Unity… unambiguously visible

 — Mar. 1, 20071 mars 2007

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One particular reading has strongly influenced me over the past few years, a small book entitled In One Body through the CrossThe Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity.(*) In it the authors plead for a journey towards unity in which the unity sought is clearly that of the one Church of Christ (in all its positive diversities), the visible unity of the one Body.

Two telling excerpts :

“we agree… that the unity we seek must be unambiguously visible, “so that the world may believe” (John 17:21). Unity must be recognizable as unity without an extensive theological gloss. One must be able to see that the church, in its ordinary life and practice, is one community reconciled in Christ.” (p. 43)

and

“Our present unity, however broken by our habits and traditions of division, already exists as a gift of God, and thus the unity we seek will not be simply a human work. This is good news, for we can trust the promises of the gospel. We propose the disciplines of unity as central to the Christian vocation, however filled with the pain of renunciation and sacrifice, however partial and provisional in worldly consequences they may be. Any true steps toward unity will be a manifestation of new life in Christ, as he reconciles us in one body through the cross.” (p. 59, closing paragraph of the book).

(*) Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, Editors, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2003

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

Posted: Mar. 1, 2007 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=3102
Categories: Reconciliation & unityIn this article: Bernard de Margerie, spiritual ecumenism, Walter Kasper
Transmis : 1 mars 2007 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=3102
Catégorie : Reconciliation & unityDans cet article : Bernard de Margerie, spiritual ecumenism, Walter Kasper


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