Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
Pages: 242
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9
978-1-9787-0147-2 • Hardback • September 2019 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-9787-0148-9 • eBook • September 2019 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Elizabeth Smith Woodard directs the alumni chorus at Regis College and serves as pastoral associate at Holy Family Parish in Concord, Massachusetts.
Chapter 1: The State of the Problem
Chapter 2: The Anglican-Lutheran Relationship
Chapter 3: The Anglican-Lutheran Solution
Chapter 4: Reception of the Anglican-Lutheran Solution
Chapter 5: What can Catholicism Take from the Anglican-Lutheran Solution?
Chapter 6: How Might Unity among Catholics and Protestants Look?
Chapter 7: Koinonia and Kenosis
A welcome addition to the literature on ecclesial apostolicity, the central point of division between the western Christian traditions. Elizabeth Smith Woodard makes many insightful points in the course of her valuable study. Most useful is the exploration of what the Catholic Church might have to learn from the Anglican and Lutheran traditions in relation to a renewed understanding of apostolicity with ecumenical potential.
— Paul D. Murray, Durham University
The ecumenical agreements between Anglicans and Lutherans in North America and Northern Europe were historic. Rarely have churches which had been divided on episcopacy been able to bridge their differences and come together in closer communion. Other Christian communities need to attend to what these agreements accomplished. Can they be taken up by others in different settings? Woodard asks this question from a Catholic perspective, describing all the texts, carefully laying out their logic, and offering her own creative suggestions for the way forward.
— Michael Root, The Catholic University of America
Is there hope for ecumenical theology, indeed for ecumenism itself? Woodard offers a resounding "Yes" to this question through her expertly crafted analysis. Her scholarship is both magnificently comprehensive yet remarkably accessible. All who value unity within a broken Christianity need to read this work.
— Ernest J. Collamati, Regis College
As a minister in parish and campus life I’ve watched the tides of ecumenical fervor ebb and flow over the past 45 years. My experience tells me we’re presently at a low water mark in the local faith community. Elizabeth Smith Woodard’s work offers an opportunity for the conversation to begin anew. Proposing a cruciform ecumenism, Woodard offers a framework for examining and assessing the ecumenical movement and moving forward on the path toward reconciliation. Rooted solidly in the scriptures, this book handily renews our understanding of the ecumenical imperative and articulates the demands of koinonia and kenosis in terms accessible to a broad readership who will find their own faith stirred and challenged by Woodard’s thesis. Institutional pastoral leadership and local pastors and groups will benefit from coming to understand cruciform ecumenism as a path to a true, lived and shared “self-emptying for the sake of genuine Christ-like community.” Cruciform Ecumenism is highly recommended for those who want to take ecumenism seriously once again.
— Rev. Austin Fleming, Senior Vicar, New Roads Catholic Community