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Theological and Sociological Approaches to the Motivation of the Ecumenical Movement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
‘Ecumenicalism is assumed to be the will of God, and is less discussed than eulogized.... In belittling old conflicts and veiling new, the ecumenical movement obscures past and present alike’. This assertion from the introduction to Robert Currie’s study of division and reunion in methodism constitutes a challenge to historians of the modern church which cannot be ignored. The significance of the ecumenical movement is acknowledged by both its protagonists and its critics, but the issue raised here is essentially one of integrity, primarily on the part of ecumenical advocates, but also indirectly on the part of those who study the movement historically. As such it is directly related to questions of religious motivation, whether treated theologically or sociologically.
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- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1978
References
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