Ecumenical Dynamic: Living in More than One Place at Once by Keith Clements, and: Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes, with a Practical Guide ed. by Jooseop Keum, and: Can a Renewal Movement Be Renewed? Questions for the Future of Ecumenism by Michael Kinnamon (review)

After the Spring sparked by the ecumenical dialogues in the 1980’s and 1990’s, some now describe the ecumenical scene as one of Winter. The ecumenical accords hardly seem to have been noticed by the churches. Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested that the change may be the result of “unfulfilled expectations.” But, the dialogues are only part of ecumenism, and two works here reviewed, by Clements and Kinnamon, both with long ecumenical experience, offer suggestions leading to a broader ecumenical vision.

Clements, an English Baptist, was active in the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland and the Conference of European Churches. His Ecumenical Dynamic proposes transcending narrow confines and entering into and identifying oneself with a dynamic that unites people. The central section of the work, “The Dynamic Illustrated,” presents movements and individuals who represent this larger approach. Although the 1910 Edinburgh Conference is acknowledged as the beginning of the ecumenical movement, Clements suggests that it was the mutual visits, “the peace exchanges” of the Anglo-German churches in 1908 and 1909, when, as war clouds were rising, the historic voyages of two ships—one from England and the other from Germany, each with hundreds of Christians visiting their brothers and sisters of the other county—laid the foundation for the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship.

Other towering figures of this larger ecumenical vision were J. H. Oldham and “the Moot,” a group of British intellectuals founded to explore the role of Christian belief in modern society and the relation between the social environment and the gospel; and George Bell, “the apostle of Unity,” dean of Canterbury, for whom ecumenism was grounded in the sovereignty of Christ and expressed in personal relationships. The 1934 Barmen Declaration had ecumenical implications: It was not only a statement of faith but also an invitation to be identified with the Confessing Church. The last section, “The Dynamic Continued,” looks to the future, one not dominated by ecclesial structures but with less-clericalized communities such as Taizé, the Bruderhof, Focolare, Iona, and Corrymeela.

Kinnamon, one-time General Secretary for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, asks how “a renewal movement can be renewed.” Because not all the members of churches are saints, he suggests that one must first move from competition and coexistence to cooperation, commitment, and communion. As befits a member of the Disciples of Christ, Kinnamon views promoting peace, social justice, and ecological justice as part of the very mission of the church. The church is called to advocacy for the vulnerable members of society. From his own experience, he is aware of the tensions that advocacy can produce, suggesting that advocacy efforts must be very specific and pointed if they are to be successful,. A recurring question to which Kinnamon returns is whether the ecumenical movement has become too political. After listing how the gospel bears on contemporary society and its problems, he leaves it to the reader to decide. Ecumenical leaders, he states, must have a compelling and infectious vision, but they must also have the ability to bear “indifference with equanimity.”

The central portion of this work are chapters, sometimes written in conversation with a rabbi or priest, dealing with misrepresentations or “delicate” issues that arise with specific groups—Orthodox, Jews, Catholics, and councils of churches. Kinnamon regrets...