The Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, an independent theological organization, announces the publication of a new ecumenical statement entitled: IN ONE BODY THROUGH THE CROSS; THE PRINCETON PROPOSAL FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 62pp. $10). The book is edited by Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson, directors of the Center. The document is the work of sixteen theologians, gathered from across the ecclesial spectrum, to consider what may be called the ecclesiology of ecumenism. The Study Group, sponsored by the Center, met over a period of three years at Princeton, New Jersey. Focusing on the realities of church division and the crisis of the ecumenical movement, they then propose new and practical ways to be faithful to the founding ecumenical imperative "that all may be one. . .so that the world may believe."
Since members of the Study Group were not officially appointed, they do not claim to speak FOR their churches, but speak TO all the churches. The statement is in part an indictment of conciliar ecumenism whose so-called "new ecumenical paradigm" subordinates the concern of the "faith and order" movement, i.e., the visible unity of Christians and world evangelization, to fashionable social and political agendas alien to Scripture and the common Christian tradition.
The members of the Study Group and signatories of the Princeton Proposal are:
William Abraham, Perkins School of Theology; Mark Achtemeier, Dubuque Theological Seminary; Brian Daley, S.J., Notre Dame University; John H. Erickson, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary; Vigen Guroian, Loyola College, Baltimore; George Lindbeck, Yale Divinity School (em.); Lois Malcolm, Luther Seminary; Bruce McCormack, Princeton Theological Seminary; R. R. Reno, Creighton University; Michael Root, Trinity Lutheran Seminary; William Rusch, Faith and Order Foundation; Geoffrey Wainwright, Duke Divinity School; Susan Wood, St. John's University, Collegeville; Telford Work, Azusa Pacific University; Robert Wright, General Theological Seminary; David Yeago, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
The Center invites ecumenical officers, commissions and persons committed to the cause of Christian unity to study the Princeton Proposal. In 2004 a number of theological conferences will be organized to deal with the present predicament and future possibilities of the abiding ecumenical imperative of the gospel.
By Albert H. Lee
chtoday_editor@chtoday.com
