Charting Churches in a Changing Europe : : Charta Oecumenica and the Process of Ecumenical Encounter / / edited by Tim Noble, Ivana Noble, Martien E. Brinkman, Jochen Hilberath.

• Superior document: Currents of Encounter ; 28
• TeilnehmendeR: Noble, Tim,; Noble, Ivana,; Hilberath, Jochen,; Brinkman, Martien E.,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden; , Boston : : BRILL,, 2006.
• Year of Publication: 2006
• Language: English
• Series: Currents of Encounter ; 28.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (231 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The countries of Europe are seeking to redefine themselves, both individually and in relation to each other. This volume examines the role of the Christian churches at various levels of that process. The Charta Oecumenica , a ground-breaking document from the Conference of Churches in Europe and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, aimed to set forth the ecumenical response of the European Christian Churches to the living out of faith in today's world. Four theologians, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran, respond to this document, assessing its strengths and the areas where further development is required. At least implicitly this discussion raises questions about the nature of catholicity and communion, a topic the following four essays address. What is catholicity, what happens when there is too strong an emphasis on the national church, and are there models of gradual church communion to which the churches could assent? Gradual communion sets out to attain full, including sacramental, unity and the final two essays explore how sacramental theology might assist in this process.

Table of Contents

Martien E. BRINKMAN: General Introduction En Route to Koinonia : Church Communion in Transition -- Part I: Confessional Responses to the Charta Oecumenica -- Introduction -- Kajsa AHLSTRAND: The Significance of the Charta Oecumenica Today: Critical Comments from a Protestant Perspective -- Peter de MEY: An Assessment of the Charta Oecumenica from a Roman Catholic Perspective -- Dorin OANCEA: Church Communion and the Reception of Ecumenical Dialogues: An Orthodox Perspective -- Oliver SCHUEGRAF: Enough is Enough? Preconditions for Church Communion from a Lutheran Perspective -- Part II: Notions of Catholicity and Communion -- Introduction -- Martien E. BRINKMAN: The Modern Inculturation Debate and the Catholicity of the Church -- Anton HOUTEPEN: The Catholicity of the Church: A Matrix of Faith and Life in View of God's Final Kingdom -- Eddy van der BORGHT: Uniting Europe as a Challenge to the Future of National Churches -- Johannes OELDEMANN: Gradual Church Communion as an Ecumenical Model? Some Remarks from a Roman Catholic Perspective -- Part III: The Sacramental Road to Unity -- Introduction -- Maria Clara Lucchetti BINGEMER: The Roman Catholic Understanding of Sacramentality and Its Potential for Church Unity -- Ivana NOBLE: From the Sacramentality of the Church to the Sacramentality of the World -- Bernd Jochen HILBERATH: Epilogue -- Appendix: Text of Charta Oecumenica -- Index -- Contributors.