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The Ecumenical Potential of Church Polity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 April 2015
Abstract
This article is a reflection on Norman Doe's book Christian Law: contemporary principles (2013) from a Protestant and Continental perspective. Against the background of the self-evident impact of ecumenical progress in terms of church polity, it explores the relation between ecumenism and church polity from the opposite perspective: can the academic discipline of church polity foster ecumenism, as Doe suggests in his statement that ‘whilst doctrines divide, laws link Christians in common action’? After stating that a more nuanced understanding of the concept of ‘normativity’ is of fundamental importance in this respect, the article then indicates the possible risk of an ideological use of church law. Five reasons are given as to why church polity often hampers rather than fosters ecumenical progress, even if traditional doctrinal issues have been resolved. Finally, the fundamental category of divine law is explored, and its impact on ecumenical progress.
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References
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5 Long, Patterns of Polity, p 3. Only when a direct reference to (a body of) written rules is envisaged do I also speak of ‘ecclesiastical law’ or ‘church law’.
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22 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church (1999), available at <http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html>, accessed 4 February 2015.
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32 As it is formulated in The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion (London, 2008), p 19.
33 Codex Iuris Canonici (Code of Canon Law 1983 of the Latin Church), Canon 207.
34 Ibid, Canon 331.
35 Ibid, Canons 375 and 330.
36 Ibid, Canons 1055 and 1058.
37 Ibid, Canon 1269.
38 Ibid, Canon 1024.
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43 Church Order of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, art V.1 (emphasis added).
44 See Pree, H, ‘The divine and the human of the ius divinum’ in Torfs, R (ed), In Diversitate Unitas: Monsignor W Onclin Chair 1997 (Leuven, 1997), pp 23–41Google Scholar, at p 24.
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46 Ibid, p 36.
47 Ibid, p 38.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid, p 40.
50 Ibid.