Review article
The Church:Towards a Common Vision - Document of the Commision “Faith and Order”: Theological Significance and Issues
Ivan Macut
orcid.org/0000-0001-8343-8902
; Croatian catholic mission in Berlin
Abstract
The paper is divided into four parts. In the first part, which
is entitled “Origin of the Document” we have presented the
process of preparation of the document, “The Church: towards a common vision.” The second part discusses the importance of
the document. The importance of the document for the future
of the ecumenical movement will come to the fore only in the
future, that is when Churches and Ecclesial Communities which
this document is addressed to send their official responses to the
questions and issues that are in the document outlines. The third
part is titled “Theological-Ecumenical Issues in the Document.”
Here we briefly present the main problems which the document
deals with: the establishment of the Church; mission of the
Church; importance of unity of the Church; the New Testament
does not contain a systematic ecclesiology; koinonia; the people of
God, prophetic, priestly and royal; Body of Christ; the relationship
between institutional structures or ordained ministers and of the
Holy Spirit; communion in unity and diversity; the sacraments;
ordained ministers; primacy; moral principles. In the fourth part
we are talking about guidelines for the Church and the importance
of the document. Since the document is not binding on the Church
which is sent to, it therefore does not oblige, but encourages the
Church to think about their current positions and to try to take
into account the point of view of other Christians. The importance
of the document is that it actually sums up in one place the
current ecumenical path regarding the ecclesiological themes and
reminds the Churches about the issues that should be rethought
in order to offer answers and encourage Christians to get closer to
one another.
Keywords
ecclesiology; unity of the Church; Faith and Order; ecumenism
Hrčak ID:
137227
URI
Publication date:
30.3.2015.
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