Radical ecumenism

It's time for a deeper conversation about faith's essentials

By David Hein, June 13, 2008 [Episcopal Life] Episcopal leaders once spoke as if their church had it all: Other American denominations could join it to make a true National Church. We're a long way from that kind of talk, prominent in the 19th century, but Episcopalianism still can resemble a fairly smug form of American culture-religion.

In the ecumenical sphere, a bilateral dialogue might focus on how to bring a particular Protestant church into our historic episcopate. Or discussions attempt to mesh various communions' understandings of baptism, justification by faith or the Eucharist.

Which is why, in our present historical moment, Cardinal Avery Dulles's recent article in First Things (December 2007) is so useful. He correctly understands the old ecumenical method of "convergence, which seeks to harmonize the doctrines of each ecclesial tradition on the basis of shared sources and methods," to have run its course. Instead, "we need a different method, one that invites a deeper conversion."

Cardinal Dulles gives as one of the rare examples of such an exchange a conference held in January 2006 that was sponsored by the theology department of Durham University in England. There, a discussion among Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Methodists produced a successful experiment in what the conference called "receptive ecumenism."

This approach, informal and not intent on settling differences or concluding with agreed statements, frees participants.

Cardinal Dulles helpfully proposes a design for a new ecumenical vehicle, but his car carries some familiar passengers.

If we are truly going to listen and learn -- in a way that Cardinal Dulles's proposal makes possible -- then we have to be open to an even stronger challenge to our accustomed ways of thinking and acting.

Seeking deeper understanding
A trip this past summer to Amish Country in Pennsylvania sent me on a quest to deepen my understanding of the Radical Reformation. This inquiry was not simply a scholarly pursuit, but also a challenge -- even a provocation -- to my customary perspective.

Pondering the juxtaposition of two images -- one, an Amish boy in traditional clothing, including straw hat and suspenders, coasting by on roller blades; the other, Britney Spears, whose latest problems were all over the media -- was an additional incentive. Somewhere modernity appeared to have taken a wrong turn. Not only popular music seemed weak. And no amount of new electronic gadgetry could provide the charge needed to boost this tired culture.

But the Amish, apparently with one hand tied behind their collective back, were thriving. Might not mainstream Christians, who by definition manifest the least degree of difference from their surrounding culture, most need to hear the testimony of Anabaptism?

But how do we talk with a Christian body that does not engage in ecumenical dialogue? We can cross that bridge when we come to it. Cardinal Dulles's suggested approach stresses receptivity and openness to conversion -- not talking, negotiating, explaining, agreeing or disagreeing. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Contemporary theological ethicists from mainstream Christian traditions are not the only modern intellectuals who believe we need to turn to the Anabaptists and appreciate them as far more than a cultural curiosity. Wendell Berry -- farmer, poet, fiction writer, essayist, agrarian, proponent of small farms and wise husbandry -- is an eloquent spokesperson for a local economy that values the interconnectedness of life. He appreciates the Amish as stewards of creation: We would do well to pay attention to their land-use policies.

Many admire the economic self-sufficiency and mutual aid of a community that more than gets by without health insurance or social security.

In October 2006, all of us felt something clutch at our hearts and challenge our souls when we witnessed the Amish of Bart Township, Lancaster County, not only forgive the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooter, who murdered five Amish girls, but also, without hesitation and of course without fanfare, comfort the killer's family and offer them support. Without elaborately worked-out statements on forgiveness, justification or the body of Christ, the Amish simply enacted their faith. As someone rightly said, the Amish do not have a social ethic; they are a social ethic.

Time for discussion
It seems crazy to suggest that we spend time in Episcopal small-group discussions asking: Why do the Amish not send their children to school past the eighth grade? Might that be a good idea for us? Put that way, yes, it is a silly question, guaranteed to offend an upwardly mobile Episcopal audience.

But it is not silly to ask how many Episcopal schools have as their de facto religious creed getting their graduates into top name-brand colleges and universities. Or to ask: What do Amish teenagers learn that ours do not?

Years ago, when I mentioned to a well-to-do parent that the school whose cocktail party we were enjoying had been founded as a charity school for the poorest children in the city, she quickly walked away to get herself another drink. Who could blame her?

She simply was part of a school community where, someone candidly informed me, this Episcopal institution's real, though unstated, mission was to cater to the highest socioeconomic group.

It seems crazy to ask our young people to weigh the pros and cons of restrictions on a young Amish person's life. (A month ago, when I was waiting to get a haircut, the youth in the chair ahead of me looked shocked when in conversation I mentioned I did not have cable TV: What do you do? he asked, concerned for my welfare.)

But it isn't so crazy to talk with young people about the proper balance of freedom and order in a world of tawdry sexuality, alcohol and drug abuse, and a cynical, rampant, end-justifies-the-means attitude and mode of conduct. Whatever happened -- in this modern culture of self-actualization -- to humility, patience and forbearance?

For this sort of ecumenical conversation, the laity can do as well as the clergy or official church representatives.

Indeed, this is a different method, leading to a deeper conversion, that cannot take place through professional proxies. But the old ecumenical questions -- What is essential to Christian faith and practice? What is merely an accessory? -- are more pertinent
than ever.

The ecumenical dialogues with Lutherans, Roman Catholics, the Orthodox and Methodists are all well and good. But in this extreme era, they will have only a marginal impact on Episcopalians' actual lives. Radical ecumenism is what we really need.

This article was excerpted from a longer essay appearing in the June issue of the Sewanee Theological Review.

-- David Hein is professor and chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. His latest book, Geoffrey Fisher: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945–1961, was published by Pickwick Publications.

» Respond to this article

Browse by Topic:

Browse by Topic »   Anglican and Global Relations   Children, Youth and Young Adults   Congregational Ministries   Ecumenical and Interfaith   Education   Ethnic Ministries   Executive Council   FEAST: Faith, Environment, Action, Science, Technology   General Convention   House of Bishops   Liturgy and Music   Millennium Development Goals   Peace and Justice   Presiding Bishop   Program, Budget and Finance   Women and the Church