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Ecumenism

Not to be confused with Interfaith dialogue.
Ecumenism symbol from a plaque in St. Anne's Church, Augsburg, Germany. It shows Christianity as a boat at sea with the cross serving as the mast.[1]
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Ecumenism (/ɪˈkjuːməˌnɪzəm/ ih-KYOO-mə-niz-əm; alternatively spelled oecumenism) – also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalism – is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity.[2] The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any non-denominational initiative that encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches.[3][4]

The fact that all Christians belonging to mainstream Christian denominations profess faith in Jesus, believe that the Bible is inspired by God (John 1:1), and receive baptism according to the Trinitarian formula is seen as being a basis for ecumenism and its goal of Christian unity.[5][6] Ecumenists cite John 17:20–23 as the biblical grounds of striving for church unity, in which Jesus prays "may all be one" in order "that the world may know" and believe the Gospel message.[7][8]

In 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Germanus V of Constantinople, wrote a letter "addressed 'To all the Churches of Christ, wherever they may be', urging closer co-operation among separated Christians, and suggesting a 'League of Churches', parallel to the newly founded League of Nations".[9] In 1937, Christian leaders from mainstream Christian churches resolved to establish the World Council of Churches, to work for the cause of Christian unity; it today includes churches from most major traditions of Christianity as full members, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Old Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Baptist World Alliance, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Moravian Church, the Pentecostal churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches, as well as almost all jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church;[10] the Roman Catholic Church participates as an observer, sending delegates to official gatherings.[11]

Many regional councils affiliated with the World Council of Churches, such as the Middle East Council of Churches, National Council of Churches in Australia and Christian Churches Together, work for the cause of Christian unity on the domestic level, with member denominations including churches from the Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Anglican, and Reformed traditions, among others.[12][13]

Each year, many ecumenical Christians observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for the goal of ecumenism, which is coordinated by the World Council of Churches and adopted by many of its member churches.[14]

The terms ecumenism and ecumenical come from the Greek οἰκουμένη (oikoumene), which means "the whole inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire.[15] The ecumenical vision comprises both the search for the visible unity of the Church (Ephesians 4:3) and the "whole inhabited earth" (Matthew 24:14) as the concern of all Christians. In Christianity, the qualification ecumenical was originally and still is used in terms such as "ecumenical council" and "Ecumenical Patriarch", in the meaning of pertaining to the totality of the larger Church (such as the Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church) rather than being restricted to one of its constituent local churches or dioceses. Used in this sense, the term carries no connotation of re-uniting the historically separated Christian denominations but presumes a unity of local congregations in a worldwide communion.

  1. ^ "Logo". World Council of Churches. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  2. ^ "What are Ecumenical Relations?". Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Retrieved 24 September 2020. Ecumenical relations, also known as ecumenism, are the effort to seek Christian unity by cultivating meaningful relationships and understanding by and between the many different Christian churches and Christian Communities.
  3. ^ Chitando, Ezra; Gunda, Masiiwa Ragies; Kügler, Joachim (30 October 2014). Multiplying in the Spirit: African Initiated Churches in Zimbabwe. University of Bamberg Press. ISBN 978-3-86309-254-2. Ecumenism "is a movement towards the recovery of the unity of all believers in Christ, transcending differences of creed, ritual and policy, as well as interdenominational cooperation" (Getui 1997:91).
  4. ^ Fitts, Leroy (1985). A History of Black Baptists. Broadman Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-8054-6580-8.
  5. ^ Pizzey, Antonia (15 March 2019). Receptive Ecumenism and the Renewal of the Ecumenical Movement: The Path of Ecclesial Conversion. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 131. ISBN 978-90-04-39780-4. Baptism into Christ unites all Christians, despite their divisions. It is relationship with Christ through baptism, which enables relationship with other Christians. According to Congar, "on the basis of the baptism which incorporates us into Christ and the Word which is our Christian norm, [ecumenism's] aim is to carry out the will and the prayer of Christ, which is that his disciples should be united." The Christological foundation of Spiritual Ecumenism affirms that ecumenism is not our idea or goal, but rather Christ's will and prayer for us. Moreover, Christian unity already exists to some extent among all baptised Christians because of their relationship with Christ. Only through Christ is ecumenism possible. Kasper explains that Spiritual Ecumenism's fundamental Christological basis means that any ecumenical spirituality "will also be a sacramental spirituality." Baptism is "therefore a basic element of ecumenical spirituality."
  6. ^ "Becoming a Christian: The Ecumenical Implications of Our Common Baptism". World Council of Churches. 24 January 1997. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  7. ^ John 17:20–23
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference ChilcoteWarner2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ware1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Member list — World Council of Churches". oikoumene.org. 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  11. ^ Harmon, Steven R. (15 March 2010). Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-62189-277-9. Since its creation, it has also established a cordial cooperation with the World Council of Churches and regularly names Catholic observers at various ecumenical gatherings and invites observers of "fraternal delegates" of other churches or ecclesial communities to major events of the Catholic Church. The PCPCU publishes a journal called Information Service four times a year, in English and French. The WCC is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement. It brings together 349 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 100 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians and including most of the world's Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches. ... It describes itself as a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Chrsit as God and Savior according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the goal of visible unity in one faith and one Eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ.
  12. ^ "Churches". Middle East Council of Churches. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Member Churches". National Council of Churches in Australia. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  14. ^ Chia, Edmund Kee-Fook (23 October 2018). World Christianity Encounters World Religions: A Summa of Interfaith Dialogue. Liturgical Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-8146-8447-4. The observance was renamed Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 1935. With the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948 it became more universally adopted by the different denominations around the world, even as the dates of the observance may differ.
  15. ^ "ecumenical". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.