The economy of life.

Gill, Theodore A., Jr.

"If there is a fellowship, a real sharing of life with life in which we are all in council together, then it means both women and men are in council together, that decisions are made together, and that decisions are made by those who have the gifts required without regard to sex or culture. Then our whole conception of ministry has to change."

--Philip Potter, Keynote address at the WCC Faith and Order consultation on the Community of Men and Women in the Church, Sheffield, 1981

Historian of Christian mission Kenneth Scott Latourette designated the 1800s as "The Great Century" of gospel proclamation and physical expansion of the church on earth. Although we hope for the best in years and decades ahead, events to date indicate that the period around 1910 marked the beginning of a, if not "the," great century for the modern ecumenical movement. In our lead article, begun at least 15 years ago by the late Marlin VanElderen and current contributor Stephen Brown, it is suggested that "no single individual was more prominent" in the 20th-century heyday of the World Council of Churches than its third general secretary, Philip Potter, who also served from 1972 to 1984 as the editor of Ecumenical Review. Dr Potter, an inspiration and mentor to so many of us, passed away at the end of March 2015. In addition to the tribute by VanElderen and Brown, this issue presents a memorial "on behalf of the women" from leaders in the WCC programmatic work that continues to address relationships of women and men within the churches and societies of our time: Brigalia Bam, Anna Karin Hammer, Aruna Gnanadason, and Fulata Lusungu Moyo.

The bulk of our articles consists of presentations from two events: a conference on "The Economy of Life" held at Chennai, India in late October 2014, and the launch of a new book in March 2015 on the ecumenical involvement of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And in the midst, we are delighted to extend our series of reflections 50 years after Vatican II with a significant contribution from Konrad Raiser.

The Chennai conference was coordinated by Athena Peralta of the WCC project on Poverty, Wealth, and Ecology. We are profoundly grateful to her for compiling and helping to edit the papers from that gathering. Describing the conference and its final report, "The Economy of Life: An Invitation to Theological Reflection and Action," Peralta commented, "In the current context of unprecedented, intertwined, global, socio-economic, political, and spiritual crises, what does an economy of life mean? What are the theological and spiritual resources our Christian faith can offer in constructing an economy of life, and what needs to change if we are to achieve this vision?" The conference and the papers published here have considered how the teachings of major world religions may contribute to the construction of a meaningful economy of life.

Konrad Raiser, who served as the fifth general secretary of the WCC and editor of Ecumenical Review, and more recently the author of Religion Macht Politik (published in translation as Religion, Power, Politics), offers his well-informed assessment of ecumenical relations since the dawn of the Second Vatican Council.

Keith Clements, wise ecumenist and former general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, is author of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ecumenical Quest. To mark its publication in the spring of 2015, and in memory of the 70th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's execution in April 1945, a panel discussion was organized by J. Michael West of WCC Publications and held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva. The presentations by Keith Clements, Victoria Barnett of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Stephen Brown of Globethics.net, as well as Martin Robra's meditation from the chapel service following the panel, are recorded here.

We borrow as the title of this issue, "Economy of Life," despite frequent aspects of momento mori. But there is precedent enough for this in 2 Corinthians 4:11

--For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible ...

Theodore A. Gill, Jr.

DOI: 10.1111/erev.12145