Geoffrey Wainwright

The Doctrine of the Trinity Where the Church Stands or Falls

In the struggle over traditional trinitarian doctrine, criticism from feminist, deistic, and religionist quarters can stimulate the churches in their revival of this soteriologically vital pattern of the Christian faith.

Methodists and Roman Catholics: Bilateral Dialogue in a Multilateral Context

Written from the viewpoint of a long-time participant on the Methodist side, this article traces the course of the dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church since its inception in 1967. After the rather scattered process of the introductory and exploratory early rounds, a more cohesive approach began with the pneumatologically oriented Honolulu Report of 1981. The focus sharpened to ecclesiology with the task the Commission set itself in the Narobi Report of 1986, ‘Towards a Statement on the Church’. Consequently, the following three rounds were occupied at the level of fundamental theology with ‘revelation and faith’, ‘the apostolic tradition’ and ‘teaching authority’. On those bases, the Commission then returned to the questions of how (far) each partner might recognize ‘the Church’ in the other and, as will be seen in the forthcoming Seoul Report of 2006, what each might offer and receive in the ‘exchange of gifts’ that, according to Pope John Paul IIs encyclical Ut Unum Sint (1995), should mark ecumenical dialogue along with the ‘exchange of ideas’. The present article locates the dialogue between Methodists and Roman Catholics on the broader ecumenical scene and shows how some of the features of Methodist ecumenism are analogously pertinent also to Anglicans and to Lutherans in their respective self-understandings and in their relations with the Roman Catholic Church.

Does Doctrine Still Divide

Against an old adage that ‘doctrine divides, service unites’, this article argues that all features of the ecumenical enterprise - evangelistic, humanitarian, moral, liturgical, sacramental, ecclesiological - bear a doctrinal dimension; the point is to discern and foster the unity in doctrine that is necessary to their pursuit. Twentieth-century doctrinal dialogues are surveyed, both in the multilateral arena (notably Faith and Order’s Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry) and in some representative bilateral cases. Their achievements are measured, and the remaining (and new) issues are noted. Attention is paid to the effect of the Roman Catholic Church’s official entry into the Ecumenical Movement with the Second Vatican Council’s decree ‘ Unitatis Redintegratio’, and Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical ‘ Ut Unum Sint ’ is viewed as both a recognition of a century’s progress in ecumenism and the setting of an agenda for continuing work.

On Church Extension

are thereby raised concerning the Christian faith and its historical embodiment. Besides Christianity, a further thing which went with the British was the English language. English has become the most international language so far known in human history. In some cases it serves as what may be called, with a touch of self-mockery, a ’lingua franca’, a means of communication for specific purposes and in specific meetings among people who would otherwise have no common linguistic vehicle. In other areas, English has pushed a local language into second place or even suppressed it altogether. The issue epitomized by language is that of universality and particularity. Max Warren once argued that the most characteristic feature of the missionary expansion of Ecclesia anglicana was the spread of the Book of Common Prayer. As the Roman Catholic Church commonly insisted until Vatican II (and still officially holds), there is indeed in the use of a single rite in a single language a powerful witness to the universality of the one Gospel of the only God, destined for the whole of humanity. But the cost is not low. In West Africa I myself at first followed inherited custom and conducted Prayer Book services in village churches, where I found it difficult to make stopping-places in the Cranmerian periods in order to allow my interpreter to make his consecutive translation. I quickly gave up, and took to praying extempore in short sentences and simple language, in the hope that before too long the village Christians might recognize that that was a proper way for them too to say their prayers in public, in a style which they could make closer to their own life and culture. It is the scriptures which are the foundation document of Christianity, and it is the Bible, therefore, which constitutes the

Recent Continental Theology

readership and many major events and people of the English Middle Ages are presented by continental scholars and from a continental perspective. Mystery plays are considered as if they were confined to France. The accounts of food, wine, agriculture and peasants are focused on France and Italy, though theology and ecclesiastical history in the British Isles are well covered. Secular culture has not fared so well. There are no entries

Recent Foreign Theology

because I was lonely, and Jesus is the best of friends’. All sorts of people have discovered that Jesus is the Saviour; they have been conscious of his redeeming power in their lives. So when the call comes, if we want to make the most of life and to get the best out of life, we must dare to obey. This brings me to my second question, how can we follow Jesus? My answer is by an act of personal decision. We are all of us all the time living in a state of deciding. Young people have to make decisions about their career and their marriage. Older people have to make decisions about their home and their

John Zizioulas on Personhood in God and for Humankind

At last we have from Metropolitan John Zizioulas a major work that is a worthy successor to his deservedly infl uential Being as Communion . 1 It appears under the title Communion and Otherness . 2 In initial summary: ‘[T]he problem of otherness will be approached from diff erent angles, all of them corresponding to fundamental aspects of the Christian faith. In all these aspects, the “other” will be shown to be ontologically constitutive for the being of God, both in his immanent and in his “economic” existence, including the person and work of Christ, as well as for the being of creation and the human being in their actual condition and their eschatological destiny’ (p. 14). Without ‘otherness’ there can be no ‘communion’ either in the Church or in society, and so ‘[t]he task of working out an understanding of communion linked organically with an understanding of otherness appears to be imperative in theology today’ (ibid). It is a brilliant book: intelligent, learned, argumentative, persuasive. Th e only question, as the author himself frames it with regard to his own main point, is whether the argument presented in this book is – in its precise form – ‘theologically legitimate’ (p. 134). Th at main point – recurrent throughout the book – is addressed in detail in one of the three new chapters that fi gure in the series of eight studies contained in this volume. Chapter 3, in fact, is entitled

Rowan Williams on Christian Doctrine

The skilfully arranged pieces collected in Rowan Williamss On Christian Theology are regarded by Geoffrey Wainwright as an informal dogmatics, an instance of ‘open system’. A subtle thinker and writer, Williams starts from the heartlands of the Christian faith and explores its boundaries. His work is evaluated in this article according to what he himself establishes as the celebratory, communicative, and critical styles of theology. Williamss kenotic trinitarianism is matched with his Abelardian view of the atonement, which seems to neglect some scriptural and traditional elements that a more Anselmian understanding would take into account. Freedom is a key notion for Williams but needs more definition in relation to ‘choice’; and his location of the church remains institutionally imprecise. Wainwright particularly appreciates Williamss exposition of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo and the aesthetic, doxological, and eschatological dimensions of his ethical thought. The book under discussion is disarmingly modest in tone, and the author himself declares that repentance is always in order for a theologian.

Renewing Worship: The Recovery of Classical Patterns

On almost all sides, official liturgical revisions in the second half of the twentieth century have recognized that Christian Sunday worship, in its fulness, includes both word and table. This is clearly stated in the Lima text on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, and in one way or another, practically all church responses accept this, whatever their respective difficulties of implementation. It is not simply a question of antiquarian return to early tradition. … Rather the ancient tradition is seen to have permanent theological advantages.

The Praise of Godin the Theological Reflection of the Church

Reflective theology expounds the liturgical tradition of the church, draws on it for motivation and material, and shares responsibility for keeping it faithful.