The Nature and Purpose of Ecumenical Dialogue

Ecumenical Review, The, July, 2000 by Konrad Raiser

The hermeneutics of ecumenical dialogue

At several points, reference has already been made to the hermeneutical issues raised in the context of ecumenical dialogue. In this concluding section I want to draw attention to the study document on ecumenical hermeneutics published in 1998 by the commission on Faith and Order.(1) I believe that the JWG needs to take this study seriously in its effort to clarify the nature and purpose of ecumenical dialogue. In fact, the Faith and Order study can be regarded as a working instrument for those engaged in ecumenical dialogue, helping them to clarify the implicit questions of methodology which have been hinted at in the earlier texts on ecumenical dialogue, but have so far never been fully explicated.

This is not the place to give an extensive summary of the study. I shall limit myself to certain highlights.

* The study describes the task of ecumenical hermeneutics in ways that relate directly to the praxis of ecumenical dialogue. Ecumenical hermeneutics aims at "facilitating interpretation, communication and reception of texts, symbols and practices which give shape and meaning to particular communities" ( [sections] 5). Widening the scope of hermeneutics beyond the interpretation of texts to include also symbols and practices has its parallel in the more inclusive interpretation of dialogue. This is also true for the fuller definition of hermeneutics referring to "the art of interpretation and application of texts, symbols and practices in the present and from the past, and the theory about the methods of such interpretation and application" ([sections] 5). Beyond this general definition, the study distinguishes three dimensions of ecumenical hermeneutics, that is, a hermeneutics of coherence, responding to the need to hold together in unity the diverse expressions of the Christian faith; a hermeneutics of suspicion, reflecting the critical task of examining the historical and contextual relativity of affirmations of the faith; and a hermeneutics of confidence, aiming at the mutual reception and recognition of Christians and churches from various cultures, contexts and different confessions. All three dimensions of ecumenical hermeneutics find their parallel in central aspects of the method of ecumenical dialogue.

* The longest chapter of the study deals with the common understanding of the one Tradition, reviewing and taking further the discussion on scripture, Tradition and traditions since the affirmations of the Faith and Order world conference in Montreal in 1963.(2) This discussion is of immediate relevance for the question of how to remain loyal to one's own tradition and at the same time remain open to the renewing and transforming power of the Holy Spirit. The study reaffirms the insight that the tradition of the apostolic faith is never given once and for all, but that the gospel of Christ must continuously be re-received. Ecumenical dialogue opens the space for a renewed reception together of the "truth". As the partners in ecumenical dialogue open themselves to receiving together the gift of the gospel, they begin to move from mutual understanding to mutual recognition. Those engaging in ecumenical dialogue should constantly remind themselves that "ultimately, amid the many ecclesial traditions, the one Tradition is revealed in the living presence of Christ in the world, but is not something to be captured and controlled by human discourse. It is a living, eschatological reality, eluding all attempts at a final linguistic definition and conceptual disclosure. One way of describing the one Tradition is by speaking about the ecclesial capacity of receiving revelation. This capacity is nothing less than the gift of the Holy Spirit, ... who `will guide you into all the truth' (John 16:13)" ([sections] 37).