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Jeff
Gross, FSC Authority is one of the more neuralgic concerns within the churches today, and among them in their pilgrimage toward full communion in faith, sacramental life and common witness. The vision of Conciliar Communion, developed by the churches together in the World Council of Churches, has clearly articulated the need for developing common ways of deciding and acting together, understanding how we are all accountable to the truth of the Gospel and to one another. 1 In this article we will provide a synthetic and programmatic overview of four important documents which serve as resources for moving the discussion on authority forward. It is done in light of these new publications and of the 2000-2003 programme of U.S. Faith and Order. The publication of the World Council’s A Treasure in Earthen Vessels,2 The Nature and Purpose of the Church,3 the release of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission report The Gift of Authority,4 and the Anglican Virginia Report prepared for the Lambeth Conference of 1988,5 each in its own way contribute to a common understanding of Christ’s authority in the Church and the role of the community in discerning that authority. We will note the background for the questions addressed in World Council discussion, some of the work that has been done in the multilaterals and bilaterals, some of the confessional discussion within particular traditions and finally the themes selected for Faith and Order U.S., as they relate to these four texts. Of course, it will be important for the readers to read each of the documents on their own terms, and for others to provide more systematic analyses of each. In this overview, the conclusions will be highlighted leaving the biblical, historical and theological development to be read in more detail in the original texts. Context of the Discussion The Nairobi vision of Conciliar Communion envisions most clearly that "maintaining sustained and sustaining relationships with [the churches’] sister churches, expressed in conciliar gatherings [understood in the theological sense of Acts 15 and Nicea, not merely as a contemporary council of churches] whenever required for the fulfilment of their common calling", is to be part of the goal of visible unity.6 However, there has been wisdom, in this multilateral setting, of taking up the concerns of Scripture and Tradition; Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry; the Church and World; and the Apostolic Faith before delving into this difficult and important issue. The churches need to develop a reservoir of trust, a wider area of mutual recognition and the healing of painful memories before the delicate issue of ecclesial decision-making and discerning of authentic action of the Holy Spirit can be broached with hope of success.7 The two texts noted here, A Treasure in Earthen Vessels and The Nature and Purpose of the Church, have different purposes. The former is a tool for the churches, ecumenists and educators in helping to interpret ecumenical material; other churches — their texts, symbols and practices; and Scripture and Christian tradition from appropriate perspectives informed by the ecumenical impulse. The latter is an early text sent by the churches to test how much consensus we have on the nature of the Church, where convergences are emerging and what outstanding differences must be addressed. It is hoped that the churches and theologians will react to this text so that an improved text may be developed and submitted to the churches for official response, as happened with BEM in 1982. The bilateral and church union dialogues have been able to be more venturesome on the issue of authority because of their specificity and the quantity of convergence and even consensus they have amassed over the decades of research. For example, The Gift of Authority is able to cover "the relationship between Scripture, Tradition and the exercise of teaching authority; collegiality, conciliarity, and the role of laity in decision-making; and the Petrine ministry",8 because of its earlier work on authority in the final report, and the internal ecumenical work of both communions in the encyclical Ut Unum Sint and the Virginia Report. The response process to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, in particular, focused on three issues that have become of particular importance.9 First, the process of response disclosed the variety of modes of reception among the Christian churches as well as the differences in processes of decision-making in each.10 This has made work on interpreting ecumenical texts important, hence A Treasure in Earthen Vessels. Secondly, it identified three issues of import for further study: Scripture and Tradition, Ecclesiology and Sacramentality, issues addressed in both of the new WCC publications, but also clarified in a variety of bilaterals. Thirdly, the Ministry section’s use of the characteristics of authority as collegial, communal and personal, have become helpful in a variety of ecumenical studies, including the Virginia Report and the Gift of Authority. As we will understand it here, "Authority is about how the Church teaches, acts and reaches doctrinal decisions in faithfulness to the Gospel, so real agreement about authority cannot be theoretical".11 As the Virginia Report recalls, "At every level of Christian life, the call to graceful interdependence and unity in faith and doctrine challenge us", and "From an almost equally early date [Christians] have found consensus, even on apparently major matters, singularly difficult to achieve.... Nevertheless the controversies themselves were stages on the road towards greater consensus".12 It is the common conviction of the churches that "the Holy Spirit maintains the churches of God in truth and guides all the faithful into unity with Jesus Christ (Jn 16:13), distributes the ministry of Christ to all believers and empowers them to participate in God’s mission for the salvation of the world".13 A Treasure in Earthen Vessels is particularly helpful in broadening the discussion of interpretation, and therefore authority, beyond the texts of the Scriptures and the teaching offices of the churches’ as instruments of their traditions, to include "also symbols and rites, stories and practices",14 which carry their appropriate authority in all of the traditions, but are more important in some churches than the texts themselves. Likewise, recognizing that consensus texts and even juridical action by the churches "cannot obscure the fact that significant differences in interpreting the faith still remain" is particularly important. This is seen in the challenges that continue in united churches, the Latin and Eastern churches within Catholicism, or with the Lutheran and Reformed churches in full communion, for example. Resources for Unity in Decision-Making The World Council of Churches has made important contributions to the discussion of the nature of the Church, its authority and church order. These include the studies on Scripture and Tradition, conciliarity, episcopé, as well as the new studies on hermeneutics and on ecclesiology, which introduces primacy for the first time.15 The bilaterals have taken up the question in a variety of contexts.16 The most extensive may be the claimed consensus of the U.S. Lutheran Catholic Teaching Authority and Infallibility in the Church17 and the convergence in Differing Attitudes Toward Papal Primacy.18 The Lutheran-Reformed A Common Calling and the subsequent action of the churches develops, an approach to authority through "mutual affirmation and admonition" while the churches "establish appropriate channels of consultation and decision-making within the existing structures".19 The challenges of reception of Christological agreements reached between the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches, likewise focus the discussion of authority within these communions. On the international level, in addition to ARCIC I’s Final Report, interesting proposals are made in Facing Unity: Models, Forms, and Phases of Lutheran-Catholic Church Fellowship, where "preliminary forms of a joint exercise of episcopé" and "collegial exercise of episcopé" are described.20 The new Gift of Authority possibly provides a clearly articulated resource among the Western churches contributing to this discussion. Both Anglicans and Catholics, as will be noted below, have major internal discussions going on about how their own decision-making processes will evolve in response to the call of the Gospel. Both share the vision of a communion, a conciliar fellowship, with elements that resonate with those articulated together in the WCC texts.21 This ARCIC II text is divided into three sections, after the introduction: the nature of authority, its exercise and agreements that provide steps towards visible unity.22 The framework is the "Yes" of God to us in Jesus Christ, and the "Amen" of the Church. The theological themes touched upon are local church, tradition and apostolicity, Scripture, reception and re-reception and catholicity. The exercise of authority covers mission and unity, synodality, teaching — understood as perseverance in the truth, collegiality and conciliarity, and freedom of conscience. It is the belief of the dialogue "that if this statement about the nature of authority and the manner of its exercise is accepted and acted upon, this issue will no longer be a cause for continued breach of communion between our two churches".23 Furthermore, its conclusions are seen as both theological and practical: "We believe that in the dynamic and fluid situation in which they are posed, seeking to answer them must go together with developing further steps toward a shared exercise of authority".24 Building on the first ARCIC document on authority, contained in the Final Report, this text explicates further the contentious issue of infallibility.25 In the context of conciliarity, the indefectability of the Church, roles of laity and ordained ministry, synodality and agreement on episcopé, it is able to relate the primacy of the bishop of Rome to this infallibility: "Every solemn definition pronounced from the chair of Peter in the church of Peter and Paul may, however, express only the faith of the Church.... When the faith is articulated in this way, the Bishop of Rome proclaims the faith of the local churches. It is thus the wholly reliable teaching of the whole Church that is operative in the judgement of the universal primate.... The reception of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome entails the recognition of this specific ministry of the universal primate. We believe that this is a gift to be received by all of the churches".26 This affirmation also implies that "loyal criticism and reforms are sometimes needed, following the example of Paul.... Those called to such a ministry must themselves submit to the discipline of Christ, observe the requirements of collegiality and the common good, and duly respect the consciences of those they are called to serve".27 Of course, for Anglicans and Catholics a common experience of primacy, even though quite different, provides an easier context for discussion on this theme: "The primacy of Canterbury and the international collegiality and conciliarity of Anglicanism are inextricably interrelated".28 Questions are addressed to both communions, such as the following: For Anglicans "Is the Communion also open to the acceptance of instruments of oversight which would allow decisions to be reached that, in certain circumstances, would bind the whole Church?... Above all, how will Anglicans address the question of universal primacy as it is emerging from their life together and from ecumenical dialogue?" For Catholics: "Is there at all levels effective participation of clergy as well as lay people in emerging synodal bodies?... Has enough provision been made to ensure consultation between the Bishop of Rome and the local churches prior to making important decisions affecting either a local church or the whole Church?"29 The principal enunciated for the practical recommendations is that "there is no turning back in our journey toward full ecclesial communion. In light of our agreement the Commission believes our two communions should make more visible the koinonia we already have. Theological dialogue ... is not itself sufficient ... Anglicans and Roman Catholic bishops should find ways of cooperating and developing relationships of mutual accountability in their exercise of oversight ... meeting regularly together at regional and local levels and participation of bishops from one communion in the international meetings of bishops of the other.... Wherever possible, bishops should take the opportunity of reaching and acting together in matters of faith and morals".30 On the basis of this agreement, and in the context of the Virginia Report and Ut Unum Sint the Commission suggests that "a primacy could be offered and received even before our churches are in full communion.... An experience of a universal primacy of this [renewed] kind would confirm two particular conclusions we have reached:
The Evolution of Decision-Making Styles within the Churches These resources from the WCC, multilateral and bilateral dialogues provide a pool of theological agreement and practical wisdom from which the churches together can draw in their pilgrimage toward visible unity. They can also find their own internal life, short of full communion, enriched by the discussions of Scripture and the Tradition which are now part of the common Christian heritage. In looking at the discussion of authority, it will be useful to note some of the study of authority that is going on within churches in the ecumenical movement. Here we will note particularly the Virginia Report, but also take account of Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist studies, among others. The Anglican Virginia Report was formulated in response to a 1988 request: "The 1988 [Lambeth] Conference recognized, that there was a need to describe how the Anglican Communion makes authoritative decisions while maintaining unity and interdependence in the light of the many theological issues that arise from its diversity".32 The 1998 Conference initiated "a decade of study", on the Report "in particular, ‘whether effective communion, at all levels, does not require appropriate instruments, with due safeguards, not only for legislation, but also for oversight’ as well as on the issue of a universal ministry in the service of Christian unity".33 The report itself develops the theology of communion in its Trinitarian context, working itself out in bonds of interdependence — detailing here their Anglican expression, in levels of subsidiarity and interdependence. The text ends with suggestions about the instruments of communion, based on purposes and principles grounded in a theology of koinonia. "While this report necessarily dwells on the structures of ministry in the process of oversight, their interdependence and accountability, it does so in the conviction and hope that this reflection will open up the possibility of creative change which will strengthen the ministry and mission of the whole people of God.... Our hope is that this theological reflection may contribute not only to the Anglican Communion but to the ecumenical goal of full visible unity".34 Its explication of the ministry of oversight is done in the context of personal, collegial and communal dimensions of authority. Within this understanding Anglican primacy is discussed, especially in its cultural contexts: "Collegiality and primacy are thus part of the Anglican experience at diocesan, Provincial and Communion-wide levels. Within the Communion, Provincial primacy, influenced by the different cultural contexts, varies in perception and practice".35 Of course, primacy is seen in the context of the other instruments of unity: the Anglican Consultative Council, the Books of Common Prayer and the Lambeth Conferences. Anglican provinces bear a juridical autonomy, with no decisions able to be taken at a communion-wide level. However, "autonomy has never been the sole criterion for understanding the relation of Provinces to one another.... The life of the Communion is held together in the creative tension of Provincial autonomy and interdependence.... Questions are asked about whether we can go on as a world Communion with morally authoritative, but not juridically binding, decision-making structures at the international level".36 The development of subsidiarity, as outlined in the Report in the context of interdependence and the need for global decision making mechanisms, is an important contribution to the ecumenical literature.37 The fact that important theological and sacramental decisions ‘need a Communion-wide mind if a life of interdependence is to be preserved" leads the authors of the Report to make some very concrete suggestions.38 It is useful here to note the some of the questions provided for the Communion to address:
What is the nature of the responsibility and accountability of those elected to serve on the Anglican Consultative Council?41 How far should the task of the Primates’ [of the autonomous provinces, or national churches of the Communion] Meeting be that of responsibility for monitoring the progress of recommendations and resolutions which come from the Lambeth Conference in the interim between Conferences?42
The recommendations finish with the importance of the interrelation among the instruments of communion as they provide for the interrelationship of the churches of the Communion. Lutherans have also been called by history and by ecumenical discussion to reconsider their confessional unity through the Lutheran World Federation. Through the decades of the century they have moved gradually, but deliberately From Federation to Communion, as they entitle their volume of history.44 Decisions in Dar-es-Salaam, 1977, to suspend South African churches who practiced apartheid enabled the Federation to see itself moving into a status confessionis not envisioned at its founding. At Budapest in 1984 its churches recognized themselves as being in pulpit and altar fellowship, Lutheran language is now spoken of as full communion. It was also at this Assembly that a vision of visible unity was articulated that resonated with the WCC Conciliar Fellowship formulations of Nairobi (1975). This formulation became the basis of the ecumenical Vision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which came into existence in 1987.45 Finally, at the 1990 Curitiba, Brazil Assembly, the Federation articulated its self understanding as a communion of churches. While the Lutheran churches have not yet explicated what this means, in terms of their authority together, these ecclesiological developments have theological implications for these discussions.46 Reformed and Methodist churches have had a strong sense of the authority and catholicity of the Church and of their churches as expression of the one true Church. However, they have developed a diversity of polities and of theological understandings of the authority of the Church and authority in the Church. In the current period, the United Methodist Church — and because of its size and influence, all Methodist churches that relate to it — is discussing the relationships of the local and global dimensions of the Church and its structures serving these dimensions.47 Methodist connectionalism has a powerful resonance with the koinonia ecclesiology emerging in the ecumenical movement.48 The Orthodox, especially after the fall of Marxism in 1989 are seeing the urgency of forms of deciding and acting together, reflecting the synodical tradition of the Church. Since the 1930’s there has been a Great and Holy Synod in preparation. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has also been undergoing reforms of its structures of authority: parish and diocesan councils which incorporate laity, creating episcopal conferences and Roman synods to embody collegiality, subsidiarity and corresponsibility, and devising new processes of consultation.49 One of the most dramatic appeals for reform came from Pope John Paul II himself, in his invitation to ecumenical colleagues to engage with him in a patient and fraternal dialogue as to how his office might better serve the unity of the Church. All of these discussions and even challenges within the churches are now related to the common pilgrimage toward visible unity and to the search for ways of deciding together, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Faith and Order in the United States In the last number of years Faith and Order in the U.S. has contributed to the WCC discussions by producing studies related to The Unity of the Church and the Renewal of Human Community, Toward the Common Expression of the Apostolic Faith Today, and the reception and study of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, in addition to church unity concerns of particular urgency in the U.S.: Racism, Christian initiation, Pluralism, Pentecostal and Peace Church relations and the like. For the 2000-2003 quadrennium two major studies have been proposed, one on Authority, the other on Full Communion. The Authority study will have two sections: Authority in the Church and the Authority of the Church. All of the work of the bilaterals and multilaterals reviewed here will be important contributions to these studies. "The personal and relational life of the Church is always prior to the structural. But without enabling structures the Church’s life is weakened and the relational and personal life is unsupported".50 Study of the Authority of the Church will undoubtedly entail issues of Scriptural interpretation,51 authority over the sacraments,52 inculturation,53 preservation in the truth/infallibility,54 and the role of the Church’s authority in the world.55 Authority in the Church will be more concerned with church order and polity. It may very well consider such themes as the criteriological questions,56 the relationship between the global and local dimensions of Church,57 subsidiarity/hierarchy/synodality,58 the Church as community of moral formation,59 diversity,60 roles of the laity61 ARCIC II 28-30, and episcopé/primacy.62 The study of Full Communion may look at the variety of usages of koinonia ecclesiology in various church union proposals, including its promise and limitations;63 the goal of the ecumenical movement; biblical understandings of pleroma and their relations to ecclesiology; the eschatological character of ecclesial fullness and the penultimate character of our union with God and God’s people in the Church on earth;64 reception65 and the WCC contribution to ecclesiology. As the Virginia Report notes "An important function of life in communion is always to remain attentive to one another, particularly when conflict arises, so that the centre may never be forgotten. Seen in the framework of God’s mission of love in Christ and the Spirit, the variety of gifts, which may appear to be potentially divisive, is seen to be necessary, mutually enriching, and a cause for thanks and praise to God".66 Yet, "as an hermeneutical community, the Church is called to grow into full koinonia by Spirit-guided discernment of the living Tradition. The Church should not be imprisoned by holding on to inadequate answers from the past, nor should it silence the Word of God by endlessly putting off a clear recognition of the way this Word continues to impart meaning and orientation for human life. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in faithfulness to the living Tradition, and through genuine ecumenical forms of conciliar deliberation and reception the Church is called to ‘interpret the signs of the times’ (Mt 16:3) by looking to the One who is both in and beyond time, to the One ‘who is the same, yesterday, today and for ever’" (Heb 13:8).67 All of these studies have their appropriate contribution to make in our human response to the authority of God in history.
Notes 1
Gunther Gassmann, ed., Documentary History of Faith and Order: 1963-1993,
Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1993, [hereafter documents 93], 3-5,
20-21, 201-205, 209-217, 236-255, 269-288.Thomas Best, Gunther Gassmann,
eds. On the Way to Fuller Koinonia, Geneva: World Council of
Churches, 1993, 242, 251, 259, [hereafter Santiago]. Text: from the author, also in Ecumenical Trends, Vol. 28, No. 8.
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