Ecumenical apologetics is "an explanation (defense) of the Christian Faith, in an ecumenical fashion";[1] presenting a defense of one's own faith while advocating and recognizing "a greater sense of shared spirituality"[2] with those of other confessions or faith traditions.
While neither apologetics nor ecumenism is a new term, "ecumenical apologetics" came into use early in the 21st century in an effort to combine the two, which were previously presumed to be opposing efforts or ideas.[3] Likewise, both apologeticsandecumenism are terms used by people of different religious orientations; however, the term is used primarily, if not exclusively, to refer to a form of Christian apologetics.[citation needed]
Apologetics is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called Christian apologists. In 21st-century usage, apologetics is often identified with debates over religion and theology.
The term "ecumenism" refers to efforts by Christians of different Church traditions to develop closer relationships and better understandings. The term is also often used to refer to efforts towards the visible and organic unity of different Christian denominations in some form.
Christian apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity against objections.
Further reading
Fr. Benedict M. Ashley, Choosing a World-View and Value-System: An Ecumenical Apologetics. Published by Alba House (May 2000).
Konrad Raiser, Ecumenism in Transition: A Paradigm Shift in the Ecumenical Movement. Published by World Council of Churches (October 1991).
George E. Griener, Ernst Troeltsch and Herman Schell: Christianity and the World Religions: An Ecumenical Contribution to the History of Apologetics. Published by Peter Lang Pub Inc. (June 1990).
Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) is an ecumenical organization that brings together mainline American denominations, and was inaugurated on January 20, 2002 in Memphis, Tennessee on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. It is the successor organization to the Consultation on Church Union.
Faith and rationality are two ideologies that exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility. Rationality is based on reason or facts. Faith is belief in inspiration, revelation, or authority. The word faith sometimes refers to a belief that is held with lack of reason or evidence, a belief that is held in spite of or against reason or evidence, or it can refer to belief based upon a degree of evidential warrant.
Judeo-Christian is a term grouping Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, both religions' common use of the Bible, or due to perceived parallels or commonalities and shared values between the two religions.
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948. Its members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, most mainline Protestant churches and some evangelical Protestant churches. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a member, although it sends accredited observers to meetings. The WCC arose out of the ecumenical movement and has as its basis the following statement:
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, "so that the world may believe."
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member communions include mainline Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, African-American, evangelical, and historic peace churches. Together, they encompass more than 100,000 local congregations and 40 million adherents. It began as the Federal Council of Churches in 1908, and expanded through merger with several other ecumenical organizations to become the National Council of Churches in 1950.
In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Christian Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership.
Presuppositionalism is a school of Christian apologetics that believes the Christian faith is the only basis for rational thought. It presupposes that the Bible is divine revelation and attempts to expose flaws in other worldviews.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an international Christian ecumenical observance kept annually between Ascension and Pentecost in the Southern Hemisphere and between 18 January and 25 January in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an octave, that is, an observance lasting eight days.
The Christian Research Ministry is a Calvinist organization in the United States, founded in 1995. Matthew J. Slick is the president, and over thirty writers contribute to the CARM website. The group is registered as a 501(c)3 organization and is located in Meridian, Idaho.
The Catholic Church has engaged in the modern ecumenical movement especially since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the issuing of the decree Unitatis redintegratio and the declaration Dignitatis humanae. It was at the Council that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was created. Before that time, those outside of the Catholic Church were categorised as heretics or schismatics.
Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.
Paul Irénée Couturier was a French priest and a promoter of the concept of Christian unity. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to theology:
Cornelius Van Til was a Dutch-American Christian philosopher and Reformed theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics.
Jeffrey Gros was an American Catholic ecumenist and theologian. A member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Gros had served as a high school history teacher, university professor, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; director of Faith and Order for the National Council of Churches; and president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He is the author or editor of over 20 books, 310 articles, and an uncounted number of book reviews. He died of pancreatic cancer in Chicago, IL, on 12 August 2013 at the age of 75.
True Orthodoxy, or Genuine Orthodoxy, often pejoratively referred to as "Zealotry", is a movement within Orthodox Christianity that has been separated from the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church over issues of ecumenism and calendar reform since the 1920s.
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