Les Sacrements d’initiation et les ministères sacrés ed. by Stanisas Dockx, O. P. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Les Sacr,ements d'initiation et les ministeres sacres. Edited by STANISAS DocKx, 0. P. Paris: Fayard, 1974. Pp. 272. This attractively printed paperback should prove ecumenically helpful. It will enable a much wider public to have access to the proceedings of a significant dialogue held under the auspices of the International Academy of Religious Sciences. During the colloquium in question sacramentality was the unifying theme. Major papers were read by authors representing various Christian traditions: J. C. de Stage (Anglican), Edward Schweizer (Lutheran) , Max Thurian (Reform), Paul L'Huiller (Orthodox) , and a pair of Roman Catholics-Pieter Smulders and the editor. Four of these speakers concerned themselves with Baptism in one context or another. They centered in respectively on its relation to: 1) faith; 2) personal salvation; 3) the Lord's supper in Johannine Literature; and 4) the Holy Spirit. The remaining two dealt with the Church's ordained ministry: 1) in its relation to the universal priesthood of the baptized (Max Thurian) and 2) from the perspective of the different powers vested in priest and bishop (Paul L'Huillier). An appendix presents Edmund Schlink's reflections on problems connected with infant Baptism in societies where large numbers of parents are Christian in name only. After each paper a discussion took place. At this point others besides the colloquium-speakers had an active part in the proceedings. Included in this category were: Ernst Kiisemann, Hans Kiing, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Joseph Ratzinger, Harald Riesenfeld, J. J. von Almen, B. D. Dupuy, M. J. Le Guillou, J. Hajjar, K. Schelkle, Rudolf Schnackenburg, Edmund Schlink, and A. de Vooght. Their interventions have been preserved in the form of brief resumes. Sometimes this entailed translating into French observations made in another language. The results show that the effort this involved was well worthwhile. Indeed without this record of what must at times have been a rather lively exchange, the book would lack much of its value. A pertinent example may help to illustrate the point. The New Testament does describe the three distinct ministries of bishop, priest, and deacon in the way they appear in the teaching of certain churches of the present day. For example, between the bishop who figures in the Pastoral Epistles and the one who is prominent in the documents of Vatican II there is a definite family relationship but a considerable difference as well. Similarly one should not pretend to discover in the New Testament the presbyterian-synodal polity of certain Protestant churches or to assert that their Elders correspond exactly to the presbyters 383 384 BOOK REVIEWS in the Acts of the Apostles or Pastoral Epistles. So argued Max Thurian in his presentation entitled: "Le ministere au sein du sacerdoce universe!." He also posed the logical question at this point. Given the non-conclusive character of the biblical precedents for church order, how does one find an ecclesiology that is both ecumenical and true? He gives as well at least the beginning of an answer. Such a theology of the church will have to strike a balance between the importance of recognizing charisms and diverse ministries on the one hand and due acknowledgement of institution, continuity, and ordination on the other. (p. 196) A church especially concerned with effecting and preserving order among the ministries in the Body of Christ easily shuts itself off from prophetic renewal, while another that is more sensitive to the distribution of charisms by the Spirit readily blocks the organization of those charisms in the ordained ministries. The organization of Christ's body and the freedom of his Spirit should not contradict each other. To be specific, the universal priesthood of the faithful exists primarily to render service pointed ad extra-beyond the confines of the church, while the ordained ministry is called first and foremost to serve the church itself. Such a position leads to a consideration of ordination. He states that on the basis of the Pastoral Epistles an episcopal ministry as a function providing for government of the church, protection of the deposit of faith, and regulation of the church's stance in relation to the world seems essential to the church's life. To be sure, this...