Thursday, March 25, 2010

Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity book preview

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

By all accounts, the modern ecumenical movement is not moving much these days. Despite dramatic breakthroughs in the past few decades, the quest for a visibly united church—in which there is common confession of the apostolic faith, full Eucharistic communion, and mutual recognition of members and ministers—now meets with indifference by many, impatience by some, and outright hostility by others. In part, this is because the movement has not given enough attention to grassroots ecumenical engagement. This book is written to convince ordinary Christians, especially Christian young adults, that they too have a stake in the future of the ecumenical movement as its most indispensable participants.

Ecumenism Means You, Too draws on the music of Irish rock band U2 to cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. Whether one is a U2 fan or not, and whether one thinks the ecumenical movement is a good thing or a bad thing for the church, everyone who reads this book will learn something about the Christian theological framework apart from which neither the modern ecumenical movement nor the meaning of U2’s music can be understood. The book includes an annotated bibliography of resources for ecumenical engagement and a glossary of key ecumenical terms for readers who want to learn more about the Christian practice of seeking the unity of the church.

Steven R. Harmon is currently Adjunct Professor of Christian Theology at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, having previously served on the faculties of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama and Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina and as Visiting Professor at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. A member of the Baptist World Alliance delegations to the international theological conversations with the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a plenary member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, he is the author of Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision (2006) and Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought (2003). He blogs about his work in ecumenical theology at http://www.ecclesialtheology.blogspot.com/.

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Ecumenism Means You, Too book excerpt #1

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

The following is an excerpt from chapter 1, "Here to Play Jesus: Why Ecumenism Isn't Dead" (pp. 2-6 and 14-16). Follow the hyperlinked song title for supplementary audio/visual content.

A couple of years ago I e-mailed my associate dean at Campbell University Divinity School to propose teaching a divinity school summer term course on ecumenism, which is theologian-speak for the quest for Christian unity. His reply kindly commended the proposed course and concluded with the observation, “After all, as U2 said, ‘We’re one, but we’re not the same.’” That line from the band’s song “One” (Achtung Baby, 1991) was appropriate for that course proposal and this book in more ways than he may have had in mind. Bono has offered various explanations of the song’s meaning. It’s about a lovers’ quarrel; it’s about the differences between men and women that pull them together and drive them apart; it’s about a son coming home to tell his father that he’s dying of AIDS. Bono lends the song yet another layer of meaning in the band’s official memoir U2 by U2, where he recounts the pre-history of that line: We had a request from the Dalai Lama to participate in a festival called Oneness. I love and respect the Dalai Lama but there was something a little bit “let’s hold hands hippie” about this particular event. . . . I sent him back a note saying, “One—but not the same.”

ECUMENISM NOT PLURALISM

Bono’s reply to the Dalai Lama’s invitation points to an important distinction: ecumenism is not pluralism. Ecumenism is the quest for unity among Christians now divided by denomination. It is not the effort to find some generic essence of religion that might minimize conflicts between the religions. Interreligious dialogue that respects the real differences between the religions is necessary to clear up misunderstandings that Christians, Jews, Muslims, and adherents of other religions may have of one another, and this too is an important task for the church’s theologians. But even though interreligious dialogue is sometimes called a “wider ecumenism,” it is not the same thing as the quest to embody the unity of the church as the one body of Christ.

Ecumenism is not a relativistic pan-religious pluralism, and the healthiest approaches to ecumenism—the quest for specifically Christian unity—do not minimize the significant differences of faith and practice that exist between churches. We are one body of Christ, but we are not the same, and it remains to be seen which of our differences are healthy forms of Christian diversity and which differences reflect patterns of faith and practice that must be transformed en route to the full visible unity of the body of Christ.

HOPE FOR THE ECUMENICAL FUTURE

Many observers of the quest for Christian unity are convinced that for a variety of reasons the modern ecumenical movement is dying or already dead. Not everyone is ready to declare this movement dead. One theologian respected internationally as a key long-term participant in the quest for Christian unity has been overheard to remark, “the ecumenical movement isn’t dead, but it hasn’t breathed in a long time.” That may be true. Yet I am hopeful that the ecumenical movement may not only breathe again but even flourish in the future, for many Christians today have perspectives on the church that can contribute to the re-emergence of ecumenism as a vital force in contemporary Christianity.

Typical American Christians increasingly do not feel bound to the denomination of their upbringing. If they were raised in a churchgoing family, they have probably belonged to congregations of more than one denomination along the way. While in college, they routinely attend more than one church, and there’s a good chance that those congregations are not of the same denomination. Many younger Christians today are attracted to a tradition significantly different from the one in which they were raised and have experimented with participation in that other tradition. At the Baptist university where I previously taught and delivered the series of lectures that served as the basis of this book, more than a few students came there as Baptists and left as Catholics, Episcopalians, or Presbyterians, for example, and more than a few students came there from another tradition and graduated as Baptists. Some will one day return to embrace the tradition that nurtured them in the faith, while others will continue exploring. At both private and public universities, Christian students’ participation in Christian organizations on campus doesn’t necessarily match their stated denominational preference. A Baptist Student Union will regularly provide a spiritual home for many non-Baptists. Curious evangelical students may sojourn for awhile with a Roman Catholic-sponsored Newman Center. A great many Christians away for college will eschew the student fellowships sponsored by the denominations of their preuniversity nurture for involvement in non-denominational organizations such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship or Campus Crusade for Christ. These younger Christians tend to attribute denominational divisions to human sinfulness, and they instinctively embrace unity as something that God desires for the body of Christ. Many younger evangelical Christians today have a keen interest in the ancient patterns and practices of worship and spirituality that have continued in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions but have long been absent from evangelicalism. This interest in recovering ancient liturgy for contemporary worship figures prominently in the “emergent” or “emerging church” movement with which many younger Christians identify.

Some of these perspectives on the church can also be causes for concern. Abandoning denominational commitments in the interest of being “non-denominational” can actually undermine the quest for Christian unity in some unanticipated ways, and moving easily from a church of one denomination to a congregation of another can be a symptom of the consumer mentality that is endemic to American Christianity. Yet I see aspects of these trends as evidence that a critical mass of ordinary American Christian laypersons want what Christ wants for his church. In the words of the lyric from “One,” they know that they are “here to play Jesus.”

(pp. 7-15 are not available as part of this book excerpt)

YOU, TOO, CAN BE AN ECUMENIST

Ecumenism Means You, Too is not a book about theological themes in the music of U2. Now that these themes have persisted across the three-decade span of the band’s career, ministers and academic theologians have already written such books. This book rather invokes the theological dimensions of U2 songs when they cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. The lyrics of “One” and other songs referenced in each chapter do not have the unity of the church in mind, yet the Christian theological framework apart from which the import of U2’s art cannot be fully appreciated is the same framework that makes sense of the ecumenical enterprise. The members of the band would probably not agree with my interpretations of that theological framework and how it functions in their music, nor with everything that I have to say about the nature of Christian unity (though I imagine that they might concur that the visible oneness of the body of Christ is a good thing). Nonetheless, U2 and their music will help me make the case that inasmuch as seeking the unity of the body of Christ is an inescapable obligation of Christian discipleship, ecumenism means you, too (and I hope you’ll pardon the pun).

Toward that end, the chapter titles incorporate snippets from the lyrics of the studio version of “One,” plus an extended coda from live concert performances of the song on tour in the case of the final chapter. Chapter 2, “One, but Not the Same: Ecumenism 101,” is an introduction to the history of the ecumenical movement and the divisions that it seeks to heal. Chapter 3, “One Life with Each Other: The Theology of Ecumenism,” explains the biblically-grounded theological concepts that drive the quest for visible unity and make it an unavoidable obligation for all churches and all Christians. Chapter 4, “Leaves You If You Don’t Care for It: 10 Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church,” outlines an action plan for ecumenism as an embodied practice of grassroots Christian activism in which all Christians can and must participate. Chapter 5, “Hear Us Call: The Eschatology of Ecumenism,” is a theological epilogue that encourages patient perseverance toward a goal that is not likely to be realized in the lifetime of anyone reading this book (but God has done surprising things before, and may yet again in our lifetimes). Appendix 1, “Resources for Ecumenical Engagement,” provides an annotated bibliography of books, periodicals, and Internet resources that will provide additional help for those who may take up the challenge of this book to pray and work for the unity of the body of Christ. Appendix 2, “Glossary of Key Ecumenical Terms,” defines the technical language that may be encountered when utilizing those resources.

Many of the resources included in Appendix 1 will make concrete proposals for convergence on the issues that continue to divide the church, to which I hope readers will give serious future consideration. In this book I refrain from making any such specific proposals for ecumenical progress, save one: that the quest for Christian unity includes you, too, and its future depends in part on your personal commitment to embark on that quest as a matter of being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Want to read more? Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Ignatius of Antioch on the Incarnation and Social Justice

With lots of people talking about Christian perspectives on "social justice" in the wake of the remarks of a certain on-air personality, it seemed an opportune time to point to one of my favorite passages from Ignatius of Antioch, an early Christian bishop who was martyred in the first decade of the second century (perhaps AD 107) only a few years after the later New Testament documents were written. In letters Ignatius wrote to various churches in Asia Minor while a guard of Roman soldiers escorted him from Antioch to his martyrdom in Rome, he took issue with proponents of an early heresy called Docetism. The Docetists, whose name derives from the Greek dokeo, "to seem" or "appear," taught that it was unbecoming of God to share in corrupt human flesh or to experience the imperfection of human suffering. Thus they taught that while Christ was fully God, his divinity could not really be embodied in human flesh and he could not really suffer; therefore he merely seemed to be human and to suffer and die. In his letter to the Smyrneans, Ignatius drew clear connections between this erroneous understanding of the identity of Christ and their shunning of the social obligations of Christian faithfulness:

But take note of those who have wrong-headed ideas about the gracious gift of Jesus Christ that has come to us, and see how they are opposed to the mind of God. They have no interest in love, in the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the one who is in chains or the one set free, the one who is hungry or the one who thirsts (Smyrneans 6.2).

It's not saying too much to suggest that the claim that the mission of the church does not involve the pursuit of social justice is heresy in the traditional Christian sense of the term. I think Ignatius of Antioch would agree.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Ecumenism Means You, Too table of contents

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Contents

Acknowledgments • ix

1 Here to Play Jesus: Why Ecumenism Isn’t Dead • 1

2 One, But Not the Same: Ecumenism 101 • 17

3 One Life with Each Other: The Theology of Ecumenism • 39

4 Leaves You If You Don’t Care for It: 10 Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church • 55

5 Hear Us Call: The Eschatology of Ecumenism • 71

Appendix A: Resources for Ecumenical Engagement • 87

Appendix B: Glossary of Key Ecumenical Terms • 110

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Ecumenism Means You, Too endorsements

Read the endorsements.

“… at once profound and straightforward, deeply reflected yet highly accessible, theologically rich yet directly practical… a source of wisdom to be absorbed into the life-blood of each of our widely differing communities for their mutual enrichment… a superbly inviting and practical manifestation of what has come to be referred to as Receptive Ecumenism.”

—Paul D. Murray, Durham University, UK

“Whether you are passionate about, disappointed by, or indifferent to the church: if you love God, you need this book. Harmon shows you why mutual tolerance is not the unity that Jesus desired for his Body, and he gives you the tools to start knitting back together the broken pieces of the church—so the world might believe. This little book should be the marching orders for every Christian!”

—Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France

“Few books on the ecumenical movement are as readable, and I would wager none has as appealing a soundtrack. Harmon invites us to strive for the hope of fuller visible unity with sisters and brothers in Christ not by ignoring denominational differences, but by acknowledging what divides us while refusing to settle for division. The ‘Ten Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church’ list alone is worth the price of the book.”

—Beth Maynard, co-editor of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Ecumenism Means You, Too book description

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

By all accounts, the modern ecumenical movement is not moving much these days. Despite dramatic breakthroughs in the past few decades, the quest for a visibly united church—in which there is common confession of the apostolic faith, full Eucharistic communion, and mutual recognition of members and ministers—now meets with indifference by many, impatience by some, and outright hostility by others. In part, this is because the movement has not given enough attention to grassroots ecumenical engagement. This book is written to convince ordinary Christians, especially Christian young adults, that they too have a stake in the future of the ecumenical movement as its most indispensable participants.

Ecumenism Means You, Too draws on the music of Irish rock band U2 to cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. Whether one is a U2 fan or not, and whether one thinks the ecumenical movement is a good thing or a bad thing for the church, everyone who reads this book will learn something about the Christian theological framework apart from which neither the modern ecumenical movement nor the meaning of U2’s music can be understood. The book includes an annotated bibliography of resources for ecumenical engagement and a glossary of key ecumenical terms for readers who want to learn more about the Christian practice of seeking the unity of the church.

Steven R. Harmon is currently Adjunct Professor of Christian Theology at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, having previously served on the faculties of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama and Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina and as Visiting Professor at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. A member of the Baptist World Alliance delegations to the international theological conversations with the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a plenary member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, he is the author of Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision (2006) and Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought (2003). He blogs about his work in ecumenical theology at http://www.ecclesialtheology.blogspot.com/.

Order Ecumenism Means You, Too directly from Cascade Books or via Amazon.

Read the book description.
Read the endorsements.
Read the table of contents.
Read an excerpt from chapter 1.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Ecumenism Means You, Too now available for order

I'm happy to announce that Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity is now officially available for order from Cascade Books (a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers) via telephone (541-344-1528), fax (541-344-1506), or e-mail (orders@wipfandstock.com). The book is priced at $16, but the publisher is offering discounts for direct orders: 20% off orders of 1-4 books, 40% off orders of 5+ books. The ISBN (13-digit) is 978-1-60608-865-4.

A page for the book with online shopping cart ordering will appear on the publisher's web site within a week, and I'll post a link to it here when available. (Update: here's the link to the publisher's online store page for the book.) Availability through Amazon and Barnes & Noble will follow within 6-8 weeks.

Over the next several days I will be posting preview information for the book: the back cover book description, endorsements, table of contents, and a book excerpt. Stay tuned.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Can the church "act and speak together" on "Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care"?

According to the classic definition of the nature of the visible unity sought by the modern ecumenical movement adopted by the Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi, India in 1961, such unity will mean "that all can act and speak together as occasion requires." It goes without saying that the whole church today is manifestly unable to act and speak together regarding almost any contemporary issue, and that inability is illustrated by the varied relations of Christians and their churches to the current debate over health care reform in the United States.

The 2010 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture sponsored by the Baylor University Institute for Faith and Learning will address the theme "Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care" October 28-30, 2010 in Waco, Texas. Here's the description of the conference from the IFL web site:

In the practice of health care a complicated array of issues converges: public policy and economic considerations impinge on a myriad of social and moral demands related to medical research and the distribution and delivery of medical care. As the recent debate concerning health care reform in the United States illustrates, not only have these issues largely been argued about in isolation from one another, they too often have been removed from an account of what it means to be human--a person endowed with dignity and therefore deserving of care--and the role of doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners in offering that care.

Inspired by the conviction that a Christian understanding of the dignity of the human person should inform these fundamental questions, the 2010 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture seeks to explore the future of health care, not only in the United States but around the world. In an often compartmentalized debate, how might an acknowledgment of human dignity shape our understanding of the moral, political, and economic dimensions of one of the most pressing concerns of our time?

While the scholars who will participate in this symposium will not do so as official representatives of their churches, their discussion and debate of appropriate Christian perspectives and responses can make its own contribution to the church's ability to act and speak together on this important issue. A PDF of the call for papers is available here.

Speaking of the work of the Institute for Faith and Learning: I discovered today on the IFL site that Christianity and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation for Intellectual Community (Baker Academic, 2006), a book developed out of one of their previous conference (and to which I contributed a chapter), was one of four finalists for the 2009 Lilly Fellows Program Book Award. (My chapter, for what it's worth, was on "Communal Conflict in the Postmodern Christian University.)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Gregory of Nyssa, Patristic Studies, and Ecumenical Theology

Today (March 9) is the feast day of St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. ca. AD 395), one of the subjects of my doctoral dissertation "Apokatastasis and Exegesis: A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Scripture in the Eschatological Universalism of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa" (later published in revised form as Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought). My early historical work on Gregory of Nyssa and other aspects of patristics (the study of the fathers--and mothers--of the church from the second century through the beginnings of the medieval era) nudged me toward my current work in ecumenical theology in at least a couple of ways. First, as a Baptist theologian this encounter with the shared early tradition of the whole church forced me to reckon with the relation of my own tradition of faith and practice not only to this common heritage but also to all other churches that are heirs to the "Great Tradition." Second, prior to my involvement in bilateral and multilateral ecumenical conversations, my first experiences of embodied international ecumenical engagement came in the form of conferences such as the Ninth International Colloquium on St. Gregory of Nyssa held in Athens, Greece in 2000. The conference participants included scholars representing the whole church--Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, including even Baptist, Church of Christ, and non-denominational Bible church traditions--all bound together by our common interest in Gregory of Nyssa as a shared teacher of the church. During the week I had the opportunity to participate in the divine liturgy in Greek Orthodox churches and in an English-language service of a small Church of Christ congregation at which Everett Ferguson, a retired professor from Abilene Christian University and fellow Gregory of Nyssa specialist, was the guest preacher. Although as a Baptist I could not receive communion in any of these services, in association with our ecumenical scholarly collaboration in patristic studies these experiences of worship in the midst of the church's divisions nourished my desire to make some contribution of my own to the quest for the visible unity of the church. Therefore it's encouraging to me that a decade later it is increasingly much more commonplace for graduate students in theology from Baptist and other Free Church traditions to do their work in patristics. This bodes well for the ecumenical future, I think.