ECUMENICAL REVIEW最新文献

The Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order has thoughtfully proposed Nicaea for its focus. This year marks an important anniversary for the Nicene Creed, the first version of which was agreed by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. The Holy Spirit received little attention in 325, but the Cappadocians helped to enrich our understanding of the Holy Spirit by 381, when the Creed was revised. In recent years, many in the church have called attention to the need for further work on the Holy Spirit. This article suggests some ways that Faith and Order might consider the Holy Spirit that would benefit the whole church.

As the global church reflects on the question “Where now for visible unity?” this article argues that visible unity cannot be achieved without visible freedom, particularly for the African church. Rooted in historical erasure and theological marginalization, Christian education in Africa remains shaped by colonial frameworks that limit its agency, suppress its voice, and alienate its contextual theological richness. This article contends that decolonizing theological education is not merely an academic task but an ecclesial necessity to be able to discern the image of God. Drawing on contextual theology, postcolonial critique, and African ecclesiological realities, this article explores how the structural dependency of African theological institutions – from publishing and curricula to accreditation and validation – continues to reinforce epistemic inequality within the global church. True unity must be forged through freedom, justice, and mutual recognition, rather than through assimilation or inherited models of harmony. The African Church must be empowered to research, document, and teach theology from its own context. Only then can visible unity be achieved – not as uniformity, but as a co-created vision of global Christianity rooted in dignity, freedom, and contextual integrity.

As we approach the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, we are reminded that the primary aim of the council was to preserve the unity of the church. Church unity remains the primary aim of the ecumenical movement in its manifold forms. Within the Faith and Order movement, the focus in recent decades has been on ecclesiology, as reflected in the recent study The Church: Towards a Common Vision. This document reflects the degree of consensus that has been achieved and points to remaining obstacles to church unity. It is with the hope of furthering this search for unity that this article proposes a renewed emphasis on baptism and its ecclesial ramifications. Such a renewed emphasis on the church as a body comprising all the baptized, recognizing the dignity and responsibility of all the faithful, and giving them a voice at all levels of church life would, this article suggests, help to overcome our divisions, both internal and mutual.

This article explores the enduring and evolving vision of visible unity as articulated by the Faith and Order movement of the World Council of Churches (WCC). From its beginnings at the First World Conference of Faith and Order Lausanne in 1927 to the anticipated Sixth World Conference in Egypt in October 2025, the quest for visible unity has been a theological, spiritual, and practical pilgrimage. This article reviews major ecumenical milestones such as Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (1982) and The Church: Towards a Common Vision (2013), assesses contemporary challenges such as confessional fragmentation and global shifts in Christianity, and reflects on emerging paths that emphasize spiritual ecumenism, shared diakonia, healing of historical wounds, and ecclesiological imagination. Anchored in biblical and theological reflection, the article calls for renewed commitment to unity through conversion, collaboration, and communion, echoing the WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity. The article also reflects on the significance of the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea (325–2025), highlighting how this foundational moment in Christian history invites the churches today to renew their commitment to visible unity grounded in shared faith and the Nicene Creed.

This article discusses baptism as expressing the four-fold relationality of life based on God, creation, neighbour, and self, as found in the second narrative of creation in the book of Genesis. Based on this understanding of baptism, baptismal ecclesiology can be defined as an understanding of the church that is primarily grounded in the sacrament of baptism. Baptismal ecclesiology sheds light on the level of mutual recognition of baptism throughout Christianity. Since baptism is about administering a sacrament, baptismal ecclesiology involves consequences for understanding ministry and ideally would be a liberating equalizer both within the churches and between them. A baptismal ecclesiology urges churches to understand themselves as movements rather than service institutions, aiming at fostering a sense of accountability in all the baptized – discipleship. As a result, baptismal ecclesiology is a fruitful theme for ecumenical dialogue and for common witness to the mercy of God in proclamation and service to a world that is yearning for justice, peace, reconciliation, and a hope that liberates to act.

This article examines the ecumenical context and in particular the development of the conciliar process for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) that began at the World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly in 1983 in Vancouver and culminated at the World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation in 1990 in Seoul, Korea. It underlines that JPIC was intended not simply as another study and action programme, like other programmes within the social and ethical tradition of the WCC, but was oriented toward the centre of the faith and very being of the church, and thus also an ecclesiological issue. The article traces the JPIC process, the central ecclesiological and socio-ethical questions it raised, and the difficulties and barriers it encountered. It also discusses the interest of the Orthodox in the process and focuses on the contribution and perspectives of the Orthodox Church in the conciliar process for JPIC. Finally, the article refers to the possibilities that are opening up to address the challenges of globalization.

This article examines the relationship between the two ecumenical conferences in Stockholm in 1925 and Lausanne in 1927, which led to the creation of the movements on Life and Work and on Faith and Order, and which merged in 1948 to form the World Council of Churches (WCC). The conferences took place following the First World War amid fears of a new outbreak of war, and in this situation, fellowship was an important aim of those who met in the two cities. The article examines the search for the fellowship that characterized Stockholm and Lausanne, using the vision of an “ecumenism of the heart,” developed in connection with the WCC's 11th Assembly in 2022. The roots of such a search for unity inspired by deep mutual relationships can be found in the two movements that were inspired by the conferences in Stockholm and Lausanne.

This article discusses the history of ecumenical social ethics and action since the Universal Christian Council on Life and Work in Stockholm in 1925, and especially the work of the Church and Society programme of the World Council of Churches following its founding in 1948. It recounts how in the 1960s, perspectives on ecumenical social ethics were challenged by voices from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The article examines especially the role played by women in the search for just structures in church and society and in seeking to respond to the challenges of globalization. It concludes with a discussion of the Theology of Life programme in the 1990s and the process to find Alternatives to Globalization Addressing People and the Earth (AGAPE).