Cruciform Ecumenism
The Intersection of Ecclesiology, Episcopacy, and Apostolicity from a Catholic Perspective
Cruciform Ecumenism
The Intersection of Ecclesiology, Episcopacy, and Apostolicity from a Catholic Perspective
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Hardback
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN: 9781978701472
Number of Pages: 242
Published: 06/09/2019
Width: 16 cm
Height: 22.8 cm
The truth claims of Christianity appear compromised by the division of Christ’s followers into different denominations. What keeps Christians separated, retreating to their corners labeled Catholic, Orthodox, and various types of Protestant? Elizabeth Smith Woodard accounts for Christian disunity in terms of ecclesiology, episcopacy, and apostolicity: in brief, Who are we? Who is in charge? And are we who we say we are? Woodard argues that the controversial issues dividing Christians today stem from these questions of authority and identity. What would it look like, Woodard asks, if Christians did not insist on making “others” more “like us,” but instead worked toward all of “us” becoming more and more like Christ? She answers that growing in such cruciformity should serve as the basis for unity. Using recent unity-achieving Anglican-Lutheran discussions as a case study, she examines the crucial intersection of ecclesiology, episcopacy, and apostolicity to argue that Christians’ growth in Christ’s mission necessarily entails growing in unity and cruciformity.
Chapter 1: The State of the Problem
Chapter 2: The Anglican-Lutheran Relationship
Chapter 3: The Anglican-Lutheran Solution
Chapter 4: Reception of the Anglican-Lutheran Solution
Chapter 5: What can Catholicism Take from the Anglican-Lutheran Solution?
Chapter 6: How Might Unity among Catholics and Protestants Look?
Chapter 7: Koinonia and Kenosis
A welcome addition to the literature on ecclesial apostolicity, the central point of division between the western Christian traditions. Elizabeth Smith makes many insightful points in the course of her valuable study. Most useful is the exploration of what the Catholic Church might have to learn from the Anglican and Lutheran traditions in relation to a renewed understanding of apostolicity with ecumenical potential. -- Paul D. Murray, Durham University