Interfaith Dialogue with the Revd Dr Joseph Cumming
The International Dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Orthodox Church is one of the oldest initiated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 1973 after the meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury and the Ecumenical Patriarch, Athenagoras I of Constantinople, in 1962.
This last week saw Anglican representatives gather from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia at the Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology here in Boston, together with Orthodox bishops and theologians from Greece and Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Antioch, as well as Romania and Georgia. The plenary meeting was hosted by the Huffington Ecumenical Institute and I was invited to the opening event last Sunday evening at which all of the joint declarations made over the last fifty years were commemorated. The current Anglican Secretary for this dialogue, Dr. Christopher Wells will be with us in the parish this coming weekend to speak about his work at the Entr’acte on Sunday at 10:10 am.
Also with us this week is the Revd. Dr. Joseph Cumming, who has long facilitated high level dialogue with Azhar University of Cairo, the Sunni world’s premier institute of higher learning. He is here to promote awareness of two unique opportunities for graduate students to study Sufism at the Azhar. He will be speaking on both Wednesday evening and Friday evening (when he will be joined by Dr. Wells) about the changing course of recent Christian dialogues with Islam.
Contrary to what many suppose, interfaith dialogue has traditionally avoided theology as too divisive and turned instead to issues of shared practical concern. Recently however, there has been a very interesting shift towards discussion of such matters as the being and nature of God. This is a quite a dramatic change, and Dr. Cumming will be exploring it and the implications for the future of West-Islamic relations in his presentations.
These developments make all the more striking the fact that, in its early years, the Orthodox-Anglican dialogue focused on theology with the goal of full mutual recognition and Communion. Latterly, by contrast, a dramatic shift was made towards issues of shared practical concern—such as care for the environment, euthanasia, and Christian anthropology. It was made clear on Sunday evening that the shift away from hopes of union followed the decision by some Anglican Provinces to accept women for ordination as priests and consecration as bishops—including the Episcopal Church in the United States.
The subsequent joint Orthodox-Anglican “Cyprus Statement” of 2006 entitled The Church of the Triune God has much to say that still merits thought regarding how the wider church should respond to such matters upon which it is divided and undertakes a truly open exploration of reception that seeks both to discern the authentic will of God and to sustain unity:
“While the process of reception continues, the theological debate remains open. In this process critique, affirmation or rejection are all possible (and) … two things must be kept in mind. First, all must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and submit to it. Secondly, no one should claim the authority of the Holy Spirit for accepting or rejecting any new doctrine or practice until the process of reception is completed. Only then is it legitimate to say with St James, ‘…it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…’” (Acts 15.28). (p. 108)
The Rev. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff
Rector