Perspectief 2015-29

2015-29 The Making of an Ecumenical Text 9 Reag eer invisible, manifesting itself in the gatherings of those who are born again or have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 4. Some classical questions of ecclesiology The encounter of and the conflict between these ecclesiologies lead to classical questions of ecumenical ecclesiology: What is the relationship between the One Church and the existing churches as they seek to make manifest their given oneness? Is the continuity of one’s church in history an evidence of its holiness and apostolicity? Doesn’t the primacy of the Gospel in the Church require the discontinuity of one’s church in history so that, at certain moments in history, it ceases to be a false church and, through the Gospel renewal, becomes a true church? Are the structures of ministerial order divinely instituted? Or are they adaptable to the requirements of the circumstances in which the church finds itself? What is the relationship between the understanding of the church as sacramentum gratiae and the understanding of the church as creatura verbi ? I believe it is possible to subsume these questions under the classical question of the Grunddifferenz between two different conceptions of Christian faith – one typologically catholic, the other typologically protestant – which would be intrinsically consistent in themselves while finally incompatible with each other 4 . 5. Faith and Order and Ecclesiology Since its inception in 1910, the Movement on Faith and Order and, after 1948, the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order, has been addressing some of these issues as well as the issue of the different descriptions of the Church. Faith and Order did it first of all in a synoptic way, by comparing the different or conflicting views on a specific topic 5 . 4 For a reference to this fundamental difference in an ecumenical document see for instance “Report of Section I – The Universal Church in God’s Design”, in W.A. Visser ‘t Hooft (ed.). The First Assembly of the World Council of Churches held in Amsterdam August 22 nd to September 4 th , 1948 , London, SCM Press, 51- 57, esp. 51-52. 5 The first two world conferences on Faith and Order dealt in this way with a wide range of topics such as the Gospel, Faith, Ministry, Sacraments, Grace, The Nature of the Church, The Church and the Word of God, The Nature of the Church, The Communion of Saints. H. N. Bate (ed.). Faith and Order – Proceedings of the World Conference – Lausanne, August 3-21, 1927 . New York, George H. Doran, 1927; L. Hodgson (ed.). The