ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT – ITS MEANING AND THE ISSUES INVOLVED
I.
INTRODUCTION:
The Ecumenical Movement plays an important role in the development
of Christianity. It is through this movement that Christianity was spreading
all the over the world during the early 19th and 20th
centuries actively. The WCC, which is regarded as the world largest council of
churches also play a significant role by coming together to work for the well
being of the church and the society. In this paper we shall study the meaning
of Ecumenical Movement followed by the issues involved with this movement. In
the course of our study, we shall also give some of the interpretations made by
different denominational churches in their views towards Ecumenical Movement.
2. MEANING OF ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT:
The word Ecumenical comes from the Greek
word, which means originally ‘the inhabited world’ but came increasingly to
mean the whole church in the world as a whole. In 1951, the WCC in its meeting
at Rolle defines it as “to describe anything that relates to the whole task of
the whole church to bring the gospel to the whole world”. According to W.A
Visser’t Hooft Ecumenical Movement concerned with “the manifestation of the
essential unity of the church with the solidarity and co-operation of the
churches with their common witness and action in and for the world”.[1]
The New Catholic Encyclopaedia also
defines the Ecumenical Movement’ as “a developing process of inter church
relations and attitudes, the aim of which is to overcome divisions among the
Christians and to attain the fullness of unity in one holy, catholic and
apostolic church”.[2]
Ecumenism or Ecumenical Movement calls
for a wider understanding of the church in the context of its mission in the
contemporary world. It calls for dialogue with other religious and spiritual
traditions and incorporate the perspective of the poor, women and the oppressed
in its own perspectives. [3]The
church is ecumenical not simply because it is worldwide and unites all local
churches into one organisation but because it expresses an inner wholeness, a
quality of life.[4]
The word Ecumenical Movement is virtually treated as one word but it may
not be too different if there is a separate explanation of the word
‘ecumenical’ and ‘movement’. Movement is a popular word that conveys a continued
activity, vision, transformation and progress. Movement is a process that moves
on to specific goals to bring about transformation in the larger whole. In most
cases, movement are associations of voluntary men and women. Its members make
serious commitment through participation and investment.[5]
The adjective ‘Ecumenical’ is derived from
the Greek word ‘oikumene’ meaning ‘whole inhabited world’. The word is a
combination of two words oikos for
‘house’ and meno for ‘to live’.[6]
Traditionally, the word ecumenical was applied to those Creeds and Councils of
the church that were universally accepted in distinction from local creeds and
synods. Since 19th century the term has been widely used to describe
the new movement towards co-operation and unity of the churches and of
Christians. The statement of the Central Committee of the World Council of
Churches in 1951 gave a wider meaning of the term ‘ecumenical’. According to
the term ‘ecumenical is properly used to describe everything that relates to
the whole task of the while church to bring the gospel to the whole world. Here
the two key words are ‘unity’ and ‘mission’.[7]
The Assembly of the WCC at Evanston in 1954
added the third key term namely ‘renewal’. This indicates that the term
‘Ecumenical Movement’ has been used to mean the movement, which helps the
existing churches in a process of renewal to become one missionary church.
Later on the three main ecumenical concerns were summed up in ‘our call to
witness, service and to unity’.[8]
The second 19th century precedent
of the ecumenical movement was the student movement that includes YMCA, YWCA,
Student Volunteer Movement, the World Student Christian Federation and the
National Student Christian Movement. The third 19th century
ecumenical movement precedent comes from the missionary movement. The need for
unity and co-operation was keenly felt in the mission field and so various
missionary conferences were held in the 19th century. The 20th
century ecumenical movement comes from the 19th century Christian
Movement. The ecumenical movement founded the Evangelical Alliance in 1846. Its
main objectives were (i) to cultivate brotherly love (ii) to enjoy and
strengthen Christian’s fellowship and (iii) other objectives that may arise.[9]
Different kinds of movement exist. Such as labour movement, civil rights movement, students’ movement, ecological movement etc. Each movement is goal oriented to influence and to bring change in the larger community. In early patristic literature, the word oikumene was employed in the sense of the ‘world’ and at other times in the sense of ‘empire’. In the second century, it was used for the first time in connection with the church but greater emphasis to the political view. With the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century, the word ecumenical lost all the secular political accents and it continued only in the ecclesiastical circle.[10] It was in the 20th century that the word ‘Ecumenical Movement’ was most widely used in the ecclesiastical circles, theological institutions and publications alike. However, in the contemporary thought ‘Ecumenical Movement’ refers to a multidimensional movement including mission, social concern and ethical questions whose goal is unity. John R Mott was the most outstanding leader of the ecumenical movement. Oldham said that if Mott had not lived, then the ecumenical movement would have never taken the form like today.
3.
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION OF ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT:
Each church has their own interpretation of the word ecumenical
movement. Their understanding differs from churches to churches. So, we shall
try to discuss some of the interpretations made by the churches.
3.1 Anglican Churches:
The Anglican understanding of ecumenism is found in the Chicago Lambeth
Quadrilateral developed by W.R Huntington in 1870. The unity of the church is
to be based on the Holy Scriptures, the Apostle’s and Nicene Creed, the two
sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper and the historic episcopate.
3.2 Free Churches:
In their ecumenical understanding, free churches have stressed the personal
faith of individual Christians, the spiritual and free nature of the church,
the priesthood of all believers.
3.3 Orthodox Church:
According to the Orthodox Church, the unity of the church can be maintained
through the tradition of the ancient and undivided church and the ministry of
the episcopate.
3.4 Reformed Church:
Reformed churches can relate their ecumenical efforts through the Augsburg
Confession and Helmetic Confession. According to these documents, two elements
are particularly important for unity- agreement in the proclamation of the
gospel and freedom in ecclesiastical custom and traditions.
3.5 Roman Catholic Church:
The concept of unity placed by the Roman Catholic Church is the Trinitarian and
the Salvation history framework with the strong stress in the work of the Holy
Spirit.[11]
There are issues that are involved with the
Ecumenical Movement. The Ecumenical Movement does not only concentrate its
mission in the ecclesiastical circle but it also plays an important role in the
socio-political arena. We shall discuss some of them in brief:
4.1 UNITY AND MISSION: The 19th century was in the
words of K.S Lattourette, a ‘Great Century’ because among the other factors it
marked the rise of mission societies and worldwide evangelisation missionaries
braved themselves for mission work in foreign lands even at the cost of personal
sacrifice.[12]
Christian confess the church as ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic (Nicene
Creed). Even where creed is not in official use, the oneness of the church of
Jesus is affirmed. The ecumenical task then is to manifest this oneness to make
it visible and effective.[13]
For a long time, ecumenical language has used the expression of an already
existing fellowship between the churches to indicate that the churches are on
their way from division to unity. This fellowship is expressed in new
relationship with one another, forms of common prayer and worship, convergence
on dividing theological differences, common witness and service.[14]
Efforts were made to bring the missionaries from different societies together
to a sense of unity. The missionary conference that was held in New York in
1900 took the name ‘ecumenical’ and perhaps it was used for the first time at
the level of international missionary conference.[15]
The challenge of the gospel in the mission field made churches and mission
societies to realize the importance of unity. Ecumenical movement was
understood from the perspective of spirituality, inter denominational
fellowship and mission. Missionaries experienced the same spiritual oneness of
salvation and concern for the lost world.[16]
4.2 UNION
OF CHURCHES: Ecumenical movement also resulted in the reunion of churches.
It signified getting together of churches from different traditions. The
ecumenical movement was not just a movement concerning the church as a whole
but also concerning the relationship of different churches that would give
expression to the consciousness of the wholeness of the church without ignoring
its mission centre definition.[17]
Ecumenical movement had connection with the responsibility of the whole church
in taking the gospel to the whole world. So, union of churches went side by
side with the main mission of spreading the gospels to the nations. In the
early stages of the Faith and Order movement, some questions were raised like:
what are the elements of unity we seek? In what form unity is to be expressed?
etc. Some Protestant emphasised the spiritual unity as the basis for mutual
respect and co-operation in mission and service whereas other co-opted for
forming federation of churches. Anglican and some others argued for the goal of
organic or co-operate union. The WCC assembly at New Delhi in 1961 formulated
for the first time the goal of unity stating as “we believe that the unity
which is both God’s will and his gift to his church is being made visible as
all in each place who are baptized into Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord
and Saviour are brought by the Holy Spirit into one committed fellowship.”[18]
4.3 A DIALOGUE WITH OTHER FAITH: The basis of the third WCC assembly held in New Delhi in 1961 read as “the WCC is a fellowship of churches which confess Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to scriptures and therefore seek to fulfilled together their common calling to the glory of the one God father, son and the Holy Spirit.[19] The Trinitarian confession of the council does not narrow down its horizon whereas the evangelical fellowship still retains the theological uniqueness of Christ. So, the WCC tended to see ecumenical movement as an instrument to acknowledge even people from other religious faith. Therefore, for this dialogue plays an important role. The world missionary conference at Edinburgh 1910 is commonly accepted as the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement. The question of Christian towards other faith became an important issue in this conference. The Edinburgh discussion stimulated scholars in exploring the Christians relation to other faith traditions. An influential book of the period was J.N Farquhar’s book called ‘the Crown of Hinduism’ which argued that Christ fulfils the longings and aspiration of Hinduism. The International Missionary Conference at Jerusalem in 1928 met under the rising secularism in both east and west and that issue dominated the meeting. The conference affirmed the values in other religion and called on all believers to join hands with Christians in confronting the growing impact of secular culture.[20]
4.4 SOLIDARITY WITH VICTIMS OF INJUSTICES: The Ecumenical
Movement is an important movement that gave attention to the marginalized
people like the blacks, dalits, tribals, women and the poor. The movement
insist equality, liberty and communal harmony to all the people irrespective of
our colour, creed and sex. The Ecumenical movement also tried to maintain peace
and security among the people of the world. Having been overwhelmed by violence
from different parts of the world, the churches meeting in Harare for the 8th
Assembly of WCC in 1998 committed themselves to bring peace in the broken
world. The Assembly in its message to the churches said
We are challenge by the vision of the churches
The people of God on the way together
Confronting all division of race, gender, age or
culture
Striving to realise justice and peace
Upholding the integrity of creation
Following that the Central Committee in 1999 said:
We convinced: A clear witness to peace and
non-violence grounded in justice is what the world needs today from all
churches together. As a Christians, we are motivated and encouraged by the
gospel message of the peace of Christ and the rich biblical tradition of peace
with justice. We meant to engage in constructive efforts to build a culture of
peace[21]
The 1998 Harare
Assembly message of the WCC clearly focuses on the plight of the poor and the
marginalized as the mission of Christ spelt out in his Nazareth Manifesto. The
Harare message clearly highlights the major issue of world poverty,
unemployment and homelessness, violation of human rights, victim of HIV and
AIDS etc. Thus the members of the churches are challenged to express our
solidarity with all the oppressed section of our fellow human beings and to
make them visible in the eyes of God truly visible.[22]
4.5 INTEGRITY OF CREATION: Ecumenical Movement is also a
movement that seeks to defend, protect and preserve the health of the earth,
nature and environment for the continued existence and sustainability of all
life system.[23]
The concern on the issue of environment can be traced back to the Edinburgh
Conference 1910 where its motto is to evangelize the whole world in their
generation relating to the issue of technology and its possible effect on the
environment.[24]
At the 1966 Geneva Church and Society conference, the delegates of Africa, Asia
and Latin America underlie the need of greater responsibility in relation to
the environment issue particularly in the industrial and commercial relation in
the third world.[25]
The WCC programme on ‘just, participatory and sustainable’ and ‘justice, peace
and integrity of creation’ have given support in the development of the
environment.[26]
Pollution is another harmful factor, which spoils the environment and also the
human health. The technologized world failed to control the hazardous by
product of the industries, which later resulted into a dangerous water, air and
soil pollution. The Central Committee of 1998 in Hanover expressed their
concern on these. As a result the WCC subunit on church and Society urged the
churches to take action on this environmental issue. The following steps taken
as follows:
4.5.1 Support for the UN to establish the instructional legislation
dealings with all aspect of production.
4.5.2 The affirmation of exporting industrial wastes to developing
countries be both ethically and politically unacceptable.
4.5.3 -The encouragement of governments to fund research into method
of production which eliminate or minimize toxic waste.
4.5.4-The encouragement of government to consider the need for their
long term responsibility for the dispersal of toxic waste.
4.5.5 -The promotion of awareness to prohibit the dispersal of harmful toxic wastes.[27]
5.
CONCLUSION:
We have discussed the meaning of Ecumenical Movement in which we
came to know that the word Ecumenical Movement was first meant towards the
political accent but later it covers the life of the church as a whole.
Regarding the interpretation of Ecumenical Movement by different denominational
churches, we also can witness that the understanding of the unity of the
churches can be different from churches to churches. Some believe that the
unity of churches depends on the scripture, creed, sacraments etc whereas
others believe on the traditions, preaching, trinity etc. In the last section,
we discussed some of the important issues involved with the Ecumenical
Movement. From these issues it is clear that the Ecumenical Movement does not
only focus its mission in the ecclesiastical circle but also played an
important role in the well being of the society.
[1] ‘Ecumenical Movement’ in Concise Dictionary of the Christians World Mission, Stephen Neill, et al., ed. (London: Lutterworth, 1970), 180 as cited by F. Hrangkhuma, An Introduction to Church History (Bangalore: Theological Book Trust, 2002), 367.
[2] T.V Philip, Ecumenism in Asia (Delhi: ISPCK, 1994), 1.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., 2.
[5] O.L
Snaithang. A History of Ecumenical
Movement: An Introduction (Bangalore: BTESSC/SATHRI, 2006), 10.
[6] Ibid., 11.
[7] Hans Reudi
Wber, Asia and Ecumenical Movement:
1895-1961 (London: SCM Press Ltd., 19660, 39 as cited by H. Remthanga, Ecumenical Movement, np, nd.
[8] Ibid., p.2
[9] ‘Ecumenical
Movement’, Concise Dictionary of
Christian Mission.., 368.
[10] William G.
Rusch, ‘Ecumenical Movement’ in The
Encyclopaedia of Christianity, edited by Erwin Fahlbusch, et al.,
translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, vol 2 (E-I) (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdsman Publishing Company, 2001), 46.
[11] William G.
Rusch, ‘Ecumenical Movement’ …, 47-48.
[12] Snaitang, A History of …, 13.
[13] Gunther
Gassmann, ‘Unity’ in Dictionary of
Ecumenical Movement, edited by Nicholar Lossky, et al. (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdsman Publishing Company, 1991), 1038.
[14] Ibid.,
1040.
[15] Snaitang, A History of …, 14.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Gassmann,
‘Unity’ in Dictionary of Ecumenical
…, 1040.
[19] Snaitang, A History of …, 15
[20] S. Wesley
Ariarajah, ‘Interfaith Dialogue’ in Dictionary
of Ecumenical …, 282.
[21] Deenabandhu
Manchala, ‘The Decade to Overcome Violence: A New Ecumenical Oppurtunity’ in Ecumenism: Prospect and Challenges,
edited by Vinod Victor, Leslie Nathaniel and P. Surya Prakash (Delhi: ISPCK,
2001), 65.
[22] M Azariah,
‘Ecumenism from the Perspective of the Marginalized’ in Ecumenism: Prospect …, 218.
[23] Snaitang, A History of …, 15.
[24] Jesse M.K
Mugambi, ‘Environment’ in Dictionary of
Ecumenical …, 351.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid.
[27] David
Gosling, ‘Pollution’ in Dictionary of
Ecumenical …, 802.
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