Ecumenical Ecclesiology: Unity, Diversity and Otherness in a Fragmented World (Ecclesiological Investigations)

261 Pages·2009·1.33 MB·English

by  Gesa Elsbeth Thiessen

Ecclesiological Investigations
Series Editor
Gerard Mannion
Volume 5
Ecumenical Ecclesiology
Ecclesiological Investigations brings together quality
research and inspiring debates in ecclesiology worldwide
from a network of international scholars, research centres
and projects in the field.
Other titles in the series:
Receiving ‘The Nature and Mission of the Church’
Christian Community Now
Comparative Ecclesiology: Critical Investigations
Church and Religious ‘Other’
Ecumenical Ecclesiology
UNITY, DIVERSITY AND OTHERNESS IN A
FRAGMENTED WORLD
Edited by
Gesa Elsbeth Thiessen
Published by T&T Clark
A Continuum imprint
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Copyright # Gesa Elsbeth Thiessen, and contributors, 2009
Gesa ElsbethThiessen hasassertedherright undertheCopyright,Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Data Standards Limited, Frome, Somerset
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
ISBN: HB: 978–0–567–00913–5
Series Editor
GerardMannion,KatholiekeUniversiteitLeuven
Series Editorial Committee
MichaelAttridge,StMichael’sCollege, BradfordHinze,FordhamUniversity,New
UniversityofToronto York
PaulAvis,ChurchHouse,Westminster, PaulLakeland,FairfieldUniversity,
EditorofEcclesiology Connecticut,USA
MarkChapman,RiponTheological MaryMcClintockFulkerson,Duke
College,Cuddesdon,Oxfordshire University,USA
PaulCollins,UniversityofChichester PaulMurray,DurhamUniversity
PeterDeMey,KatholiekeUniversiteit GarethPowell,CardiffUniversity
Leuven AnthonyReddie,Queen’sFoundation,
MichaelFahey,BostonCollege,USA Birmingham,UK
FrK.M.George,OldStJoseph’s GemmaSimmonds,HeythropCollege,
Seminary,Kottayam,India UniversityofLondon
KennethWilson,UniversityofChichester
Series Editorial Advisory Board
MichaelAttridge,StMichael’sCollege, MarkMason,UniversityofChichester
UniversityofToronto MichaelMontgomery,Chicago
PaulAvis,ChurchHouse,Westminster TheologicalSeminary
MarkChapman,RiponTheological PaulMurray,DurhamUniversity
College,Cuddesdon,Oxfordshire TimothyMuldoon,BostonCollege,USA
JulieClague,GlasgowUniversity JohnO’Brien,Lahore,Pakistan
PaulCollins,UniversityofChichester NeilOrmerod,AustralianCatholic
PeterDeMey,KatholiekeUniversiteit University,Sydney
Leuven PeterPhan,GeorgetownUniversity
MichaelFahey,BostonCollege,USA GarethPowell,CardiffUniversity
FrK.M.George,OldStJoseph’s PaulPulikkan,UniversityofCalicut
Seminary,Kottayam,India HenkdeRoest,UniversityofLeiden
JanetteGray,JesuitTheologicalCollege, AnthonyReddie,Queen’sFoundation,
Parkville,Victoria,Australia Birmingham,UK
RogerHaight,UnionTheological GemmaSimmonds,HeythropCollege,
Seminary,NewYork UniversityofLondon
NicholasHealy,SanDiegoUniversity, JuttaSperber,ChurchofPeace,Bayreuth
California andtheUniversityofRostock,Germany
BradfordHinze,FordhamUniversity,New GesaThiessen,MilltownInstitute,Dublin
York OlaTjørhom,Stavanger,Norway
PaulLakeland,FairfieldUniversity, StevenShakespeare,LiverpoolHope
Connecticut,USA University,UK
MohanLarbeer,TamilnaduTheological SteveSummers,UniversityofChichester
Seminary(TTS),Madurai,India MichaelWalsh,HeythropCollege,
RichardLennan,WesternJesuit UniversityofLondon
TheologicalInstitute,BostonMA,USA KennethWilson,UniversityofChichester
GerardMannion,KatholiekeUniversiteit HenkWitte,UniversityofTilburg
Leuven
MaryMcClintockFulkerson,Duke
University,USA
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
Contributors ix
Preface xii
Linda Hogan
Introduction 1
Gesa E. Thiessen
Part I. Perspectives on Contemporary Ecumenical Ecclesiology
1 DrivingtheHaywain:WhereStandstheChurch‘Catholic’Today?13
Gerard Mannion
2 Seeking Unity: Reflecting on Methods in Contemporary
Ecumenical Dialogue 35
Gesa E. Thiessen
3 The Struggle for an Organic, Conciliar and Diverse Church:
Models of Church Unity in Earlier Stages of the Ecumenical
Dialogue 49
Miriam Haar
4 Church and Covenant: Theological Resources for Divided
Denominations 62
Edwin C. van Driel
5 Comprehensive Vision: The Ecumenical Potential of a Lost Ideal 76
Andrew Pierce
6 Integrity, Alternative Aggressions, and Impaired Communion 88
Wendy Dackson
Part II. Communion Ecclesiology and Otherness
7 The Church and the ‘Other’: Questions of Ecclesial and Divine
Communion 101
Paul M. Collins
Contents vii
8 BeingChurch:ACritiqueofZizioulas’CommunionEcclesiology115
Travis E. Ables
9 Retrieving Eucharistic Ecclesiology 128
Radu Bordeianu
10 Communion Ecclesiology and Ecumenical Experience:
Resources for Inner-Denominational Otherness 143
Brian P. Flanagan
11 Evangelical Ecclesiology as an Answer to Ethnic Impaired
Christian Community? An Inquiry into the Theology of
Miroslav Volf 161
Eddy Van der Borght
Part III. Ecclesiology in Global Contexts
12 On Being a European Catholic:
ThePoliticsofInclusionEncountersanEcclesiologyofExclusion 175
Julie Clague
13 Instruments of Faith and Unity in Canon Law:
The Church of Nigeria Constitutional Revision of 2005 190
Evan F. Kuehn
14 Sacral Authority and Pastoral Ministry:
A Shamanistic Inculturation of the Protestant Church in Korea 205
Hak Joon Lee
15 Confucianism, Internationalism, Patriotism and Protestantism:
The Ecclesiological Matrix of Japanese Christian Activists in
Japan and the US Diaspora 223
Madeline Duntley
Index 239
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TheideaforthisvolumeemergedfromthetalkspresentedattheUnitofthe
Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network at the
American Academy of Religion annual meeting, 2007, in San Diego, and
at a conference on contemporary ecclesiology held at Milltown Institute,
Dublin, in 2008.
My sincere gratitude to Gerard Mannion for his encouragement to edit
this volume and for his unfailing and kind support in the process. Thanks
also to Paul M. Collins for his encouragement and to the members of the
Steering Group of the Ecclesiological Investigations Network. Thanks are
due to Milltown Institute, especially Rector Prof. Finbarr Clancy, SJ, for
hostingtheecclesiologyconference.MyspecialthankstoProf.LindaHogan,
HeadofSchool,IrishSchoolofEcumenics,TrinityCollege,Dublin,forher
preface and to all the contributors to this volume. Their wonderful
collaborationmademytaskaverypleasantexperience.ToThomasKraftand
T&TClark/Continuummythanksfortheircourteouscooperation.Lastbut
not least, Declan Marmion mein herzlicher Dank.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Travis E. Ables is a PhD candidate in Theological Studies and Philosophy at
Vanderbilt University. His dissertation is a study on the pneumatological
construction of subjectivity in the Western tradition, examining issues of
ontology, analogy and apophaticism from Augustine to Rahner. He holds an
MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Radu Bordeianu is an Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Born, raised and educated in
Romania, he received his ThM from Duke University (2000) and PhD from
Marquette University (2006). His research focuses on ecumenical ecclesiol-
ogies, especially Orthodox and Catholic. He is most interested in the
ecumenical relevance of Dumitru Staniloae’s trinitarian ecclesiology. He has
published several articles and has presented various papers on ecumenical and
environmental issues.
Eddy Van der Borght received his PhD from Leiden University in 2000.
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,
hehaspublishedonthetheologyofministry,onecclesiology,andonfaithand
ethnicity.HerecentlypublishedTheologyofMinistry:AReformedContribution
to an Ecumenical Dialogue (Brill, 2007). His next monograph will focus on
church and ethnicity. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Reformed
Theology (www.brill.nl/jrt) and of the series Studies in Reformed Theology
(www.brill.nl/srt).
Julie Clague is a lecturer in Catholic theology at the University of Glasgow.
She has written numerous articles and has been co-editor of the journal
FeministTheologysince1993andthejournalPoliticalTheologysince2005.She
serves on the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion:
EcclesiologicalInvestigationsProgrammeunit.Sheisafoundermemberofthe
International Association for Catholic Social Thought, and a member of the
TheologicalCommissionoftheCatholicBishops’ConferenceofEnglandand
Wales agency, Caritas-Social Action. Additionally, she works as a theologian
with the Catholic international aid agencies CAFOD and SCIAF.