Father Zossima is the wise old monk who forms the spiritual centre of gravity in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, published in 1880. On his deathbed, Zossima recalls how, as a boy in church, he was deeply moved as he watched incense rising from a censer to meet a ray of sunlight high …
Reception of René Girard’s intriguing ideas
French theorist of the social sciences René Girard’s intellectual legacy combines remarkable explanatory power with sustained controversy. His theory of mimetic desire has influenced literary studies, anthropology, philosophy, and theology, yet it has also attracted significant criticism. Within Christian theology, Girard has been received both as an insightful interpreter of the biblical narrative and as …
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Ecumenism across the Christian traditions
The Ecumenical Center, World Council of Churches, Geneva, as it looked in 1970 (lower half of photograph). Ecumenism is a movement that seeks to foster greater unity, reconciliation, and cooperation among Christians. The term derives from the Greek word oikoumene (“the whole inhabited world”) and reflects Jesus' prayer that his followers "may all be one" (John 17:21). …
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Why some Churches decline formal ecumenical membership
Wahroonga Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Sydney, home of the flagship congregation, South Pacific Division. Some Christian communities decline formal membership of ecumenical organisations, although their reasons differ. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, for example, carefully distinguishes between cooperation and institutional membership when it comes to relations with other churches. Adventists regularly collaborate with other denominations in education, …
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Denominational perspectives on the ecumenical movement
L’Église Saint-Nicolas, Heremence, Switzerland. Designed by Walter Maria Förderer, constructed 1967-1971. This article outlines the diversity that exists among Christian Churches regarding ecumenical cooperation. Roman Catholic perspectives The Roman Catholic Church’s contemporary understanding of ecumenism is grounded principally in Unitatis Redintegratio. The Second Vatican Council affirmed that all baptised Christians share a genuine, though imperfect, communion …
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