A History of the Desire for Christian Unity is a multi-volume reference work on the history of ecumenism. The ecumenical movement is understood as a twentieth-century movement of European origin with a global reach. This reference work is a reconstruction of the arc of time in which the Christian churches transitioned from a position of hostility to one of dialogue, and from separation to forms of communion. Scholars across the continents and disciplines explore a history of individuals and groups, generations and assemblies, documents and programs, theologies and practices, all firmly placed within the framework of a desire for unity. This first volume traces the long-term roots and reconstructs the historical, theological, and political junctures that marked the beginning of a distinctive movement that runs throughout the nineteenth and into the heart of the twentieth century.

Preaching formed one of the primary, regular avenues of communication between ecclesiastical elites and a wide range of society. Clergy used homilies to spread knowledge of complex theological debates prevalent in late antique Christian discourse. Some sermons even offer glimpses into the locations in which communities gathered to hear orators preach. Although homilies survive in greater number than most other types of literature, most do not specify the setting of their initial delivery, dating, and authorship. Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East addresses how we can best contextualize sermons devoid of such information. The first chapter develops a methodology for approaching homilies that draws on a broader understanding of audience as both the physical audience and the readership of sermons. The remaining chapters offer a case study on the renowned Syriac preacher Jacob of Serugh (c. 451-521) whose metrical homilies form one of the largest sermon collections in any language from late antiquity. His letters connect him to a previously little-known Christological debate over the language of the miracles and sufferings of Christ through his correspondence with a monastery, a Roman military officer, and a Christian community in South Arabia. He uses this language in homilies on the Council of Chalcedon, on Christian doctrine, and on biblical exegesis. An analysis of these sermons demonstrates that he communicated miaphysite Christology to both elite reading communities as well as ordinary audiences. Philip Michael Forness provides a new methodology for working with late antique sermons and discloses the range of society that received complex theological teachings through preaching.

Das Buch legt theologische Deutungen der Thematik Flucht, Migration und Integration, ausgehend von verschiedenen kulturellen und sozialen Kontexten, vor. Viele der Beitragerinnen und Beitrager sind an Orten tatig, in denen dieser Themenkomplex ahnlich bedeutend ist, wie in Westeuropa. Sie besprechen Flucht, Migration und Integration als Fragen an die christliche Theologie und Diakonie. Ihre individuellen Antworten und Sichtweisen bereichern die kritische Debatte uber diese aktuellen Herausforderungen. This book presents theological approaches to the subject flight, migration and integration from various cultural and social contexts. Many of the contributors are active in places where the issue of flight, migration and integration is similarly significant as it is in Western Europe. They discuss flight, migration and integration as questions for Christian theology and diaconia. Their individual responses and views illuminate and inform the critical discussion for the challenges facing today's world.

In an increasingly connected world, the question of how different religious traditions relate to one another is more urgent than ever. The study of interreligious encounters and relations, by no means a new endeavor, has recently emerged as a formal multi- and interdisciplinary academic field that seeks not only to understand how worldviews and ways of life interact and intersect, but also to suggest avenues of constructive dialogue. Interreligious Studies represents a milestone achievement, bringing together thirty-six scholars from four continents to produce "dispatches" on the current state of this burgeoning field. This volume probes the context, parameters, and contours of interreligious studies (IRS), including its relation to other disciplines, its promise as a field of research in secular and nonsecular contexts, its particular terminology and methodology, its civic agenda, and the various scholarly profiles of those who pursue it. Other topics taken up include historical examples of interfaith dialogue, theological and philosophical considerations of truth-seeking in interreligious encounter, and contemporary agendas such as the decolonization of the study of religion and the obligation to respond to anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenoglossophobia. Whatever possibilities IRS might hold, there first must be a working definition of the field and its praxis. Interreligious Studies points in this direction as it highlights the practical knowledge generated by IRS: how to cultivate empathy, make peace and build nations, promote scholarly activism, and foster meaningful interreligious relations. Scholars and students who are serious about engaging the many dynamic conversations blossoming within this nascent field will be well served by the contributions of this volume.

Joseph Ratzinger has shaped and guided the church's mission to proclaim the good news, as well as to forge good relations with non-Catholic Christian communities, other religious traditions, and the secular world at large. Through a critique of Ratzinger's theology, this book draws attention to the importance of theological discourses originating from non-European contexts. Mong highlights the gap between a dogmatic understanding of faith and the pastoral realities of the Asian church, as well as the difficulties faced by Asian theologians trying to make their voices heard in a church still dominated by Western thinking. While Mong concurs with much of Ratzinger's analysis of the problems in modern society - such as the aggressive secularism and crisis of faith in Europe - he brings attention to the realities of religious pluralism in Asia, which require the church to adopt a different approach in its theological formulations and pastoral practices.

Der Islamische Staat in Syrien und im Irak, die Massaker von Boko Haram in Nigeria - immer neue religioes motivierte Terrorakte rufen weltweite Betroffenheit hervor, auch unter glaubigen Menschen. Weder Bibel noch Koran rechtfertigen einfach jegliche Gewalttat oder Krieg im Namen Gottes, wenn man sich mit Sprache und Sinn dieser Texte kritisch auseinandersetzt. Der Tagungsband der 16. OEkumenischen Sommerakademie Kremsmunster 2014 dokumentiert Vortrage mit unterschiedlichem konfessionellen, religioesen und weltanschaulichen Hintergrund. Sie alle beschaftigen sich mit der Thematik religioes motivierter Gewalt aus der Perspektive der Philosophie, der Praktischen Theologie und Religionspadagogik, der Religions-, Bibel- und Islamwissenschaft. Zu Wort kommen auch Reprasentanten der Friedensarbeit im Militar, in christlichen Vereinigungen und in der kirchlichen Pastoral.

The European Community has largely been considered a predominantly secular project, bringing together the economic and political realms, while failing to mobilise the public voice and imagination of churchmen and the faithful. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, this is the first study to assess the political history of religious dialogue in the European Community. It challenges the widespread perception that churches started to engage with European institutions only after the 1979 elections to the European Parliament, by detailing close relations between churchmen and high-ranking officials in European institutions, immediately after the 1950 Schuman Declaration. Lucian N. Leustean demonstrates that Cold War divisions between East and West, and the very nature of the ecumenical movement, had a direct impact on the ways in which churches approached the European Community. He brings to light events and issues which have not previously been examined, such as the response of churches to the Schuman Plan, and the political mobilisation of church representations in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. Leustean argues that the concept of a 'united Europe' has been impeded by competing national differences between religious and political institutions, having a long-standing legacy on the making of a fragmented European Community.

Aquinas and Calvin on Romans is a comparative study of John Calvin's and Thomas Aquinas's commentaries on the first eight chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans. Focusing on the role of human participation in God's work of salvation, Charles Raith argues that Calvin's critiques of the "schoolmen" arising from his reading of Romans fail to find a target in Aquinas's theology while Calvin's principal positive affirmations are embraced by Aquinas as well. Aquinas upholds many fundamental insights that Calvin would later also obtain in his reading of Romans, such as justification sola fide non merito (by faith alone and not by merit), the centrality of Christ for salvation, the ongoing imperfection of the sanctified life, the work of the Spirit guiding the believer along the path of sanctification, and the assurance of salvation that one obtains through the indwelling of the Spirit, to name only a few. Even more, numerous identical interpretations arising in their commentaries makes it necessary to consider Calvin's reading of Romans as appropriating a tradition of interpretation that includes Aquinas. At the same time, the nonparticipatory dimensions of Calvin's reading of Romans becomes clear when set beside Aquinas's reading, and these nonparticipatory dimensions create difficulties for Calvin's interpretation, especially on Romans 8, that are not present in Aquinas's account. Raith therefore suggests how Calvin's reading of Romans, especially as it pertains to justification and merit, should be augmented by the participatory framework reflected in Aquinas's interpretation. The book concludes by revisiting Calvin's criticisms of the Council of Trent in light of these suggestions.

Ressourcement: A Movement for Renewal in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology provides both a historical and a theological analysis of the achievements of the renowned generation of theologians whose influence pervaded French theology and society in the period 1930 to 1960, and beyond. It considers how the principal exponents of ressourcement, leading Dominicans and Jesuits of the faculties of Le Saulchoir (Paris) and Lyon-Fourviere, inspired a renaissance in twentieth-century Catholic theology and initiated a movement for renewal that contributed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The book assesses the origins and historical development of the biblical, liturgical, and patristic ressourcement in France, Germany, and Belgium, and offers fresh insights into the thought of the movement's leading scholars. It analyses the fierce controversies that erupted within the Jesuit and Dominican orders and between leading ressourcement theologians and the Vatican. The volume also contributes to the elucidation of the complex question of terminology, the interpretation of which still engenders controversy in discussions of ressourcement and nouvelle theologie. It concludes with reflections on how the most important movement in twentieth-century Roman Catholic theology continues to impact on contemporary society and on Catholic and Protestant theological enquiry in the new millennium.

Christianity Today Book of the Year award of Merit We generally assume that those sitting around us in church share our beliefs. But when our personal convictions are contested by fellow Christians, everything changes. We feel attacked from behind. When other Christians doubt or deny our convictions, we don't experience it as a mere difference of opinion, but as a violation of an unspoken agreement. Tim Muehlhoff and Rick Langer offer a guide to help Christians navigate disagreements with one another. In today's polarized context, Christians often have committed, biblical rationales for very different positions. How do we discern between core biblical convictions and secondary issues? How do we cultivate better understanding and compassion for those we disagree with? Muehlhoff and Langer provide lessons from conflict theory and church history on how to avoid the dangers of groupthink and how to negotiate differing biblical convictions to avoid church splits and repair interpersonal ruptures. Christian unity is possible. Discover how we can navigate differences by speaking in both truth and love.

Der uberwiegende Teil der Evangelischen und Katholischen Kirche ist in Formen der Tradition gefangen. Diese ruckwartsgewandte kirchliche Verkundigung erreicht viele Menschen des 21. Jahrhunderts mit ihren Erfahrungen nicht mehr. Auf Religionskritik der Aufklarung hat die Kirche ebenso halbherzig reagiert wie auf Initiativgruppen, die seit Jahrzehnten fur eine Veranderung eintreten. Die Institution Kirche muss ihre Funktion als Teil der Gesellschaft annehmen. Diese Themenstellungen greift das Buch auf. Es drangt auf die Umsetzung aktueller Forderungen der Aufklarung und tritt dafur ein, dass Aufklarung zu einem Bestandteil kirchlicher Arbeit wird. Kirche muss prufen, inwieweit Entwurfe zur gesellschaftlichen Erneuerung und Weiterentwicklung auch von ihr umzusetzen sind.

Zunehmend wird Religion als ein stoerender Faktor fur das gesellschaftliche Zusammenleben wahrgenommen. Dennoch enthalten Religionen eigene Ressourcen, die Autonomie des Politischen zu achten. Diese Ressourcen werden in dem Band prazise beschrieben. Dabei spielt der Toleranzbegriff eine erhebliche Rolle. Toleranz beschreibt nicht nur das Verhaltnis der Religionen zu Andersdenkenden, sondern auch umgekehrt das Verhaltnis nicht-religioeser Personen und Institutionen zu den Religionen. Dabei enthalt der Toleranzbegriff mehrere ethische Paradoxien, die eine theologische Interpretation erforderlich machen. Ohne eine theologische Bestimmung bleibt Toleranz ein widerspruchliches Konzept fur das friedliche Zusammenleben. Diese These wird auf prinzipieller und praktischer Ebene begrundet.

Wie kam es zu der kirchlichen Gemeinschaft zwischen den altkatholischen Kirchen der Utrechter Union in Europa und Nordamerika und der Iglesia Filipina Independiente auf den Philippinen? Die Aufsatze geben einen Einblick in die Entwicklung der oekumenischen Beziehungen am Anfang und in der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Aufgrund der Korrespondenz der beteiligten kirchlichen und politischen Persoenlichkeiten zeigen die Autoren auf, wie die beiden Kirchen sich von der Jahrhundertwende bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg zuerst auseinander entwickelten und sich nach einer Kehrtwende auf der Seite der Iglesia Filipina Independiente und dank Vermittlung der amerikanischen Episkopalkirche wiederfanden. Wo heutzutage die OEkumene ins Stocken geraten zu sein scheint, ruft dieser Band in Erinnerung, wie viel schon erreicht wurde und auf welche Weise.

El Filioque es una de las cuestiones mas largas y complejas de la historia del dogma cristiano. Se cuenta todavia entre las causas de la division entre catolicos y ortodoxos. En 1995, a peticion de Juan Pablo II, el Pontificio Consejo para la promocion de la Unidad de los Cristianos publico un breve texto que expresa la comprension catolica del problema. Entre sus diversas implicaciones, el documento, conocido como Clarificacion romana, se centra en los aspectos dogmaticos, que expone a partir de una amplia base de referencias patristicas. El presente estudio analiza la Clarificacion en dos partes. La primera presenta los precedentes historicos y magisteriales del texto, su genesis y sus fuentes, y ofrece una sintesis de las reacciones ecumenicas que siguieron a su publicacion. Como via para un entendimiento, la segunda parte del texto propone una consideracion detenida de las fuentes patristicas, orientales y occidentales. En ella se presentan los principales pasajes sobre el origen del Espiritu Santo y su relacion con el Hijo, contextualizados en el pensamiento trinitario de cada Padre. En funcion de el se valora el uso que ha realizado la Clarificacion de sus fuentes.