host an Orthodox priest and a Baptist pastor to preach. Participants pray together for the unity Jesus prayed for. (A constructed example of a common practice.)

Full communion in practice

Under a full communion agreement, a Lutheran pastor and an Episcopal priest in the same town may share pulpits, receive communion in each other’s churches and exchange clergy. Each church keeps its own structure. The arrangement does not involve the Catholic or Orthodox Church.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic teaching since Vatican II holds that ecumenism is a requirement of the gospel. The church recognizes the baptism of other Christians and the real elements of the church found in other communities. It holds that the fullness of unity requires communion with the pope and the bishops, and invites others to discuss how the primacy might be exercised.

Orthodox

Orthodox churches take part in dialogue and in the WCC, though some Orthodox are critical. The official position is that the Orthodox Church is the one church, and that unity must rest on shared faith and sacraments. Some Orthodox churches withdrew from the WCC, such as Georgia in 1997, over concerns about worship and doctrine.

Protestant

Mainline Protestant churches have been among the strongest supporters of ecumenism. Evangelical and Pentecostal communities are more varied. Some take part in cooperative work, such as the Lausanne movement, while holding back from structural union. Many Protestants emphasize the unity of believers around the gospel rather than the structures of church.

Scholarly view

Scholars of ecumenism note both the achievements and the slowing of the movement in recent decades, and speak of an ecumenical winter. Others point to growth in practical cooperation and to the rise of Christianity in the Global South as new contexts that change the questions. Social and demographic changes affect how much weight divisions carry for ordinary believers.

Why it matters

Whether and how Christians should seek unity is a question of faith and of public witness. A student who knows the achievements and obstacles can speak about it fairly, avoiding both easy optimism and cynicism. It also gives a way of seeing the whole course together, since each topic is part of a conversation that still continues.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Ecumenism means all churches will merge into one.

Correction: Few ecumenical bodies seek a merger. Catholic and Orthodox teaching speaks of full communion, and many Protestants speak of fellowship that keeps diversity.

Misunderstanding: Catholics are not involved in ecumenism.

Correction: The Catholic Church participates through the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in bilateral dialogues and in joint commissions with the WCC, though it is not a member of the WCC.

Misunderstanding: Ecumenism requires giving up one’s own beliefs.

Correction: Official ecumenical statements insist that dialogue requires honesty about differences. Agreement is sought through understanding, not by silencing disagreements.

Misunderstanding: The Joint Declaration of 1999 ended the disagreement between Catholics and Lutherans.

Correction: It stated a consensus on basic truths of justification and that the old condemnations do not apply to the teaching presented. Differences of emphasis and on church and ministry remain.

Knowledge check

When and how did the modern ecumenical movement begin?

It is usually dated to the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910. Missionaries found that divisions hindered the spread of the gospel. This led to the Life and Work and Faith and Order movements, which merged to form the World Council of Churches in 1948.

Name two significant ecumenical agreements and what each did.

Examples: the Lima document (1982) on baptism, Eucharist and ministry; the Leuenberg Agreement (1973) of fellowship among Lutheran and Reformed churches; the Joint Declaration on Justification (1999); the Porvoo Agreement (1992). Any two with an accurate description are correct.

State three models of unity.

Organic union, in which churches merge; conciliar fellowship, in which they are united by common councils; reconciled diversity, in which differences remain but do not divide; and full communion agreements. Catholic and Orthodox teaching speak of communion in shared faith, sacraments and ministry.

Name two obstacles to Christian unity that remain.

Examples: the papacy and its exercise; the filioque; apostolic succession and the recognition of ministries; the ordination of women; the nature of the Eucharist; authority and tradition; moral disagreements; and political conflicts among churches.

Think it through

  1. What is the difference between a church being united and being uniform?
  2. Which obstacle to unity do you think is hardest to overcome, and why?
  3. How can truth and love be held together in dialogue between churches?
  4. What might each tradition learn from the others without giving up its own convictions?

Independent assignment

A fair comparison of the three traditions

In your notebook, write a final summary of 400 to 600 words stating, for Catholic, Orthodox and one named Protestant tradition, the view of the church, final authority, the sacraments, and the path to unity. Write it so that a member of each would recognize their own tradition. Add a paragraph naming three real disagreements and three differences of vocabulary, and how you decided. Keep the work in your notebook, and keep any personal conclusions in a separate labeled paragraph.

Further study