Abstract
What animates ecumenical movement toward visible unity? A long-standing answer has been, hope due to the Holy Spirit . But has such hope been influenced by instrumental reason and the modern ideal of progress into expectation of step-by-step realization of visible unity? If so, then how the Spirit animates ecumenism needs new attention. The interior impact of the Spirit occurs first in enlightened charity not hope for unity. Appeal to Aquinas shows that the theological virtue of charity enables appreciative perceptions of gifts and excellences in neighbors. Such appreciation of divided ecclesial neighbors is the ongoing pneumatological wellspring of ecumenism and of the charism of active involvement in the ecumenical movement.
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Notes
- 1.
See T. Howland Sanks, “Ecumenical Winter or Spring,” America (November 12, 1994): 4–5.
- 2.
Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 2001–2010 acknowledges passage from an earlier phase of enthusiasm about visible unity to a new sobriety in expectations. The title of his book invokes a likeness to a fruitful autumn: Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue (New York: Continuum, 2009). See also Minna Hietemäki, “Finding Warmth in the Ecumenical Winter: A Nordic Viewpoint,” The Ecumenical Review 65:3 (2013): 368–75 and Bruce Myers, “Keeping Warm: Reception in the Ecumenical Winter,” The Ecumenical Review, 65:3 (2013): 376–87.
- 3.
This is Michael Kinnamon’s estimate in “New Contours of Ecumenism: Challenges to the Next Generation,” The Ecumenical Review 66:1 (2014): 16–24, at 16. Kinnamon is former Chair of the World Council of Churches [WCC] Faith and Order Commission and past General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA).
- 4.
WCC Continuation Committee on Ecumenism in the Twenty-First Century, Final Report (WCC: Geneva, 2012), 12.
- 5.
Kinnamon, “New Contours of Ecumenism,” 20.
- 6.
See the WCC Continuation Committee, Final Report, 17.
- 7.
In The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume I, Reason and the Rationalization of Society, trans. Thomas A. McCarthy (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984) Jürgen Habermas analyzes purposive-instrumental reason in consciousness and social life. In The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume II, A Critique of Functionalist Reason, trans. Thomas A. McCarthy (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984) Habermas develops the real and ideal alternative of communication whose intent and content tend toward reaching an understanding. See also Jürgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. Thomas Burger and Frederick Lawrence (Boston: MIT Press, 1989, 1991). Habermas argues that late capitalism has undermined that ideal of and actual discourse in the public sphere which serves to prevent a non-manipulated understanding to support common action.
- 8.
John Deschner, “Hope,” in Nicholas Lossky, Jose Miguel Bonino, John S. Pobee, Tom F. Stransky, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Pauline Webb, (eds.), Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement (Geneva: WCC Publications, second edition, 2002), 543–5.
- 9.
Samuel Kobia, “The Courage to Hope and the Future of the Ecumenical Movement”, para. 15 at: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/central-committee/2009/report-of-the-general-secretary (accessed April 6, 2016).
- 10.
“The Courage to Hope,” para. 23.
- 11.
Documents from the Second WCC Assembly in Evanston are not yet online. For Faith and Order, “A Common Account of Hope,” see The Ecumenical Review, 31:1 (1979): 5–12. For the WCC Eighth Assembly in Harare, see Diane Kessler (ed.), Together on the Way: Official Report of the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1999), also at: http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/assembly/or-01.html (accessed April 5, 2016).
- 12.
The Second Vatican Council [Vatican II], The Decree on Ecumenism, states that, “Everywhere large numbers have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren also there increases from day to day the movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, [italics added] for the restoration of unity among all Christians. This movement toward unity is called ‘ecumenical’,” para. 1. In para. 4, the Decree affirms that, “Today, in many parts of the world, under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit, many efforts are being made in prayer, word and action to attain that fullness of unity which Jesus Christ desires,” [italics added] at:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html (accessed April 5, 2016).
- 13.
WCC, Faith and Order, “A Common Account of Hope,” The Ecumenical Review 31:1 (1979): 8.
- 14.
WCC, Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (Faith and Order Paper 111, The Lima text) (Geneva: WCC, 1982). This is also online at https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/commissions/faith-and-order/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/baptism-eucharist-and-ministry-faith-and-order-paper-no-111-the-lima-text (accessed August 12, 2016). This convergence text at I, C, on baptism presents baptism in reference to the gift of the Holy Spirit; at II, C, 14–19 on the Eucharist emphasis falls on the Eucharist in relation to the Spirit; and I, 3 on ministry points to the liberating and renewing power of the Spirit in the Church while I, 5 and III, D, 32 advert to the Spirit as source of diverse gifts and many charisms. For an overview of preparation, text, and reception of the BEM document, see Hans-Georg Link, “The Lima Process: After Thirty Years,” in The Ecumenical Review 65:3 (2013): 352–67.
- 15.
Faith and Order Commission, “The Unity of the Church: Gift and Calling—Canberra Statement,” para. 4.1 at: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/the-unity-of-the-church-gift-and-calling-the-canberra-statement (accessed April 5, 2016). See also Michael E. Putney, “Come Holy Spirit, Renew the Whole Creation: Seventh Assembly of the World Council of Churches,” Theological Studies 52 (1991): 607–35.
- 16.
WCC, Faith and Order Commission Paper 214, The Church: Towards a Common Vision, 2013. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/the-church-towards-a-common-vision (accessed April 5, 2016). See brief theological responses to The Church by Arne Fritzson, William Henn, Minna Hietämaki, Peniel J.R. Rajakumar, and Natalia Vasilevich in The Ecumenical Review 65: 3 (2013) at: http://0-onlinelibrary.wiley.com.libus.csd.mu.edu/doi/10.1111/erev.2013.65.issue-3/issuetoc (accessed April 5, 2016). See also longer reflections by Susan Durber, “Looking for the Church: ‘Towards a Common Vision’,” One in Christ 47:2 (2013): 193–209; and John Hind, “That Wonderful and Sacred Mystery: Reflection on ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’,” One in Christ 47:2 (2013): 210–24 at: http://0-web.a.ebscohost.com.libus.csd.mu.edu/ehost/results?sid=520399f2-2c2e-4cc9-aa0a-73b124037c3a%40sessionmgr4005&vid=2&hid=4109&bquery=JN+%22One+in+Christ%22+AND+DT+20131201&bdata=JmRiPWE5aCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl (accessed April 5, 2016). Both Durber and Hind make incidental links between the Spirit and ecumenism.
- 17.
See Vatican II, The Decree on Ecumenism, §3 on faith, hope, and charity as a common Christian heritage: “[m]oreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too” (my italics) at: http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html (accessed April 5, 2016).
- 18.
Thomas Aquinas, trans. W.J. Hill, Summa Theologiae (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1966), Volume 33, Hope, 2a2ae. 17–22. See esp. Q. 17, a5 on God as the content of hope. Aquinas does not depart from the tradition of grace (sanctifying grace) that elevates the intellect (faith) and will (hope and charity) as powers of the soul.
- 19.
See Dominic Doyle, “Changing Hopes: The Theological Virtue of Hope in Thomas Aquinas, John of the Cross, and Karl Rahner,” Irish Theological Quarterly 77:1 (2012): 18–36. See Karl Rahner, “On the Theology of Hope,” Theological Investigations, trans. David Bourke (New York: Seabury Press, 1977), 23 vols, X, 242–59.
- 20.
Rahner, “On the Theology of Hope,” 259.
- 21.
More particularly, Doyle comments that “[i]n the context of the modern West, Christian hope will be experienced, according to Rahner, as the fundamental mode by which the person breaks out of the immanent frame of human control and enters the uncontrollable mystery of divine providence” (Doyle, “Changing Hopes,” 32).
- 22.
John Hind, “‘That wonderful and sacred mystery,’ 222.
- 23.
Cited in WCC, The Nature and Mission of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement Faith and Order Paper 198 (Geneva: WCC, 2005), Introduction §1 at: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/the-nature-and-mission-of-the-church-a-stage-on-the-way-to-a-common-statement, (accessed April 5, 2016). See also Faith and Order By-Laws 3.1 in Thomas F. Best, (ed.), Faith and Order at the Crossroads: the Plenary Commission Meeting: Kuala Lumpur 2004, Faith and Order Paper 196 (Geneva: WCC, 2005), 450.
- 24.
See the WCC statement of aims at: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/about-us/self-understanding-vision (accessed August 11, 2016).
- 25.
WCC, The Church, 6.
- 26.
See WCC, The Nature and Mission of the Church, Faith and Order Paper 198.
- 27.
See Faith and Order Commission, Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry on the Holy Spirit given before, in, and after baptism, at: “Baptism,” II, C, 5.
- 28.
For a survey of biblical and theological accounts of indwelling, see Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, Volume II: Lord and Giver of Life, trans. David Smith (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1983), 79–99.
- 29.
Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, Volume I: The Experience of the Holy Spirit, trans. David Smith (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1983), 80. Quotes are from Augustine, Sermo 71: 12, 19, 20, 33 (PL 38, 454, 455, 459, 463–4).
- 30.
Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, I, 80; Augustine, Sermo 71: 17, 28 and 71: 20, 33.
- 31.
Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, I, 80; see also Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, II, 5–23.
- 32.
Anthony C. Thiselton (in The Holy Spirit—In Biblical Teaching, Through the Centuries, and Today (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013), 71) finds in Paul three modes of the Spirit’s presence—in every Christian, in all of God’s People as a community, and in certain individuals given a charism for the common good of the Church.
- 33.
See Gerard Mannion, “Pathways for Dialogue in the 21st Century: What We learned at Assisi 2012,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 48:3 (2013), 391–409. See also Mark D. Chapman and Miriam Haar, “Introduction” in Mark D. Chapman and Miriam Haar (eds.), Pathways for Ecclesial Dialogue in the Twenty-First Century: Revisiting Ecumenical Method (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 1–8.
- 34.
Tad Dunne, “Being in Love,” Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies 13:2 (1995): 161–75. References to an updated, edited 2008 version with Addenda at: users.wowway.com/~tdunne5273/Be_in_Love.pdf, 1–25 at 8–12 (accessed March 26, 2016).
- 35.
Tad Dunne, “Being in Love,” 12.
- 36.
Robert M. Doran, “The Structure of Systematic Theology (2),” delivered at the Colloquium on Doing Systematic Theology in a Multi-religious World, Marquette University, November 7, 2013, in Robert M. Doran, Essays in Systematic Theology: Essay 51: The Structure of Systematic Theology (2), 11 at: http://www.lonerganresource.com/pdf/books/1/45%20-%20The%20Structure%20of%20Systematic%20Theology.pdf (accessed April 4, 2016).
- 37.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, vol. 34, Charity, 2a2ae. 23–33, Latin text, translation, Notes, Appendices & Glossary by R.J. Batten, introduction by Thomas Gilby OP (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1975), Q. 23, 2 ad primum.
- 38.
Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology (New York: Seabury, 1979; originally New York: Herder and Herder, 1972; reprinted Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 37–38.
- 39.
W. S. Sherwin, By Knowledge and By Love: Charity and Knowledge in the Moral Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2005), 93. I do not wish to indicate agreement with Sherwin’s negating a transcendental act in human love/will prior to categorical focus of that love.
- 40.
Sherwin, By Knowledge and By Love, 95.
- 41.
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium animos (January 6, 1928), para. 2–4. English translation at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19280106_mortalium-animos_en.html (accessed April 4, 2016).
- 42.
A 1920 encyclical from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople proposed rapprochement among all divided Christians, “Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere.” English translation at: http://www.incommunion.org/2004/10/24/unto-the-churches-of-christ-everywhere/ (accessed March 16, 2014). For a brief collection of Orthodox critiques rejecting the encyclical, see http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/encyc_critique.aspx (accessed April 4, 2016).
- 43.
BBC News Web site, at http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29171017 (accessed April 4, 2016).
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Thomas Hughson SJ (2017). The Holy Spirit and Ecumenism: A Shift from Hope to Charity. In: Chapman, M. (eds) Hope in the Ecumenical Future . Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63372-5_3
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