Guest editorial.

Gill, Theodore A., Jr. ; Stranz, Jane ; Tanner, Mary 等

I am delighted to have been invited to be one of the guest editors, along with Aikaterini Pekridou, for this particular volume of The Ecumenical Review, with its contributions from "younger ecumenical theologians" who were at the Plenary meeting of the Faith and Order Commission in Crete in October 2009. The meeting was held in the beautiful Orthodox Academy, which has, on a number of occasions, welcomed Faith and Order with gracious hospitality, providing a wonderful place for reflection and inspiration. Something of that ambience comes across in the poem by Lucy Wambui Waweru and Dissi Muanika Obanda, an imaginative contribution to this volume that captures the atmosphere of the meeting, inspired by the winds of Crete and St Paul's stay in Crete.

   Listen,
   Listen to the winds howl
   Feel the air rush
   Hear the leaves rustle
   The winds of transformation are blowing.

The winds of transformation did indeed blow in Crete. This was one of the happiest and most hopeful meetings of Faith and Order that I can remember over my nearly 40 years' involvement with the Commission. The presence of younger ecumenical theologians, with their enthusiasm and commitment to the faith and order task, left me with a sense that with the involvement of this new generation there will be continuity and freshness, new insight into the work and an ongoing commitment to the mandate of Faith and Order: "to proclaim the oneness of the Church of Jesus Christ and to call the churches to the goal of visible unity in one faith and in one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ, in order that the world may believe".

It was not a new initiative of the Commission to invite younger theologians to its meeting. Faith and Order has a long history of being committed to drawing younger ecumenical theologians into its work, not just as passive receivers of the tradition but as full participants who have significant contributions to make to our understanding of the unity God calls us to live together for God's sake and the world's sake. Looking back over my involvement with Faith and Order, I count as one of the most memorable meetings a consultation for 30 "younger theologians" in Turku, Finland, in 1995. It was a time for the leaders of the time--"older theologians", among them Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Professor John Deschner, the Reverend Dr Connie Parvey, Father Jean-Marie Tillard and Dr Paul Crow--to engage the younger theologians in a conversation around the past and present work of the faith and order movement. Many of those present at Turku are now among the ecumenical leaders in their own churches or in national councils of churches, or have served on the staff, or as interns, of Faith and Order in Geneva.

It was the younger theologians at the Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order in Santiago de Compostela in 1993 who wrote one of the most interesting comments at the end of the meting. Having listened to the sharp discussions about the method used in Faith and Order work--the comparative, the convergence/consensus and the more recent challenges of contextual method--the younger theolo gians urged that the Commission not be too quick to leave behind the comparative method in favour of the convergence method. They recognized that they needed time to get to know other traditions and the gifts those traditions had to offer, as well as to explain to others the gifts their own tradition had to offer. At the same time, the younger theologians were convinced of the importance of the contextual method and of one's own context learning to speak and listen to other contexts. In the end, they counselled the Commission that the differing methodological approaches are not opposing and mutually exclusive options and that "Faith and Order must embrace a rich variety of theological approaches if it is to continue the special task of creative theological reflection, in the service of the churches, in and for the future".

The discussions around the method used by Faith and Order in its work that exercised the younger theologians at Santiago were very much present at Crete, as the essays in this volume show. The contributions here add some important suggestions and reflections on the issue and deserve to be taken up by Faith and Order as its work continues.

The first essay in this volume, by Aikaterini Pekridou is an impressive survey of the work that was accomplished at the meeting in Crete and sets the scene for all of the following essays. Aikaterini explains that the major task of the Crete meeting was to revise the study document The Nature and Mission of the Church (NMC). The ecclesiological study document is the fruit of more than 15 years' work by the Commission and harvests the results of Faith and Order since the First World Conference in Lausanne in 1927. The claim for the document is modest: "a stage on the way to a Common Statement". NMC is already with the churches for response, but as Aikaterini points out, disappointingly not many responses have been received from churches. Is this because the churches don't see the relevance of the ecclesiological statement?

The meeting in Crete heard reactions to the document from five contexts around the world. These reactions stimulated discussion in 12 groups. It is not easy to summarize the discussions of a large meeting, yet Aikaterini has not only managed to do so but also has made it an interesting read and a very valuable resource for the churches and for the future work of Faith and Order. She notes that on the whole, NMC is seen as a document that does advance ecumenical conversation and marks an important stop on the journey towards convergence and consensus "on a cluster of thorny issues related to ecclesiology". NMC reveals how much churches can in fact say together about the church and also their ability to honestly name differences. As such, it is a valuable tool for continuing common exploration of ecclesiology. It is a "meta-narrative" and as such "a solid way of speaking globally about the church". One particular problem Aikaterini highlights that emerged in the discussions of the meeting and is taken up in one way or another in almost all of the essays that follow is the question of methodology and the place of contextualization. Is it possible in one convergence text to reconcile the method of classical ecclesiological reflection and an approach from contextual experience? Perhaps the answer is not to set one method against another in a sort of competitive fashion. Rather, the goal is to see how, in an ongoing study process, in transformative conversation, churches can respond to the document in the specificity of contexts and how the insights that are born out of context can be brought to bear on a revision of the text. In this way, experience is allowed to shed light on the meta-narrative and, in its turn, the meta-narrative is allowed to challenge the contextual experience of being church. In this conversation, the experience of the global South, as the meeting at Crete suggested, needs consciously to be taken into consideration. Context must speak to context and be challenged to recognize in the diversity the constitutive elements of the church, the sinews that hold us in graced belonging through time and across the world today.

James Hawkey, an Anglican, touches on the same crucial issue. He offers a very concrete suggestion for one way forward to bridge the perceived gap between meta-narrative and contextuality, and to find criteria for theologically evaluating lived experience. He focuses on the four classical marks or notes of the church--one, holy, catholic and apostolic--"as aspirational dynamic realities", not as static description. He points out that NMC does not expand on the dynamic nature of the marks, but tends to focus on the marks as "static badges of identity." He suggests that we need to ask this question: What are the observable qualities of a church's life that mark it out as growing in the vocation to be the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church? The creative challenge, he suggests, is to identify how the lived experience of the church can be said to exhibit this grace-filled reality, already inaugurated, but still so clearly in via. In the paper that Metropolitan Geervarghese Coorilos gave at Crete, James recognized a challenge from an "ecclesiology from below" in the particular Indian context with its call to holiness and apostolicity in action. James' paper is just the beginning of what could be, if Faith and Order were to take up this reflection, one way of bridging the gap between these two methodologies that recognizes the potential of both. The classical marks of the church could be seen as dynamic vocative realities, a way of "navigating cultural and ecclesial complexities ... that are strange to most of the historic churches, providing an anchor of Tradition, while enabling us to put out further into the deep."

The discussion of contextuality is raised again sharply in different ways by Neal Presa and Aimee Moiso, both Presbyterians. Neal is clear that "we in the ecumenical movement who are praying and seeking not only visible unity of the Body of Christ but full communion among Christian traditions must be aware of present context in which we carry out our work and witness." He was conscious that NMC met with some resistance from the global South theologians, who saw in it an idealized portrait of the church and not the church as lived out in their contexts, which found inter-religious expressions and partnerships across all societal and cultural sectors. How to make the ecclesial issues of NMC resonate in another very particular context is also raised in a sharp way by Aimee, based on her experience of being an ordained Presbyterian minister in a Jesuit university where she must communicate to her students her own passionate concern for unity. "Do we make Christian unity both interesting and important to young people?" she asks. "Most students don't know why churches are divided and don't care." How can we make ecclesiological issues that NMC raises important to young people? Her own answer is to approach these issues from the perspective of the experiential concerns of the young: namely, the intersection of race and the Christian churches in the United States, or women and men, or issues of human sexuality. Each of the subjects sends us back to the need to be together as Christians in a communion of reflection and articulation in facing these burning issues of today's world. As a Protestant woman teaching in a Roman Catholic University, Aimee is acutely aware of issues that remain unresolved in Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry around eucharistic sharing, the ordination of women and questions of authority: So, for both Neal and Aimee, it is not so much that NMC is the wrong way to travel. Rather, it is an idealized text that needs to be opened up to contexts, both cultural and ecclesial.

The two essays offered by The Reverend Augustinas Barractaris and Giorgos Vlantis add important Orthodox perspectives to the discussion. Giorgos pleads for realism about the limits of our knowledge, which demands the renewal of the apophatic consciousness of the church and about the church. This, as he says, has been one of the most important contributions of Orthodox theologians, such as George Florovsky and Nikos Nissiotis, in the twentieth century. Perhaps he is right that NMC presumes to be too confident about what can be said about the church this side of the eschaton and does not make clear that we can only know in part here and now. There may be need for a greater degree of humility. More regard for the apophatic could lead to more inclusive ecclesiological models and more generous thinking about the relation between unity and difference, as well as humility" that we can never express divine reality in its totality. Indeed, he reminds us that apopohaticism keeps us aware of our human limitations and directs the church to the eschatological future. He ends his suggestive essay by quoting the important reflections at Crete of his All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, a one-time Vice Moderator of the Commission: "If the apophatic attitude is our starting point, then we may appreciate how the unity of the Church, like the unity of God, is also a never-ending search, an ever unfolding journey...".

Augustinas Bairactaris is convinced of the importance of ecumenical dialogue and gives a timely reminder of the right attitudes in approaching dialogue. Dialogue must be honest and not ignore the differences between churches, however painful. It must be carried out in a spirit of agape. There is need to get to know one another, for the relational is crucial. In other words, the comparative method of the early faith and order movement can't simply be left behind. Each generation must learn about the others. In the exchange of who we are, we all need to be open to criticism and open to the way of repentance. Augustinas continues the tradition of the Orthodox reminding us of the need for metanoia: repentance and conversion. I was happy to find emphasized in this essay that the church is a eucharistic community and that this is the goal, not just as proclamation but also as a sign of God's kingdom here and now among us. Augustinas also reminds us that the goal is not simply Christian unity but "unity among the human race and the whole of creation." In their relation to the world, Christians need to make decisions together. These points have been consistently important for Faith and Order.

It is appropriate that the fine essay of Lutheran theologian Sara Gehlin stands at the end of this volume, for in many ways it picks up the themes of the preceding texts. She, too, is concerned with the relative weight that ought to be given to context and to shared foundations; she stresses the need to identify, the universal claims of the Christian meta-narrative without letting the words lose their anchor in the actions and relations that make up our diverse contexts. She, too, is concerned about the apophatic approach which recognizes our human limitations--limitations that themselves lead to disagreements and divisions.

What I found most powerful in her essay was to follow the thoughts of Sara's group, a group of representatives from churches all over the world. The group reflected on globalization and its effects on the church, the churches' role in structural injustice, and the way the group was sent back again and again to the vision of Christian unity. "For what can the churches do about globalization ... if they are divided? ... Is Christian unity a condition, a prerequisite for ecumenical social action?"

The answer the group gave is that unity does indeed form a condition for credibility and is not a secondary issue in the ecumenical agenda. But what sort of unity? And at what point does diversity turn into division? How much diversity can we embrace? These are questions posed over and over again in Faith and Order. They are rightly posed again here with great clarity and passion.

What I found helpful is the conviction Sara expresses towards the end of her essay: that as well as a specificity of diverse contexts, there are experiences of shared existential conditions, which occur regardless of context and may generate our affinity that stretches beyond affiliations and actually serves the unity of the churches. This is surely one of the positive challenges of globalization that churches have been slow to understand. In the encounter in Crete, participants did, as she said, touch upon issues that concern our common human existential conditions--globalization, injustice, uneven distribution of resources. All of these issues point to the need for a common Christian voice. So, the group saw Christian unity not as a formal statement, but as a foundational requirement for our common social commitment. Unity was indeed an important starting point for our engagement with the world--unity with diversity. "Nevertheless, the quest for global justice presented an urge for unity in the midst of our diversity" ... "We were able to discern the need for a unity which serves diversity and a diversity which serves unity." I find myself wanting to quote many of the insights of Sara's group, as she has presented them, and to say "Amen" to them.

These essays by younger ecumenical theologians who attended the meeting in Crete provide us with insight into the meeting itself, the major study document and the ongoing process of the Faith and Order Commission. The essays are reflections from theologians of various ecclesial traditions and from different parts of the world. What comes across is that the passion for Christian unity is alive among this generation, that they are all convinced of the need to be together in social action. They are not dismissive of the attempt of Faith and Order to provide a meta-narrative, but are concerned with how to relate this to the specificity of myriad contexts and to allow each context to enrich and interrogate other contexts. These essays set a very particular challenge to the Faith and Order Commission to consider the meta-narrative in the context of a wide study in churches in a variety of contexts. Faith and Order needs to consider the right questions to put to the text so that churches will find ways of engaging out of their context with the meta-narrative in order to recognize church in themselves and in others, to acknowledge penitently where there is need of renewal, and to move together in word and social action in proclaiming the good news to the world. These essays show that meta-text needs to speak to context and context needs to interrogate meta-text in an ongoing, carefully orchestrated and monitored conversation. For unity is required for authentic witness; it may just be that there is more promise in globalization for the unity of the church, as Sara Gehlin's essay suggests. We can be sure that the Faith and Order agenda is safe in the creative hands of this younger generation.

   We shall come together like petals to survive
   the night
   Buoyed by the strength of our common belief
   Each of us bowing to the might of the
   Spirit ...

Mary Tanner

Dr Mary Tanner, of the Church of England, has been a member of the WCC Faith and Order Commission since 1974, serving as its moderator from 1991 to 1998. From 1982 to 1998 she was active within the Church of England body which ultimately became the Council for Christian Unity, serving as its general secretary from 1991 to 1998. She was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the Worldwide Anglican Church in 2008.

The Faith and Order Plenary Commission meeting, held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in October 2009, brought together theologians from around the world to discuss the three major studies of the Faith and Order Commission and the way to move forward towards unity. Theologians from diverse theological and cultural backgrounds discussed the ecclesiology study The Nature and Mission of the Church (NMC), the study on Moral Discernment in the Churches (MDC) and the study on Tradition and traditions (T&t). Sixteen percent of participants were theologians of the younger generation who brought to the meeting their expertise and unique experiences from their own contexts, where they serve as lay and clergy leaders, professors, educators, activists and experts in various scientific fields. They contributed to the meeting through their special gifts and knowledge as active theologians in the ecumenical movement; they are sensing and facing the global context, which is constituted by the widely differing particular local contexts that are also changing rapidly.

During the conversations at the meeting, it became clear that in looking at the different contexts where the gospel is incarnate, there are many challenges to be faced: ecclesial, political, cultural, ethical and interfaith. Christian communities are asked to respond to these challenges according to their particular needs and resources. Old challenges that relate to the classical questions of theology around unity still need to be discussed and confronted, and contemporary ones born of the changes that the global context is undergoing need to be addressed. The younger theologians, as members of the Body of Christ, respond to the challenges in living out their faith in the triune God inspired by the Holy Spirit, which renews the life of the church and works in and through every generation.

One characteristic of the contemporary era that was raised during the plenary meeting is a diversification of what church means to people, and an attempt by the churches to reconfigure and articulate their identity and mission in the world. A rise in spiritual interest that is not necessarily religious or related to a particular ecclesial community has been noted. "Believing without belonging" is becoming a famous motto at the same time as new movements are flourishing within churches and there is an increasing interest and involvement--particularly by young people and student bodies--in movements and communities that emphasize their ecumenical character.

Advances in technology and new ways of communication (such as Facebook, Skype and Twitter) have changed radically the way people communicate and relate with one another. It is worth noting that people from different backgrounds and parts of the world who are using this new technology extensively tend to have more in common with each other than with the generations of their predecessors and the communities in which they were raised. This contemporary phenomenon poses a new challenge to the churches that could be used creatively in witnessing to Christ in the world.

Moreover, there are major challenges that concern Christianity as a whole, as they constitute a wound to its credible witness and advocacy work. The issues of just peace and poverty, climate change and the diminishing of natural resources, lack of education and health care, the inability to fight HIV/AIDS and preventable diseases, the marginalization of certain groups of people (women, youth, elderly, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples), the rise of fundamentalism and extremism, and conflicts between and within religions and faith communities, migration and mobility of people, as well as unemployment and uncertainty for the future are a few of the challenges that concern and affect all Christian communities and pose questions to theologians of the younger generation as they reflect and pray for Christian unity.

In addition, Christian communities are becoming increasingly conscious and more sensitive to a variety of disputes over moral theology and Christian social ethics, These communities raise the issue of gender justice and human sexuality, which result in controversies and, in many cases, have become church-dividing issues. Along with the emphasis on human rights in the social sphere in recent years, other ethical debates, such as biotechnology and stem cell research, nuclear proliferation and weapon disarmament, have surfaced in the churches. Younger generation theologians are concerned with these issues.

These contemporary challenges and realities constitute the context in which the theological reflection of the younger theologians is shaped as they worship God, study the Scriptures and struggle to live the gospel values in society. The present issue of The Ecumenical Review is the fruit of the study and reflection of the theologians of the younger generation who participated in the 2009 Faith and Order Plenary Commission meeting. These essays start with theological issues that were discussed during the meeting in Crete itself, but extend further to specific theological issues according to the experiences, concerns

and hopes of the particular writers.

The importance of this issue of The Ecumenical Review lies in demonstrating that even though there is still a long way to go for all churches to receive the body of Christ together, Christians from different churches are able to sit at the same discussion table and reflect together on issues that divide them. In difficult times, the achievements of the ecumenical movement are sometimes questioned, ignored or forgotten. With this issue, the younger theologians renew their commitment to the vision of unity and remind churches how vital it is that in today's world, Christians are able to take action together on crucial social issues, pray together, and understand each other as they seek unity in the Body of Christ "so that the world may believe ..." (John 17:21).

As guest editors we would like to thank Dr John Gibaut and Dr Stephen Brown for their work and support in the preparation of this issue of The Ecumenical Review.

Aikaterini Pekridou

Aikaterini Pekridou is an Orthodox theologian from Greece. She has worked with the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches as an intern and as a consultant, particularly on the ecclessiology study "The Nature and Mission of the Church"; she is member of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, and current!y represents the World Student Christian Federalion--Europe Region on the Churches in Dialogue Commission of the Conference of European Churches.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1758-6623.2010.00062.x

Editor

Theodore A. GILL, Jr.

Deputy Editor and Book Reviews

Jane STRANZ

Guest Editors

Mary TANNER and Aikaterini PEKRIDOU