RALEIGH, N.C.—While spiritual unity among Christians is important, discovering tangible ways to express that unity is essential, say two theologians long involved in Baptist dialogues with other faith traditions.
Spiritual unity is “a place to begin,” said Steve Harmon, adjunct professor of Christian theology at the Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, N.C. “[Christians] share one Spirit, an allegiance to one Lord. But we’re trying to find a way to live into a more visible form of unity. Cooperation is one form of visible unity. We want to find as many ways as possible to cooperate together.”
BWA general secretary Neville Callam (center) joined theologians Steve Harmon (left) and Curtis Freeman for a discussion of Baptist relations with other Christian traditions.
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Harmon and Curtis Freeman, research professor of theology and director of the Baptist House of Studies at the Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C., led a workshop on Baptist dialogues with other Christians during the March 23-24 general assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. It was one of about 75 breakout sessions on topics ranging from biblical studies and social justice to technology and church resources.
Harmon said ecumenical dialogue is “as old as the church,” noting that the Jerusalem Council described in the biblical book of the Acts may be the earliest description of Christian attempts at visible unity.
But Baptists, especially in the southern United States, have been historically skeptical of ecumenical efforts, he said.
Freeman noted that a 1914 invitation to the Southern Baptist Convention to join what would become the National Council of Churches resulted in a two-part report to the convention—one on Christian unity, the other on denominational efficiency.
“The SBC’s answer was somewhere in between and they chose to emphasis denominational efficiency through cooperation,” he said. “Eventually it became cooperation only around activities,” he added, without attempting to bridge theological differences with other Christian traditions.
“What would it look like to take incremental steps to move in the direction of Christian unity?” Freeman said. “We’re asking those questions. Where do we see in our cooperation the signs of that unity?”
Harmon suggested three practical ways to further ecumenical discussions:
- Continuing education for ministers. Some Christian traditions require ecumenical training for their potential ministers, he said. While Baptists have not given that kind of formal attention to ecumenism, seminaries and divinity schools could explore ways to increase students’ awareness.
- Congregational education. Many documents which have emerged from ecumenical dialogues are well suited to congregational discussions, Harmon said. It might be possible for Baptist churches to use them in joint study groups with a local church in another Christian tradition, he said.
- Greater cooperation. The Lund Principle, developed in 1952 by the World Council of Churches, affirms “that churches should act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately.” Local Baptist congregations should identify ways in which they can cooperate with those of other Christian traditions, said Harmon.
Freeman said the CBF of North Carolina relates to four divinity schools—Gardner-Webb, Baptist House and both the Campbell University and Wake Forest University schools of divinity—where ecumenical dialogues can thrive.
“These people have created a kind of vitality in our churches,” he said. “Let’s bless them. There may be an example in North Carolina for the wider Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.”
Both Freeman and Harmon have participated in Baptist World Alliance conversations with other Christian groups as part of the BWA’s assignment to improve understanding and cooperation between Baptists and other faith communities.
Freeman was on a five-member BWA team that met last December with Pentecostal representatives to set guidelines for upcoming international talks between the two groups. Conversations are expected to be held annually from 2012 through 2014, beginning in Quito, Ecuador, this August. Findings and recommendations for consideration by the two bodies will be presented in 2015.
Harmon was part of a three-person BWA team which held exploratory talks last fall with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople—widely regarded as the spiritual head of the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians—which could lead to formal dialogue between Baptists and Orthodox Christians internationally.
The BWA also has held two rounds of talks with Roman Catholics—one in the mid-1980s and a second continuing initiative that began in 2006.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.
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