The Trinity And Ecumenical Church Thought

Some hundred years from inception, the ecumenical movement is stagnating. William C. Ingle-Gillis argues that the problem lies in modern ecumenism’s treatment of denominational Churches as provisional entities requiring reunion to be more fully Christ’s Body. In a work unique both to ecumenical studies and to trinitarian theology, the author redefines ecclesial life from the premise that God’s essence is personhood-in-communion and that the ultimate calling of human persons is to share as fully in the divine life as Christ himself. Concluding that the Churches are, by the Spirit’s action, a tangible, dynamic event, wherein God makes visible his on-going reconciliation of the world to himself, Ingle-Gillis argues that the Churches’ true life lies in coming-together, rather than being-together. This conclusion places ecumenism at the heart of Church life and witness.

In this volume, a noted theologian brings together an ecumenical roster of leading scholars to explore trinitarian faith as it is concretely experienced in the life of the church. Drawing upon and fostering renewed interest in trinitarian theology, the contributors--including Brian E. Daley, John Behr, and Kathleen McVey--clarify the centrality of trinitarian doctrine in salvation, worship, and life. This is the third volume in Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History, a partnership between Baker Academic and the Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. The series is a deliberate outreach by the Orthodox community to Protestant and Catholic seminarians, pastors, and theologians.

In After Our Likeness, Miroslav Volf explores the relationship between persons and community in Christian theology. He seeks to counter the tendencies toward individualism in Protestant ecclesiology and give community its due.

This book attempts to reconceive the Trinity. Its thesis is that the Father beget the Son in or by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from the Father as the one in whom the Son is begotten. While some contemporary authors have proposed a similar view, no-one has done so in such a complete and systematic fashion. Reconceiving the Trinity in this way has a number of advantages. Firstly, it is more in keeping with the New Testament proclamation, and thus it more closely aligns the economic and immanent Trinity. Secondly, it overcomes the inadequacies of traditional trinitarian formulations, in both Eastern and Western Churches, which incorporates erroneous philosophical presuppositions. Thirdly, it offers a resolution to the filioque controversy, which may be acceptable to both the Latin and the Orthodox Churches. This book is, therefore, highly ecumenical in importance. Fourthly, it gives a more active and essential role to the Holy Spirit within the immanent Trinity, something that has been lacking throughout the trinitarian tradition. The true subjectivity or personality of the Holy Spirit is more clearly defined. This book brings out the spiritual and practical importance of the Trinity for the everyday lives of Christians. It defines more clearly how Christians are grafted into the very life of the Trinity: how they come to relate to the persons of the Trinity in a manner analogous to the way they relate to one another.

In "Reconciling Theology", leading thinker on Anglicanism and ecumenism Paul Avis focuses on the perennial Christian issues of argument, debate, polemic and conflict, on the one hand, and dialogue, search for common ground, working for agreement and harmony, on the other. Exploring the tension and interaction between them in a range of contexts in modern theology and the Church, Avis offers a rigorous but accessible vision of church which moves beyond the usual dichotomy of liberal or orthodox.

This long-standing series provides the guild of religion scholars a venue for publishing aimed primarily at colleagues. It includes scholarly monographs, revised dissertations, Festschriften, conference papers, and translations of ancient and medieval documents. Works cover the sub-disciplines of biblical studies, history of Christianity, history of religion, theology, and ethics. Festschriften for Karl Barth, Donald W. Dayton, James Luther Mays, Margaret R. Miles, and Walter Wink are among the seventy-five volumes that have been published. Contributors include: C. K. Barrett, Francois Bovon, Paul S. Chung, Marie-Helene Davies, Frederick Herzog, Ben F. Meyer, Pamela Ann Moeller, Rudolf Pesch, D. Z. Phillips, Rudolf Schnackenburgm Eduard Schweizer, John Vissers

This book attempts to reconceive the Trinity. Its thesis is that the Father beget the Son in or by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from the Father as the one in whom the Son is begotten. While some contemporary authors have proposed a similar view, no-one has done so in such a complete and systematic fashion. Reconceiving the Trinity in this way has a number of advantages. Firstly, it is more in keeping with the New Testament proclamation, and thus it more closely aligns the economic and immanent Trinity. Secondly, it overcomes the inadequacies of traditional trinitarian formulations, in both Eastern and Western Churches, which incorporates erroneous philosophical presuppositions. Thirdly, it offers a resolution to the filioque controversy, which may be acceptable to both the Latin and the Orthodox Churches. This book is, therefore, highly ecumenical in importance. Fourthly, it gives a more active and essential role to the Holy Spirit within the immanent Trinity, something that has been lacking throughout the trinitarian tradition. The true subjectivity or personality of the Holy Spirit is more clearly defined. This book brings out the spiritual and practical importance of the Trinity for the everyday lives of Christians. It defines more clearly how Christians are grafted into the very life of the Trinity: how they come to relate to the persons of the Trinity in a manner analogous to the way they relate to one another.

The doctrine of the Trinity has become the focal point of theological discussion and has immense implications for our knowledge of God. Professor Torrance shows that God is not a remote, unknowable deity but is free to go outside of himself in order to share with us the Communion of Love which he is himself. Throughout this study, Professor Torrance brings out the existing ecumenical consensus between Roman and Protestant Churches and the recent agreement between Orthodox and Reformed Churches. In the exploration of this theme and, through the examination of critical issues in the history of thought, he points a way toward doctrinal agreement.