Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future : Story, Tradition, and the Recovery of Community / Steven R. Harmon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harmon, Steven R. (Steven Ray)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian union.

Baptists--Relations.

Baptists.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Waco, Texas : Baylor University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Baptists tend to be the "problem children" of the ecumenical movement. The Baptist obsession to realize a true church birthed a tradition of separation. While Baptists' misgivings about ecumenism may stem from this fissiparous genealogy, it is equally true that the modern ecumenical movement itself increasingly lacks consensus about the pathway to a visible Christian unity.In Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future, Steven R. Harmon explores the relationship of the Baptist calling to be a pilgrim community and the ecumenical movement. Harmon argues that neither vision can be fulfilled apart from a mutually receptive ecumenical engagement. As Harmon shows, Baptist communities and the churches from which they are separated need one another. Chief among the gifts Baptists have to offer the rest of the church are their pilgrim aversion to overly realized eschatologies of the church and their radical commitment to discerning the rule of Christ by means of the Scriptures. Baptists, in turn, must be willing to receive from other churches neglected aspects of the radical catholicity from which the Bible is inseparable.Embedded in the Baptist vision and its historical embodiment are surprising openings for ecumenical convergence. Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future urges Baptists and their dialogue partners to recognize and embrace these ecumenically oriented facets of Baptist identity as indispensable provisions for their shared pilgrimage toward the fullness of the rule of Christ in their midst, which remains partial so long as Christ's body remains divided.

Contents:

The Baptist vision and the ecumenical moment

A radical Baptist proposal

Seizing the ecumenical moment

Baptists, Biblicism, and Catholicity

One sacred story

One contested tradition

Radically biblical, radically Catholic

Baptist identity and receptive ecumenism

The end of Baptist denominationalism

Receiving the gift of magisterium

Baptist theology and the ecumenical future

The ecumenical task of theology

The theology of a pilgrim church

The Baptist eschatological vision and the ecumenical future.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781481305822

1481305824

9781602585720

1602585725

OCLC:

940964380