Ecumenical Reception: Its challenge and opportunity
William G. Rusch
Eerdmans £10.99 (978-0-8028-4723-2)
Church Times Bookshop £9.90
reviewed with
Rome and Canterbury: The elusive search for unity
Mary Reath
Rowman & Littlefield £12.99 (978-0-7425-5278-4)
Church Times Bookshop £11.70
PROCLAMATION of oneself as an ecumenist is no longer a fashion statement; it was in the 1960s, but not now. Nevertheless, the authors of both these books show the remarkable progress made in the past half-century in particular, and the possibilities for the future.
They are very different sorts of book in genre. Bill Rusch writes as an accomplished ecumenical theologian, and focuses on one key concept, reception. The hinterland of reception shows it to have been a key process throughout the Church’s history. It is an extension of the “handing on” and “receiving” referred to by Paul in the New Testament. It continued in the Patristic Councils and indeed in the Council of Trent at the time of the Counter-Reformation. Within this process, not every doctrine is received, and not all within the Church receive each aspect of that which is handed on. Rusch distinguishes, however, between all this, which he calls “classical reception”, and the newer, 20th-century phenomenon of “ecumenical reception”.
Ecumenical reception is rooted in dialogue between Churches, and leads to fellowship. It eventually requires a decision that results in practice with churches living as one reconciled community. Rusch points to the part played by some great figures, including Lukas Vischer, Aloys Grillmeier, and Jean-Marie Tillard. He also helpfully analyses the degree of reception following particular dialogues. There is still far to travel, but Rusch counsels a hopeful patience.
Mary Reath’s is a very different but equally exhilarating read. She is an ecumenical pilgrim, brought up as a Roman Catholic, but now worshipping as an Episcopalian. She cares deeply for both traditions, and longs for reconciliation. An excellent historical summary leads into a clear and compelling review of the documents resulting from Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue. Enthusiastic as she is, she is not uncritical. She explores the possibilities of a “reformed papacy”, and focuses on the key issues of the “local” and the “universal”.
Reath does not avoid the most recent controversies within Anglicanism; nor does she allow these to overwhelm her argument. She makes illuminating contrasts between the American and European situations. Her book is positively challenging. There is, she argues, no alternative to ecumenism within a fully realised Christian future.
The personal passion in this book gives energy to the intellectual argument. As an established traveller in the world of ecumenics, I read both these books thinking that fashions are, happily, beginning to change once again.
The Rt Revd Stephen Platten is the Bishop of Wakefield.
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