Church unity and social contexts : the ecumenical debate on ecclesiology and ethics

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is motivated by challenges arising from decades' long debates, conversations andtensions regarding church unity within the ecumenical movement and also amongst theReformed churches locally and globally. This study seeks to investigate the role that churchunity can play in relation to social contexts. This study argues that there is no adequateecclesiology without ethics, and – theologically speaking – no adequate ethics withoutecclesiology. Church unity can play a significant role in society, especially with regard tosocio-ethical issues regarding peace, reconciliation and justice. Furthermore, regarding thevisible unity of the church, this study proposes a meaningful and purposeful unity andecumenism as the church's contribution through witness and service in the world. Churchunity is not just about abstractly fulfilling the dream of being one, holy church, but ratherabout claiming and seeking a unity that has significance for social contexts. Put differently:koinonia and martyria, communion and witness, community and confession, the body ofChrist and the embodiment of justice are tightly interwoven.This study will focus on ecclesiology and its relation to ethics as articulated in the discourseof the World Council of Churches (WCC) project on Ecclesiology and Ethics, as well as onthe discourse on (church) unity, reconciliation and justice around the Uniting ReformedChurch in Southern Africa's (URCSA's) Belhar Confession. This study will explore thetensions between the Faith and Order commission (which focuses on Ecclesiology) and theLife and Work commission (which focuses on Ethics) and also how the tensions betweenecclesiology and ethics were dealt with. As means of healing these divisions, this study willdiscuss the Church and World study document of the WCC which affirmed that the unity ofthe church cannot be disconnected from its witness and service in the world; the Santiagoconference on Koinonia in Faith, Life, and Witness, where the notion of koinonia played afundamental role in bringing ecclesiology and ethics together; and, in addition, the threeWCC consultations under the themes: Costly Unity (Rønde), Costly Commitment (Tantur) andCostly Obedience (Johannesburg), where the interrelations between ecclesiology and ethicswere further explored. Key theological notions that played a role in the attempt to bridge thegap between ecclesiology and ethics will also be indicated.A comparable debate on the call for church unity took place and continues to take place in theSouth African context, especially amongst the Dutch Reformed family of churches. Thereality of divisions in South African context will be explored. The Belhar Confessionarticulates the relationship between ecclesiology and ethics very clearly with its focus onunity, reconciliation and justice. Belhar affirms that there is no reconciliation without justice,and no justice without reconciliation; these concepts are inextricably interwoven. For ameaning and purposeful church unity, so this dissertation argues, you need both reconciliationand justice. Both the Ecclesiology and Ethics debate of the WCC and the Belhar Confessiondebate regarding (church) unity, reconciliation and justice affirm that ecclesiology and ethicsbelong tightly together. This study investigates, enhances, and ultimately affirms this claim.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University