EcuBlog from Fr. John Ford, CSC

Ancient Faith and American-Born Churches: Dialogues Between Christian Traditions.
Edited by Ted A. Campbell, Ann K. Riggs, Gilbert W. Stafford
Faith & Order Commission Theological Series
Paulist Press, 2006. Paperback: ISBN 0-8091-4321-6, $19.95.

Can Christians from a diversity of traditions really dialogue? This book is basically a guidebook that presents a method for ecumenical dialogue, along with eight examples of ecumenical dialogues on a wide diversity of topics:

1. "Holiness" -- Dialogue between the Wesleyan and Roman Catholic Traditions
2. "Reconcilition in Worship" -- Dialogue between the Holiness and Eastern Orthodox Traditions
3. "Apostolicity" -- Dialogue between the Stone-Campbell and Roman Catholic Traditions
4. "Creeds and Confessions" -- Dialogue between the Reformed, Methodist and Quaker Traditions
5. "Christian Initiation" -- Dialogue between the Baptist and Roman Catholic Traditions
6. "Teaching Authority in the Church" -- Dialogue between the Stone-Campbell and Lutheran Traditions
7. "Authority and Function of Scripture" -- Dialogue between the Lutheran, Reformed and Roman Catholic Traditions.
8. "Eschatology and Mission" -- Dialogue between the Anglican and Adventist Traditions

Each of the above dialogues includes a basic position paper from each participant, followed by responses of the participants to each other. Each response tries to indicate: where do we agree? where do we differ? where don't we understand each other?

The Introduction to this book by Gilbert W. Stafford is available at:
http://www.ncccusa.org/unity/fandostafford.html

The dialogue partners in this book followed the methodology presented in the article on "Theological Language and Ecumenical Methodology" by John T. Ford, which is available at:
http://www.ncccusa.org/unity/fandoford.html.

St. Patrick's Day

I am drinking coffee, not beer, today too as I write this!


The Consortium Tachmindji Event on Tuesday, c0-sponsored by Virginia Theological Seminaries' Office of Lifetime Theological Education
was extremly interesting and still has me thinking.
Dr. Casarella promised me a copy of his profound lecture on
"How Much Time is there for Music in God's Order of Creation?"

St Pauls' Chorister and Schola added a traditional [and family] touch.

The Post-Classical Ensemble gave such a powerful and suasive performance of
Manuel de Falla's 1926 Concerto that it was praised the next day by the Washington Post's critic.

I emailed Mrs. Tachmindji, the sponsor and patron of this yearly Event:

"You will see from the program how integrated the whole evening was.
Casarella referred to the performance--which was highly instuctive in itself about the Concerto--and the concerto was then discussed at some
length by the panel. Interestingly, the pianist and the conductor said that they were coming to understand the Concerto better with each performance.
The smaller venue [their last was the large concert hall in Brooklyn] and the 'warm' audience brought out elements that they had not averted to before!"

I am still trying to absorb all of this!

ECU-BLOG

Fr. John Ford, CSC of Catholic University will be keeping the Consortium Community updated on ecumenical news with occasional notes in this space. Today he tells us about a new online journal from the National Council of Churches.

Speaking of Unity -- Online journal of the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches.

Speaking of Unity is edited by Dr. Ann K. Riggs, Associate General Secretary of the NCC for Faith and Order.Articles on Faith and Order documents and issues are available both as htmlpages for easy access and reading, and as pdf files to make it easier toprint hard copies.The inaugural issue offers articles on "Meanings of Full Communion, the Essence of Life in the Body," by Professor O.C. Edwards, Jr., an Episcopal priest; and "Reflections of a Newcomer," by Dr. Dale E. Luffman, who represents the Community of Christ on the NCC's Faith and Order Commission.

The first issue of Speaking of Unity was designed by Dr. Keelan Downton of the NCC's Faith and Order staff, in anticipation of the World Council of Churches' ninth assembly, February 14-23, 2006, in Puerto Alegre, Brazil. The assembly's statements on faith and order and other topics that will be examined in future issues."The issue is centered upon the publication of an essay giving an account of the work of the Full Communion study group of the NCC Faith and Order Commission carried out during the four year study period between 2000 and 2003," Riggs said in an editorial.

The Journal is launched at a time when Faith and Order is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary July 19-23, 2007. Future articles will highlight plans for a return to the commission's 1957 birthplace, Oberlin, Ohio, for a conference entitled, "On Being Christian Together: The Faith and Order Experience in the United States."Other articles in the journal include reflections from an Orthodox point of view on the form and function of ecumenical statements by David Wagschal of the Orthodox Church in America; and "Making Sense of the Church" by Joseph D. Small of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

NCC President Michael E. Livingston offered a forward that welcomed the journal to the ecumenical dialogue: "The matters addressed, the questions raised, on the goals and means of the ecumenical endeavor in this first issue of Speaking of Unity are central not only to the work of Faith and Order but also to the entirety of our life together as partners in a pilgrimage of mutuality and unity." "The deepening of our sense of community for which we long is dependent on our capacity to learn to understand one another and to speak in ways that are meaningful to us all."The National Council of Churches USA is composed of 35 Protestant, Anglican,Orthodox, historic African American and peace communions representing 45 million Christians in 100,000 local congregations in the United States.

The journal is available at:

http://www.ncccusa.org/faithandorder/journals/speakingofunity/

March 3, 2006
Coffee is gone
Is Friday afternoon again.
This is getting to be my 'post time'

Just finished the 6th and next to last draft of the
Consortium Strategic Plan.
This one has a lot of changes--from the Deans, the Student Board,
the former trustees.
It is a lot better. It took me a few hours to type everything in.

Interestingly I had to delete a lot of things that are already done--for example, we looked at sharing online courses but so few schools have them that we decided to wait a few more years--the Consortium principle here, simply put, is that each participating institution must have something to 'put in to the common resource' So few can participate in this type of sharing that it is good to wait.

One thing that was added this time was the Student Board's Ecumenical Essay Contest.
It was so successful that the move is to make it a yearly event.
Of course we still have to consider the consultation, so stay tuned1

John Crossin