{"title":"Where Now for Visible Unity?","authors":"Ulrich Heckel","doi":"10.1111/erev.12867","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Against the background of the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order, which will take place in 2025 around the theme “Where now for visible unity?” this article explores the marks of visible unity set out in the Gospel of John and the Letter to the Ephesians. The two texts show an astonishing convergence. Following a biblical exegesis, the article concludes that discussions about the visible unity of the church need first to establish the similarities and differences in the understanding of the eucharist. The question of the understanding of ministry must first be clarified in a differentiated way. If the unity of the church consists in the confessional fellowship of believers, then it is not the institutionalized uniformity of the ministerial structure that is decisive, but rather unity in faith in the one shepherd and Lord as head of the church and Saviour of the world. Unity becomes visible above all in common prayer and worship, not only within different traditions as in Ephesus, but even more so when different church traditions celebrate ecumenically.</p>","PeriodicalId":43636,"journal":{"name":"ECUMENICAL REVIEW","volume":"76 3","pages":"245-260"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/erev.12867","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ECUMENICAL REVIEW","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/erev.12867","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Against the background of the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order, which will take place in 2025 around the theme “Where now for visible unity?” this article explores the marks of visible unity set out in the Gospel of John and the Letter to the Ephesians. The two texts show an astonishing convergence. Following a biblical exegesis, the article concludes that discussions about the visible unity of the church need first to establish the similarities and differences in the understanding of the eucharist. The question of the understanding of ministry must first be clarified in a differentiated way. If the unity of the church consists in the confessional fellowship of believers, then it is not the institutionalized uniformity of the ministerial structure that is decisive, but rather unity in faith in the one shepherd and Lord as head of the church and Saviour of the world. Unity becomes visible above all in common prayer and worship, not only within different traditions as in Ephesus, but even more so when different church traditions celebrate ecumenically.
期刊介绍:
The Ecumenical Review is a quarterly theological journal. Each issue focuses on a theme of current importance to the movement for Christian unity, and each volume includes academic as well as practical analysis of significant moments in the quest for closer church fellowship and inter-religious dialogue. Recent issues have communicated the visions of a new generation of ecumenical leadership, the voices of women involved in Orthodox-Protestant conversations, churches" ministries in an age of HIV/AIDS and a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.