Lest 12 Booklet

Save the Date
LEST XII
Polis and Theos:

Political Theology
as Discernment
23-26 October 2019

Contents
Welcome 4
Conference Team 5
Conference Information 6
Conference Events 7
Conference Program 8
Short Paper Sessions 12
Keynote Abstracts 23
Short Paper Abstracts 26
Keynote Speakers 63
Maps 69
Conference Sponsors 76
Welcome to Lest XI
tianity. We will approach them with a view to
offering an ecumenically-oriented reflection on
the renewal and reform of the Church. The four
themes are as follows:
the importance of the Scriptures for the inner

life of faith and for Church and tradition;
the tensile relationship between sin, grace, free
will, justification and
sanctification;
sacramentality and rituality, with special atten-
tion to Eucharist and sacrifice;
democratisation and the power
structures within the churches.
The conference will conclude with a roundta-

Welcome to Lest XI, ble discussion on a topic which was already a
The well-known adagium, Ecclesia semper painful reality during the Reformation Era and
reformanda, suggests that the Church is in desperately needs our attention today, namely,
continuous need of renewal. Such renewal is religion, refugees and migration.
not only a historical reality, but also an ongo-
ing challenge for theologians of all confessional We wish you will all enjoy this conference and
traditions. Each and every attempt to renew the city of Leuven very much!
or reform a tradition must seek an equilibri-
um between the affirmation of ones particular Prof. Dr. Peter De Mey
identity and the call to engage in meaningful Prof. Dr. Wim Franois
dialogue with other Churches. There is always
a danger that this encounter might degenerate
into confrontation or polemics.
On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the

Reformation, LEST XI wishes to focus on the
complex reality of the renewal and reform of
the Churches. This concern was already on the
agenda of the Latin Church in the late Medieval
Period, and found dramatic expression during
the Reformation.
Four themes will be central during this confer-

ence. These themes were at the forefront of the
theological controversies that raged during the
transitional period between the Middle Ages
and the Early Modern Period and eventually
culminated in a further split of Western Chris-
4
Conference Team
Viorel Coman is a FWO post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology
and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, where he studies the interaction between the
Orthodox Neo-Patristic Movement and the French Catholic Ressourcement. His
doctoral dissertation focused on Dumitru Staniloaes Trinitarian Ecclesiology in the
Context of the Debates on the Filioque: The Synthesis between Christology and Pneu-
matology in Ecclesiology (KU Leuven, 2016). Further research interests include
Trinitarian theology, pneumatology, ecclesiology, ecumenism,
20th-century Orthodox theology.
Antonio Gerace is a post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology and Re-

ligious Studies, KU Leuven, where he studies Early Modern Church history. His
doctoral dissertation focused on Textual Criticism, Biblical Commentaries and
Theology of Grace in Louvains Golden Sixteenth Century (KU Leuven, 2017).
Further research interests include medieval philosophy, with particular attention
to the questions related to the concept of infinite, and medieval history.
Neven Vukic is a FWO doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology and Reli-
gious Studies, KU Leuven. He is a member of the Research Unit Systematic The-
ology and the Study of Religions and the Research Group Christian Self-Under-
standing and Interreligious Dialogue. The focus of his research is on the theology
of non-Christian religions and the practice of interreligious dialogue within the
context of Orthodox Christian theology.
5
Conference Information
Conference Secretariat
During the conference the secretariat will be open for registrations and for practical enquiries.
Please take note though that the secretariat can be found in different places, depending on the day
of the conference. If you require a receipt or proof of attendance please come and see us at the sec-
retariat during these hours.
Date Location Time

Wednesday
MTC1 00.16 16.00 - 18.30
11th October
Thursday
08.30 - 17.00
12th October
Friday
th MTC1 00.03 08.30 - 17.00
13 October
Saturday
08.30 - 11.00
14th October
Contact Information
The LEST organisation can also be contacted via email lest@kuleuven.be
or via telephone at
+32 489 31 81 98 ( Viorel )
+32 483 16 28 93 ( Neven )
Internet Access
You can access the KU Leuven network either via eduroam or by using the kuleuven-guest net-
work. To use the guest network, please use the user ID and password that you will find on a sticker
in the back of your conference folder.
6
Conference Events
Thursday, 12th October at 20.00
Grosse Messe fr Bach und Luther
Venue: St Gertrudis church, Halfmaartstraat 5, Leuven
In admiration, Johann Sebastian Bach kept the writings of Martin Luther in his library. In 1739
he composed Dritter Teil der Clavierbung, a series of unparalleled organ arrangements of Luthers
chorales and a tribute to 200 years of Lutheranism.
Organist Wouter Dekoninck has arranged this masterpiece for Baroque orchestra and solo sing-
ers under the title Grosse Messe fr Bach und Luther. With this German-language mass, he has
breathed new life into one of Bachs compositions.
In case you did not purchase a ticket in advance, check here to find out whether there are still tickets
at full prize available:
https://www.30cc.be/en/programma/item/grosse-messe-fur-bach-und-luther
Saturday, 14th October at 12.00
Common commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation:

prayer service developed by the liturgical taskforce of
the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity.
Presiders: Rev. Dr. Jacques Haers S.J. and Rev. Dr. Theodor Dieter
Readers: Dr. Susan Wood and Dr. Andreas Beck
Sermon: Rev. Dr. Ivana Noble
Venue: St John the Baptist church, Groot Begijnhof Leuven
A warm welcome to all conference participants!

The ecumenical prayer service will be followed by a banquet in the Faculty Club for those who
registered in advance.
7
Conference Program
Wednesday 11th October
Opening session, Gothic room

(City Hall)
Musical entre by the Flanders Harp Quartet Aurlie Viegas
Karen Peeters
Isabelle Matthyssens
Laura De Jongh
Opening of the Conference Prof. Dr. Mathijs Lamberigts
19.00 - 21.00 Introduction Prof. Peter De Mey

Prof. Wim Franois
Musical Intermezzo
Ecumenically Remembering the Prof. Dr. Theodor Dieter
Reformation and Engaging the
Future of Ecumenism
Musical Intermezzo
21.00 Opening Reception
8
Conference Program
Thursday 12th October
First plenary session:

The Importance of the Scriptures for the Inner Life of Faith
and for Church and Tradition (Aula Zeger van Hee)
chair: Prof. Dr. Terrence Merrigan
'Scriptures' and 'Non-Scriptural Prof. Dr. Wim Franois
09.00 - 09.45 Traditions': Evolutions at the Beginning of
the Reformation Era
Inerrancy of Scripture: Evangelical and Dr. Wouter Biesbrouck
09.45 - 10.30
Catholic Approaches
10.30 - 11.00 Discussion
11.00 - 11.30 Coffee Break*
11.30 - 12.30 Short Paper Session 1
12.30 - 14.00 Lunch Break
Second plenary session:
The Field of Tension between Sin, Grace, Free Will, Justification and Sanctification
(Aula Zeger van Hee)
chair: Prof. Dr. Judith Gruber
Doing Justice to Justification: Historical Prof. Dr. Andreas Beck
14.00 - 14.45 Reflections on a Decisive Controversy of the
Reformation Era
Catholicism, Protestantism and the Prof. Dr. Karen Kilby
14.45 - 15.30 Theological Location of Paradox:
Nature, Grace, Sin
Concert : Grosse Messe fr Bach und Luther
20.00 Performance by Wouter Dekoninck & Hildebrandt Consort
St. Gertrudis church, Halfmaartstraat 5
*All Coffee breaks are located in MTC1 00.03
9
Conference Program
Friday 13th October
Third plenary session:

Sacramentality and Rituality, with Special Attention to Eucharist and Sacrifice
chair: Prof. Dr. Annemarie Mayer
Between Mystery and Doctrine: Prof. Dr. Lee Palmer Wan-
09.00 - 09.45
The Eucharist in the Sixteenth Century del
Eucharistic Sacrifice: Ecumenical Prof. Dr. Susan Wood
09.45 - 10.30
Achievements and Remaining Issues
12.30 - 14.00 Lunch Break
Fourth plenary session:
Democratisation and Leadership Structures in the Church
chair: Prof. Dr. Stephan van Erp
Priests, Presbyters and the Priesthood Prof. Dr. Charlotte
14.00 - 14.45 of All Believers: Reflections on the Reformation Methuen
and Lay Authority
Beyond Hierarchical Fixation: People of God Prof. Dr. Annemarie Mayer
14.45 - 15.30 and Democratization of Church Structures a
Catholic Perspective
*All Coffee breaks are located in MTC1 00.03
10
Conference Program
Saturday 14th October
Closing session
moderator: Prof. Dr. Jacques Haers
Roundtable Discussion on Religion, Prof. Dr. Przemyslaw Kantyka
Refugees and Migration in Rev. Dr. Deenabandhu Manchala
09.30 - 11.30
Past and Present Prof. Dr. Violet Soen
Prof. Dr. Mirjam van Veen
Concluding remarks by the organizers Prof. Dr. Wim Franois
11.30 - 12.00
Prof. Dr. Peter De Mey
Ecumenical Prayer Service at St John the Baptist church,
12.00 - 13.00
Groot Begijnhof Leuven
13.00 Closing Banquet
11
Short Paper Sessions
Thursday 12th October
11.30 - 12.30
SESSION 1
Session Room Title Speaker
chair: Johan LEEMANS

For Everyone that the Holy Spirit
Has Touched, Has been Sanctified and
Changed(Mystagogical Catecheses of
Pablo ARGARATE
1.1. Jerusalem. V, 7). The Pneumatological
MTC1
Shift in the Syro-Palestinian Anapho-
00.12
rae of the Fourth Century
Ecumenical Exegesis?
Reading the Gospel of John in Ro- Joseph GRABAU
man-Christian North Africa
chair: Andreas BECK
Allegory within the Bounds of the
Letter: Towards a Renewal of Protes-
Arnold HUIJGEN
1.2. tant Hermeneutics of the Old Testa-
MTC1
ment
00.16
Commenting on a Lament of
David: Caspar Schwenckfeld, Psalm H. H. Drake WILLIAMS
102, and the Body of Christ
Quick note on the Room Codes!
If you are required to go to MTC1 00.12 then follow these steps:

MTC1=Maria Theresia College, 00=ground floor, 12=room nr.12. This means you need to be in
room 12 at the ground floor of the Maria Theresia College (maps are in the back of the brochure).
The same principle applies to the other venue with the code being, DV3=De Valk 3.
12
Short Paper Sessions Thursday 12th October
11.30 - 12.30
SESSION 1
chair: Wouter BIESBROUCK

The Unfinished Reformation: The
1.4. Scriptural Renewal of Catholic Theol- Neil ARNER
DV3
ogy During the Prior Century
01.10
The New Testament as the Churchs
Christopher HADLEY
Book: Which Church?
chair: Terrence MERRIGAN
The Witness of Scripture and Church
Fathers in Vatican II Theology of Reli-
gions: Lessons for Christian Theology Olisaemeka Rosemary OKWARA
of Dialogue in the Age of Theological
1.5.
DV3 Liberalism
01.24 The Hermeneutical Legitimacy of
Dialectical Tensions in the Theology
of Religions as a Locus for Ecclesi- William Odeke OWIRE
al Renewal and Reform: The Case of
Jacques Dupuis and Dominus Jesus
chair: Ivana NOBLE
Returning to the Roots and
Return to the Fathers:
Pantelis KALAITZIDIS
1.6. An Orthodox Version of
DV3
the Reformation?
01.01
Can One Speak of Reform or Renewal
in Eastern Orthodox Jaroslav SKIRA
Theology?
13
Thursday 12th October Short Paper Sessions
16.30 - 17.30
SESSION 2
chair: Wim FRANOIS

From Making Satisfaction to
Penal Substitution: How Luthers
Rik VAN NIEUWENHOVE
2.1. View of Christ as the Universal Sinner
DV3
Changed the Nature of Soteriology
01.02
A Tale of Two Martins? Luthers Po-
litical Theology, Humanism, and Ec- Darryl HALE
umenism
chair: Karen KILBY
Hierarchy and Covenant: The Intrin-
sic Openness of the Economy of Sal- Christopher CIMORELLI
2.2.
DV3 vation and Dynamic Christian Faith
01.07 Holding Open the Doors for Mer-
cy: Towards a Trinitarian Concept of Daniel MINCH
Christian Sovereignty
chair: Stephan VAN ERP
Plurality as the Grace of Secularity:
Reform, Christian Identity, and the Philip ROSSI
2.3. Horizons of Otherness
DV3
Ecclesial Renewal Against Sin: De
01.32
Lubacs and Schillebeeckxs Respective
Christiane ALPERS
Understandings of the Relation be-
tween Sin and Grace
chair: Peter DE MEY
Theologys Task in a Fragmenting
Paul DAPONTE
2.4. World
DV3
Renewal of Theological Methods in
01.24
the Documents of the International Martin MIHALIK
Theological Commission
14
Short Paper Sessions Thursday 12th October
16.30 - 17.30
SESSION 2
chair: Przemyslaw KANTYKA

Receptive Ecumenism: A Lutheran
2.5 Thomas HUGHSON
DV3 Proposal for Eco-Reformation
01.08 The Holy Spirit and the Reform of the
Tim NOBLE
Church
chair: Wouter BIESBROUCK
Real Humanity: Karl Barth and the
Construction of an Ecclesial John SHEVELAND
2.6.
DV3 Theology of Trauma
01.10 After 500 Years: Luthers Theologia
crucis as the Crux for (Ecumenical) Michael FLETCHER
Reform
17.30 - 18.30
SESSION 3
chair: Dries VANYSACKER

A Reform without Improvement:
The Donatist Reform in the Belgian
3.1. Anton MILH
DV3 Capuchin Province in the 1920s and
01.24 1930s
Light-Life Movement - A Platform for
Maksymilian KUMICZ
Unity between Western Christians?
chair: Peter DE MEY
Lutherans, Catholics, and Musical Ec-
umenism: Pergolesi and Bach Togeth- Anthony J. GODZIEBA
3.2.
DV3 er Again for the First Time
01.02 Holy Music for Holy Deeds: Ber-
nardino Cirillo and Chiara BERTOGLIO
the Reformation Music
15
Thursday 12th October Short Paper Sessions
17.30 - 18.30
SESSION 3
chair: Colby DICKINSON

Reforming Old and New in a
3.3. Scott HOLLAND
DV3 Post-Secular and Post-ecclesial Age
01.07 Reforming Christian Theology in a
Nathanael INGLIS
Detraditionalized Society
chair: Deenabandhu MANCHALA
Karl Rahner, Charism, Institution and
Democracy: Incarnating Justice and Jerry FARMER
3.4.
DV3 Love for all Refugees and Migrants
01.32 Congregational Episcopacy:
On Balancing Authority and Timothy CRUTCHER
Freedom in the Church
Natural Theology in the Public Square
of the Third Millennium: Craig BARON
Ecumenical Convergences?
3.5. On the Way Towards a Post-secular
DV3
and Post-liberal Political Theology?
01.08
Reassessing the Theo-political
Stephan TAUTZ
Identity of Christianity Against the
Background of Radical Democratic
Theory
chair: Judith GRUBER
Reforming or Decolonizing Church? Gerald BOODOO

3.6. Sambayanihan and Church Renewal.
DV3
An Inquiry into the Impact of Filipino
01.10
Migrant Communities on the Shift- Rowan REBUSTILLO
ing Grounds of Catholic Ecclesiology;
A Western European Scenario
16
Friday 13th October Short Paper Sessions
11.30 - 12.30
SESSION 4
chair: Lee Palmer WANDEL

The Eucharistic Congresses
The Youngest Form of Worship of Jitka JONOV
4.1. the Eucharist Outside Mass
MTC1
The Mass as a Sacrifice: Sacrificial
00.08
Typology in the Bible
Benedict (Daniel) FISCHER
Commentaries of Cornelius a Lapide,
S.J. (1567-1637)
chair: Ivana NOBLE
Sacraments of the Word, Sacraments
of the Spirit: The Ecumenical Derrick WITHERINGTON
4.2.
MTC1 Potential of Chauvets Theology
00.07 Theological Anthropology and the
Doctrine of Transubstantiation in Jacob BENJAMINS
Emmanuel Falque
chair: Yves DE MAESENEER
Renewing Moral Theology into
Joseph SELLING
4.3. Theological Ethics
DV3
Rethinking Incarnation. Towards an
01.01
Ethical Paradigm of As Well As Bernhard KOHL
Instead of Either Or
chair: Theodor DIETER
Receiving Reform and the Humbling
of the Church: Catholic Ecclesial
Paul D. MURRAY
4.4. Learning from the Lutheran
MTC1
Tradition
00.12
The Reform of Modern Theology: The
Influence of Protestant Theology on Stephan VAN ERP
Schillebeeckx
17
11.30 - 12.30
SESSION 4
chair: Pantelis KALAITIZIDIS

Sensus Fidelium and the Reformation
of the Church: An Eastern Petre MAICAN
4.5.
DV3 Orthodox Perspective
01.08 The Dogma of Sin and the Council of
Trent: Discrepancies in Catholic and Victor YUDIN
Orthodox Positions
chair: Daniel MINCH
To Relive the Calvary with Mary:
Balthasars View of the Eucharist and Riyako Cecilia HIKOTA
Its Implications for Ecumenism
4.6.
DV3 The Body of Christ: Retrieving the
01.24 Christological Core for Ecclesial
Renewal and Reform: Reflections Anthony ATANSI
from Ratzingerian and Williamsian
Perspectives
16.30 - 17.30
SESSION 5
chair: Mirjam VAN VEEN

Jan Hus: Between Reform and
Ivana NOBLE
5.1. Reformation
DV3
Cyril Lucaris and the Unfinished
01.01
Reformation of Nicu DUMITRACU
Romanians in Transylvania
chair: Peter DE MEY
Beyond Hubris: The Case for a More
Functional Approach to Roman Christopher MCMAHON
5.2.
DV3 Catholic Ecclesiology
01.02 Postconciliar Popes and Catholic
Credibility: From Apologetics to Glenn SINISCALCHI
Fundamental Theology
18
Short Paper Sessions Friday 13th October
16.30 - 17.30
SESSION 5
chair: Terrence MERRIGAN

Papa Francesco:
George WORGUL
5.3. Reform and Renewal
DV3
The Pact of the Catacombs: An Early
01.07
Harbinger of Pope Francis Vision of Hector SCERRI
the Church
chair: Susan WOOD
Ecclesial Renewal Through the Eyes of
Joshua FURNAL
5.4. Marie-Dominique Chenu
DV3
Avery Dulles Program of Church
01.32
Reform and Renewal: Cyril ORJI
Lessons for Contemporary Church
Negative Ecclesiology: Moving
Beyond Polemics in Contemporary
5.5. Colby DICKINSON
DV3 Accounts of Liberalism and
01.08 Ecclesiology
Theism, the Main Obstacle for the
Thomas RUSTER
Renewal of the Church
chair: Jacques HAERS
Ecclesial Democratization, Weak
Marie BAIRD
Thought, and Religious Nones
5.6.
DV3 Embodied Narthical Connection as
01.10 Basis for Actuating Renewal and
Maura BEHRENFELD
Reform Across Confessional
Traditions: A Dynamic Mediation
19
17.30 - 18.30
SESSION 6
chair: Charlotte METHUEN

Robbing Luther to Pay Paul:
6.1. Luther(an) Contributions to the Emmanuel NATHAN
DV3
Introspective Conscience of the West?
01.01
Luthers Language:
Dennis ROHATYN
The Faustian Bargain
chair: Tim NOBLE
Ministry with Large Ears Dynamic
African Patterns of Re-imagining / Uzukwu ELOCHUKWU
6.2. Reforming the Church Today
DV3
Human Creativity as the Source of the
01.07
Renewal of the Church:
Kateina BAUEROV
Alexander Men and His Spiritual
Children
chair: Peter DE MEY
Cornelius Jansenius on
6.3. Anton DE PRETER
DV3 Ecclesiastical Reform
01.08 Ukrainian Laity on Vatican II:
Marija IVANIV
Desire to be Visible
chair: Jack McDONALD
Envisioning the Significance of
Human Experience of the Spirit for
Ecumenical Relations in Light of Kenneth AMEKE
6.4.
DV3 Ecclesia Semper Reformanda:
01.32 A Catholic-Pentecostal Case Study
Transformation Through Dialogue:
Insights from an Anglican-Roman Ikenna Paschal OKPALEKE
Catholic Communio Ecclesiology
20
Short Paper Sessions Friday 13th October
17.30 - 18.30
SESSION 6
chair: Judith GRUBER

African Theology and the Renewal of
Christianity: Retrieving the Dream of
6.5. John Bosco KAMOGA
DV3 Nurturing a Creedless Continental
01.10 Christianity
Africa Independent Churches:
Michael MUONWE
Reform or Cultural Relativism?
21
Abstracts
Keynote Abstracts
Theodor Dieter (Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg)
Ecumenically Remembering the Reformation and Engaging the Future of Ecumenism
The attempts of the Protestant reformers to reform the Church led to many reforms but also to fierce
polemics, and in a complex process of actions and reactions, to a split of the Western Church. While the
Protestant and Catholic reformations led to the confessionalization of the Church into Churches, the
ecumenical movement can be described as the attempt to reform these reformations, such that they cease
to define themselves by opposition to the other, instead becoming open to Renewal and Reform beyond
Polemics. The keynote address analyzes what beyond polemics may mean positively by describing the
problems that have had to be solved in overcoming polemical attitudes, the achievements that have been
reached in the one hundred years of ecumenism, the new challenges on the way, and the lingering danger
of seeking ones own identity at the expense of other Churches.
Wim Franois (KU Leuven)

Scriptures and Non-Scriptural Traditions: Evolutions at the Beginning of the Reformation Era
When confronted with the sola scriptura-principle of John Wyclif, John Hus and others, the Paris theologian
Jean Gerson (1363-1429) engaged in a thorough reflection on the relation between the Scriptures and the
interpretational tradition(s) that had been handed down in the Church. Gersons view would develop in
the fifteenth century into the communis opinio in this regard. The Louvain theologian Jacobus Latomus
(c. 1475-1544) had, more than a century later, to deal with humanists and Lutherans who, in their
turn, claimed to build their theological argumentation mainly, if not exclusively, upon the Scriptures.
This caused Latomus to engage in a further reflection on the relation between the Scriptures, on the one
hand, and the customs and even doctrines that were handed down in the Church apart from the Bible,
on the other hand. Latomus, who had received the first part of his theological education in Paris, built
upon the communis opinio Gerson had already formulated. Latomus Louvain colleague, John Driedo (c.
1480-1535), was one of the first to develop the doctrine with regard to Scriptures and tradition(s) in a
systematic way and his book De ecclesiasticis scripturis et dogmatibus (1533) contributed in an important
way to the formulation of the Catholic point of view that eventually would receive a canonization at the
Council of Trent (1546). This paper will offer an exploration of how Catholic theologians, and especially
Gerson and Latomus, determined the relation between libri scripti and sine scripto traditiones, when they
were confronted with sola scriptura-principles in the era of religious reformations at the transition between
the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Apart from its basic historical-theological approach, this
paper will engage in a broader discussion with history of law, amongst other disciplines, on how the
relation between the oral and the written was conceived in the period under consideration.
Wouter Biesbrouck (KU Leuven)

Inerrancy of Scripture: Evangelical and Catholic Approaches
Evangelicalism has traditionally given a major role to Scripture in its theology and spirituality. This
cannot be understood apart from the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture that is upheld in many parts
of this movement. The last decades, however, have seen increasing dissent from the inerrancy doctrine
within evangelicalism. Much of that discussion is focused on issues within Biblical Studies, particularly
discussions about the historicity of biblical accounts. But the implications are felt most sharply in other
theological disciplines, particularly systematic and moral theology. We will look at the way evangelical
authors discuss the authority of Scripture in systematic theology, and how ones view on inerrancy plays
a role therein. This will be compared to Roman Catholic approaches. In order to do this, we will take
evangelical and catholic approaches to the theology of interreligious dialogue as a case study.
23
Keynote Abstracts
Andreas Beck (Evangelical Theological Faculty, Leuven)

Doing Justice to Justification: Historical Reflections on a Decisive Controversy of the Reformation Era
This lecture will discuss the debates on the doctrine of justification at the Colloquies of Worms and
Regensburg (1540/41) and during the Council of Trent (1546/47). Special attention will be given to the
different views of Protestant theologians such as Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Martin Bucer,
and John Calvin, and of Catholic theologians such as Johannes Gropper, Gasparo Contarini, Girolamo
Seripando, and Andrs de Vega. The lecture will also include different interpretations of Tridentine
soteriology in the context of the debates on grace, justification, and free will in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Taking into account the medieval backgrounds of these debates, it will be argued that some
important divergences are largely based on differing terminologies and mutual misunderstandings.
Thus the Tridentine anathemata of the Protestant doctrine of justification sola fide seem to erroneously
understand this formula in terms of an exclusively intellectualist concept of faith, whereas the Protestant
demur of Semi-Pelagianism arguably downplays the role of grace in the Tridentine doctrine of justification.
Karen Kilby (Durham University)

Catholicism, Protestantism and the Theological Location of Paradox: Nature, Grace, Sin
This paper will test the hypothesis that one of clearest ways to understand the deep patterns governing
different theological visions is by identifying where in any given theological system paradox is allowed,
and where the limits to intellectual inquiry are held to lie. More particularly, it will explore the possibility
that certain typical Catholic/Protestant differences in the construal of nature, grace and sin correspond to
a different instinct for where paradox and unintelligibility ought properly to lie. Within this framework
it may be possible to offer an account of a typical Catholic puzzlement towards Protestant theological
anthropologies, and a typical Protestant dissatisfaction with Catholic anthropologies.
Lee Palmer Wandel (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Between Mystery and Doctrine: The Eucharist in the Sixteenth Century
The sixteenth century witnessed unprecedented destruction of the material culture of Christianity. It did
not occur everywhere, nor in the same way from one place to the next, but it tore asunder ways of thinking
of, touching, meditating on the Incarnation of which the medieval Eucharist was held to be the highest
experience. In a world utterly altered by that violence, pastors, priests, Evangelical and Catholic, took up
the codex to teach Europeans the sacraments, of which the Eucharist was to be the one practiced most
frequently. In this paper, I wish to explore within an altered medial environment Evangelical and Catholic
efforts to teach the Eucharist: the nature of Christs presence, of the relationship between the body and
blood and the elements, the relationship of sacrifice to the Eucharist, and the sacraments effect. How does
one understand the sacrifice of the Mass when all the crucifixes have been destroyed?
Susan Wood (Marquette University, Milwaukee)

Eucharistic Sacrifice: Ecumenical Achievements and Remaining Issues
While the retrieval of the liturgical concept of anamnesis has allowed for the ecumenical reconciliation
of a number of differences regarding the sacrificial character of the Eucharistic liturgy, some ecumenical
differences remain. These differences become most evident through an examination of the anabatic and
katabatic structure of Catholic Eucharistic anaphoras and within a theology of the Eucharistic assembly
as constituted as the body of Christ through the epiclesis. This presentation puts these Catholic liturgical
principles in conversation with Reformation convictions regarding the nature of the Lords Supper and
24
Keynote Abstracts
divine/human relationships, suggesting possible ways forward to resolve remaining differences on the
sacrificial character of the Eucharistic liturgy.
Annemarie Mayer (KU Leuven)

Beyond Hierarchical Fixation: People of God and Democratization of Church Structures a Catholic
Perspective
Vatican IIs Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium contains a whole chapter On the
People of God (ch. II) before the Churchs hierarchical structure, in particular the episcopate (ch. III),
and the laity (ch. IV) are treated. Would this not argue for a more democratically oriented approach to
the renewal and reform of Church structures? Yet, whenever a democratization of Church structures is
requested, a set of stereotypes is brought forward against such a suggestion. Some of these represent quite
imbalanced alternatives, e.g. Kingdom of God versus democracy of Gods People or: Who governs
the Church God or his people? On reflection, the underlying question surfaces: Are democratic
structures within hierarchical settings possible at all? It gets often overlooked that church structures are co-
dependent on historical forms and paradigms. Already Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) stated,
No doubt, our Saviour Jesus Christ could and would govern his Church by way of the best and most
practical constitution. To what extent, therefore, and in what way might democracy be an ideal model for
developing alternative Church structures? This question is closely linked to the theological criterion that
critically asks: Does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in
the building up of Christs Body? Lumen Gentium 8 speaks of the Church as a society structured with
hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ. The biblical body metaphor, by stating that the foot
is not the hand (cf. 1 Cor 12-14), affirms that differentiation is necessary, even that between the head and
the rest of the body. Yet structuring never means separating or dividing but serves the purpose of a better
functioning. The ideal, therefore, is a communio of all who believe, for you are all one in Christ Jesus
(Gal 3:28). By addressing the issues of representation, transparency, accountability, responsibility and co-
responsibility, synodical structure, collegiality, subsidiarity etc. and taking into account, too, what lessons
could be learned from the Reformation, the paper sketches how the Catholic Church would look like, if
it were future-proof and at the same time faithful to its tradition. Above all, this includes faithfulness to
the purpose the Church has originally been instituted for, that God desires everyone to be saved (1 Tim
2:4).
Charlotte Methuen (University of Glasgow)

Priests, Presbyters and the Priesthood of All Believers: Reflections on the Reformation and Lay Authority
In 1520, Luther argued in his treatise To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation that all Christians,
whether lay or ordained, should claim the authority to interpret scripture, as part of the priesthood in
they shared by virtue of their baptism. This conviction, which came to be known as the priesthood of all
believers, became one of the catchwords of the Reformation. To Luthers dismay, it was used by groups of
peasants, and by individual women, to claim authority to speak out on matters of faith, and sometimes
also of politics. By the 1530s, Luther had come to be convinced that some form of authorization was
necessary for those who were to undertake the preaching ministry. The shared priesthood of all believers
did not mean that every Christian should preach in public worship. This paper will explore the balance
of authority between lay and ordained in the emerging Protestant Churches of the sixteenth century,
showing the different roles which were open to lay people in parishes and church hierarchies. Did the
Reformation democratize Church structures? This paper will argue that the response to this question
varies widely across the European Churches.
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Short Paper Abstracts
Christiane Alpers (Catholic University Eichsttt-Ingolstadt)

Ecclesial Renewal Against Sin: De Lubacs and Schillebeeckxs Respective Understandings of the Relation
Between Sin and Grace
The contemporary significance of 20th century debates about nature and grace in Roman Catholic
theology is still being evaluated and discussed. However, the importance of the question of sin and grace
in these debates has not yet received sufficient attention. As an attempt to fill this lack, this paper critically
compares the ways in which Henri de Lubac and Edward Schillebeeckx respectively understood the
relation between sin and grace, with a particular focus on how this understanding corresponds to their
respective conceptions of the churchs relation to the modern world.
First, I briefly introduce how de Lubac retrieves the doctrine of sin in order to criticise his surrounding
cultures enthusiasm for emancipation and freedom. Want of an honest acknowledgement of human
shortcomings and failures, de Lubac argues, any project of human liberation is bound to be dangerously
utopian. In other words, modernitys lack of a doctrine of sin is not only evaluated to be problematic,
but even to evidence modernitys own sinfulness. Second, I show how Schillebeeckx equally hesitated
to embrace utopian understandings of human emancipation. However, in Schillebeeckxs theology, the
doctrine of sin does not function as corrective of problems appertaining to modern culture, but primarily
as incentive for the church to confess its own failures and shortcomings. Overall, I argue that precisely
because the doctrine of sin is meant to remind Christians of human failures and shortcomings, it enables an
ecclesial renewal marked by two characteristics: the churchs attentive learning from surrounding cultures,
and the churchs maintenance of a critical distance to these cultures. Attempts to correct a surrounding
culture in relation to that cultures supposedly problematic departure from its Christian heritage, on the
contrary, should be minimized.
Kenneth Ameke (KU Leuven)

Envisioning the Significance of Human Experience of the Spirit for Ecumenical Relations in Light of
Ecclesia Semper Reformanda: A Catholic-Pentecostal Case Study
The communion of Churches, or what John Paul II termed the Discovered Brotherhood in light of the
theological-Spiritual unity and the visible unity of the Church is a notion which has yielded key insights
into the important relationship between the Catholics and the Protestants. However, as a paradigm for
realizing the ecumenical goal of full communion for all believers, this model does not account for the
challenge of the new wave of Pentecostalism which primarily emphasizes the personal experience of the
Spirit.This paper explores the corresponding intermediary goal of ecumenism which investigates the
experience of the activities of the Holy Spirit both personally and also at the communal level. In it, I will
examine Frank Macchias idea of Spirit Baptism as an action of the Spirit in order to reveal the relevance
of the experience of the Spirit from a personal perspective which leads to a communal participation in
the Spirit as koinonia. I will therefore argue for a reconstruction of an ecumenical dialogue within the
paradigm of Macchias hermeneutics of experience. This model deepens the human involvement in the
personal conversion which presupposes the ecumenical/communal relation. Hence the hermeneutics of
experience emphasizes and invites us to our common underlying presupposition about encountering the
Spirit who renews and reforms the Church. According to Macchia, experience as an expressional factor is
seen as a unifying element in enhancing dialogue. In other words, by closely examining the importance of
the human experience of the Spirit, the ecumenical emphasis on the life of the Church which includes the
vocation of the Church will be inclusive of the Pentecostals understanding of the reformanda.
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Pablo Argarate (University of Graz)

For everything that the Holy Spirit has touched, has been sanctified and changed (Mystagogical
Catecheses of Jerusalem. V,7). The Pneumatological Shift in the Syro-Palestinian Anaphorae of the
Fourth Century
The belief that God is One and Three, forms without doubt the core of Christianity. However, while the
highly conflictive development of the doctrine on the second Person is well known, the role and relevance
of the third Person in the Trinitarian dogma remain obscure and to a great extent subordinated. In addition
to this, whereas Christology took many centuries to settle in its main principles, Pneumatological conflicts
were mostly limited to the three decades leading to the council of Constantinople (349-381). This clear
unbalance between Christological and Pneumatological evolutions reflects itself in scholarship.
Beyond some circumstantial statements in the NT and some incipient reflection by Irenaeus and Origen,
the first systematic approach will be undertaken by Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius and the Cappadocians.
The purpose of my paper is to discuss that emerging Pneumatological discourse, based however not on the
above-referred Pneumatological treatises, but on the analysis of the evolution of the epiclesis in the second
half of the fourth century. There, I focus upon its different forms in several Syro-Palestinian anaphorae,
chiefly those referred by Cyril of Jerusalem, Theodore of Mopsuestia and the Apostolic Constitutions.
In doing this, I discuss the essential characteristics, and in the meantime, the differences of the diverse
epiclesis, consecratory or not, paying particular attention to the technical terminology and function of
them upon the gifts but also on the people of God. In this way, through this detailed evaluation, I will
explore the different theological substrata that become patent in the diverse formulae. In this sense, liturgy
precedes the theological reflection, and in the same time, follows it. In both, the Holy Spirit is the great
Transformer and Reformer of the Church.
Neil Arner (University of Notre Dame)

The Unfinished Reformation: The Scriptural Renewal of Catholic Theology During the Prior Century
Many are asking in this quincentenary year about the status of the sixteenth century movement, initiated
by Protestants, to reform the church of their day according to the Word of God. While I am myself a
Reformed Christian, I want to emphasize a different, though related, inquiry: What is the status of the
twentieth century movement, initiated by Catholics, to reform the church of their day according to the
Word of God? By providing a review of Catholic endorsements of the supreme (though not solitary)
authority of Scripture, I will illustrate the possibility of using what Pope Benedict XVI calls a Catholic
idea of sola scriptura as an occasion for the integration of these two ecclesial reform movements. Elevation
of the priority of Scripture as a means of renewing Catholic theology is initially expressed in the first half
of the century, officially endorsed midcentury, ecumenically elaborated in the postconciliar period, and
enthusiastically sustained in the current decade.
I will first review two papal encyclicals, published around the first half of the twentieth century, that provide
a special impetus for greater theological engagement with Scripture: Pope Leo XIIIs Providentissimus Deus
(1893) and Pope Pius XIIs Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943). In the first of these, Leo asserts that the whole
teaching of Theology should be pervaded and animated by the use of the divine Word of God. Then I will
review two documents composed at the Second Vatican Council: Unitatis Redintegratio (1964) and Dei
Verbum (1965). Especially relevant are the claims from these documents, respectively, that the church is
in need of continual reformation and that Scripture is the very soul of theology. When taken together,
these statements approximate the Reformed Christians vision of the church as always being reformed
according to the Word of God.
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The ecumenical dialogues that follow in the wake of the council illustrate that shared reverence for Scripture
among Catholics and various Protestant denominations can lead to substantive theological agreement. I
will review two documents signed in 2007 that highlight the theological authority of Scripture: The
Apostolicity of the Church (with the Lutherans) and The Church as the Community of Common Witness to the
Kingdom of God (with the Reformed). Lastly, I will illustrate the elevation of Scripture by the most recent
popes with reference to Pope Benedict XVIs apostolic exhortation after the 2008 Synod on the Word of
God, as well as several homilies by Pope Francis.
I will conclude by considering the current ecumenical significance of this reform movement within
Catholicism. When viewed in the light of a concurrent rediscovery of the importance of ecclesial tradition
among Protestants, these reform movements have the potential to bring Catholics and Protestants into
greater proximity than may have ever been possible since of the sixteenth century.
Anthony Atansi (KU Leuven)

The Body of Christ: Retrieving the Christological Core for Ecclesial Renewal and Reform:
Reflections from Ratzingerian and Williamsian Perspectives
For a long time, Catholics have tried to respond to the need for ecclesial renewal and reform. The Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council was considered to be also a council for reform and renewal. Theologians
even in recent times, both within and outside of the Catholic circle, have taken up this theme and call to
renewal and reform of the Church or Churches people like William J. Abraham, Richard Gaillardetz,
Jeremy Worthen, Paul D. Murray and Austin Ivereigh. The recent document of the World Council of
Churches (Geneva: WCC 2013), and the Church of Englands Programme for Reform and Renewal (2015),
take up this theme in a strikingly refreshing and programmatic way.
However, in these and some other similar works, documents, programmes and efforts, ecclesial renewal
and reform have been viewed, and the process of and proposals for realizing it articulated, in largely
doctrinal, hierarchical/institutional, pastoral/evangelical, liturgical/sacramental, and even sociological
terms. For instance, Pope Franciss noble vision for and commitment to ecclesial renewal and reform
have also been, for the most part, appreciated by many theologians and scholars in terms of changes in
Church governance, reform of structures in Rome, overhauling of the curia, and at best, a restyling of
evangelization dynamics and strategy. These efforts as genuine and urgent as they seem, have paid marginal
or almost no profound attention to the Christological fount without which an authentic ecclesial reform
and renewal would be possible.
In this paper, I want to explore this peculiarly ecclesiological undermining and almost total forgetfulness of
Christological centre in discussions or commitments concerning ecclesial renewal and reform. I will argue
that ecclesial renewal and reform springs necessarily from a Christological core. Thus, it is inescapably
Christological in content. I shall start from the Pauline description of the Church as the body of Christ,
which implies that the renewal and reformation of the Church is an ontological consequence of the
retrieval of the Christological centre, so much so that the two form fundamentally a single reality. With
this Pauline perspective in view, I shall draw further from the Christocentric ecclesiological insights of
Joseph Ratzinger and Rowan Williams, both of whom suggest that, if we do not get the knowledge of
Jesus Christ right, we will not get the Church and the quest for her reform and renewal right. Therefore,
it might be that the Christological retrieval is the most viable way of really getting ecclesial renewal and
reform beyond polemics.
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Marie Baird (Duquesne University, Pittsburgh)

Ecclesial Democratization, Weak Thought, and Religious Nones
According to the Pew Research Center: Religion and Public Life, fully 78% of religious nones in the
United States claim to have been raised as a member of a particular religion before shedding their religious
identity in adulthood. When asked about the reasons for their abandonment of the religious tradition
in which they were raised, 49% cited a lack of belief. But the second more common reason given was a
dislike of organized religion (20%): One-in-five express an opposition to organized religion in general.
This share includes some who do not like the hierarchical nature of religious groups, several people who
think religion is too much like a business, and others who mention clergy sexual abuse scandals as reasons
for their stance. Needless to say, all these charges can be leveled at the Roman Catholic Church, which
raises the question of what a greater degree of democratization of the Church, and of similar hierarchically-
structured churches, might be able to accomplish in their outreach to the religiously disaffected.
This essay will argue that such a democratization, with its attendant diffusion of the concentration of
ecclesial powers, will most likely not reach the religiously disaffiliated if the goal of such outreach is to
persuade them to give their assent to an infallible body of doctrine an approach often associated with
religious hierarchy. Instead, this essay will argue that churches with a more democratized power structure,
unburdened by more traditional understandings of evangelization, might welcome the weak thought as
represented by Gianni Vattimo in his modest and unassuming claim I believe that I believe while leaving
it to the religiously disaffected to decide for themselves what such a claim might mean.
It will argue further that such democratization will have greater success in its outreach if it appeals to
joint efforts with religious nones to come together around commonly shared ethical values that can be
actualized as forms of concrete engagement with the socially marginalized and endangered. That religious
orders and other religiously engaged organizations are already doing so provides a ready proto-template
for what such steps toward ecclesial democratization and collaborative ethical engagement might look like.
With nationalistic, protectionist, and anti-immigrant movements on the rise, a further democratization of
the churches that can engage the religiously disaffiliated in the commonly held goal of responsibility for
the vulnerable other can only be a welcome development, or so this essay will argue.
Craig Baron (St. Johns University, New York)

Natural Theology in the Public Square of the Third Millennium: Ecumenical Convergences ?
The five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation is a most opportune time to revisit some of the major
issues that have divided Protestants, Catholics and Anglicans when doing theology. One particularly thorny
topic has been the status of natural theology. The roots of the debate go back to Luthers negative reaction
to scholastic theology and the deleterious effects of sin. With the advent of the Enlightenment, thinkers
such as Hume, Kant, and Darwin have made significant intellectual challenges to the very existence of
the subject as well. Yet the point of departure for much of the contemporary ecumenical debate, in the
Catholic world, stems from the First Vatican Council and the claim that there is natural knowledge of
God and Karl Barths nein, in the Protestant domain, to any kind of natural knowledge of God. This
theological debate centers on how to understand the role of sin and grace in doing theology. Since the
end of metaphysics, numerous postmodern thinkers have added their voices and championed the demise
of natural theology and proofs for Gods existence. Currently, though, there has been a nuancing of both
theological positions, as well as, a modulating of the dismissive attitude of postmodernism. For all three
trajectories, it seems imperative that revelation and faith should ground natural theology and any notion
of philosophical foundationalism or prolegomenon for faith should be jettisoned. This is a reversal of
the rationalist natural theology of the Enlightenment. Divine proofs are replaced with probabilities and
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feasibilities. However, it is important to point out that there are many different types of natural theology
and each approach is further differentiated by the type of philosophy utilized.
Therefore, this paper will converse with some of the major contemporary voices in this debateAlister
McGrath, Wolfhart Pannenberg, John Haught, Walter Kasper, Keith Ward and John Macquarrieto see
where a possible ecumenical convergence, beyond polemics, might be found among Protestants, Catholics
and Anglicans, when doing natural theology for the third millennium. Additionally, the opportunities for
entering the public debate and the fashioning of a Christian engagement(s) with scientism, secularism, the
new atheism and the immanent frame of human experience will be hazarded.
Kateina Bauerov (Charles University, Prague)

Human Creativity as the Source of the Renewal of the Church: Alexander Men and His Spiritual
Children
People as created according to Gods image and likeness are not called to copy and repeat like a machine
but to create. Human ability to create and to imagine is part of a non-dualistic view of reality, where the
world, materiality and corporality are not denied. The church and its tradition have always been embodied
in specific cultures and expressed in various forms of art, which have changed over the course of the
history.
Following an older tradition of Russian religious philosophy Alexander Men (1935-1990), a significant
figure of Orthodox theology in Russia in the last decade of Russian communism, saw the human ability
to create as the part of faith and practise of the Orthodox Church. His emphasis on the creative potential
of people reintroduces a theology of freedom by which people of each epoch can explore with openness
new visions of the world. Such new visions bring as a consequence the reformation of the church and its
tradition.
This paper will firstly explore Mens theological notion of a human creative spirit based on the dogma
of the Incarnation as a radical notion of love, freedom and openness to the world. In the broader sense
creativity was for Men the permanent dialogue with the world and others, which was manifested in his
role as a spiritual father of many. Therefore, secondly, the paper will show how his idea of human creativity
was embodied in the art of icon-painting of his spiritual daughters: Sister Joanna Reitlinger (1898-1988)
and Ksenia Pokrovsky (1942-2013), for whom icon-painting was not a mere copying of the past forms
given by church tradition, but was, like breath itself, a part of the human creative spirit.
Maura Behrenfeld (KU Leuven)

Embodied Narthical Connection as Basis for Actuating Renewal and Reform Across Confessional
Traditions: A Dynamic Mediation
What type of art can actually mediate the much needed sacramental connection lacking in people today?
There is strong evidence that artistic approaches must undergo renewal and reform. When artist Bruce
Herman showed his Passion paintings to museum curator Carl Belz, Belz bluntly exclaimed: Nobody
believes that crap anymore, Herman - you cant make religious paintings these days. Youre a very strong
painter but your subject matter is anachronistic and frankly untenable. The National Conference of
Catholic Bishops also acknowledges and emphasizes the importance of change in the approach to art
stating that contemporary art is the work of artists of our own time and place and belongs in our
celebrations as surely as we do. If liturgy were to incorporate only the acceptable art of the past, conversion,
commitment and tradition would have ceased to live.
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While many are pressing for the renewal and reform of traditional artistic approaches, some people remain
adamant that certain elements of traditional art cannot be changed and revitalized. German theologian
Karl Rahner is one such individual. He asserts that Christians cannot express and visualize their religiosity
only by means of abstract paintings without using, for instance, the crucifix and other explicitly religious
images. The fundamental question underlying the stances of all three perspectives presented is: What is it
that makes art capable of being a means of sacramental connection for people? I propose that art providing
a narthical role is the crucial link.
In this paper, abstract art is presented as embodying a powerful narthical role - a position of inviting and
communicating - a function rarely attributed to traditional representational artwork. The term narthical,
discussed in Dortmund University Professor Bert Roebbens narthical model for transformative
learning, will be expanded and used to advance an understanding of abstract arts potential for affecting
sacramental actuation. Devoid of any recognizable association with material reality, abstract art has a
privileged capacity for dynamic engagement between itself and its viewer. I argue that the narthical role
of abstract art is invaluable for elucidating the type of body involvement crucial to releasing the sacred/
Sacred within created being. Such embodied connection is an important basis for real renewal and reform
among churches across confessional traditions today and into the future.
Jacob Benjamins (KU Leuven)

Theological Anthropology and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in Emmanuel Falque
This paper explores Emmanuel Falques philosophical interpretation of the Eucharist in Les noces
de lagneau : Essai philosophique sur le corps et leucharistie (2011). Throughout the text, Falque claims
that the Eucharist is not only relevant to Christians, but holds a universal rationality. He develops this
understanding of the Eucharist through an extended investigation of the body, emphasizing humanitys
animality, eros, and experience of chaos. He then relates these reflections on the body to transubstantiation
in an effort to renew the relevance of a doctrine developed within the specificity of medieval categories for
a contemporary philosophical and theological context. In this paper, I examine Falques interpretation of
transubstantiation, specifically asking whether his attempt to offer a universal rationality via an emphasis
on the body can provide insights into a shared Christian anthropology. Although Falque does not aim
to address or overcome the Eucharistic disputes of the Reformation, his reflections on the real bodily
presence of Christ in the Eucharist does show the potential to enrich and support theological approaches
to anthropology. His exploration of the body in relation transubstantiation provides insights into who it
is that comes to the Lords table (i.e. our animality, chaos, eros) and subsequently what it might mean for
the communicant to abide within the Christ. These insights into theological anthropology can in turn be
broadly affirmed by Christians of various denominational commitments.
Chiara Bertoglio (Independent Scholar)

Holy Music for Holy Deeds: Bernardino Cirillo and the Reformation of Music
This paper provides new information about Bernardino Cirillos letter to Ugolino Gualteruzzi (1549).
Cirillo (1500-1575), a scholar and a churchman, discussed his views on the proper style of church music,
with references to the theory and practice of music in classical Greece (as they were then known) and to
contemporaneous trends. He rejected what prevented, in his opinion, a moving rendition of the liturgical
texts (such as, for example, complex imitative textures or too strict an adherence to given compositional
models), and encouraged composers to find new ways for enhancing the affective power of the verbal text,
in a fashion similar to the ethos of the ancient modes.
In so doing, for Cirillo, musicians should take visual arts and literature as their models, inasmuch as
rediscovery of the past had prompted artistic achievements of an unparalleled beauty; however, sacred
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art should primarily conform to its subject and its finality, i.e. to increase devotion and touch the hearts.
Thus, for Cirillo, Michelangelos Last Judgment is magnificent but ill-suited for a sacred building; the
paper suggests that a similar criticism is voiced by Cirillo also as regards the military activities of Pope
Julius II, which are deemed as unbecoming for a pastor.
Indeed, it is argued, the path proposed by Cirillo for a reform of Catholic church music may be seen as a
paradigm for the spiritual and moral reform he hoped for within the Church as a whole. Cirillos views on
what should constitute the praiseworthy deeds of the Church parallels his opinion on the proper form
of Church music, and both are particularly significant within the framework of the Catholic Churchs
Reformation in response to Luthers Reformation which is commemorated in 2017.
Gerald Boodoo (Duquesne University, Pittsburgh)

Reforming or Decolonizing Church?
In understanding the churches as in need of continuous reform we sometimes take for granted the modern
premises upon which they currently draw economic, political and social power. Addressing the theme
democratization and the power structures within the Churches, this presentation looks to highlight
the coloniality at work in current structures of the churches and attempts to give a brief outline of some
marks for a decolonial option. It will do this with specific reference to the Caribbean and to ways in which
Caribbean indigenous religiosity may help in this endeavor.
Christopher Cimorelli (Caldwell University)

Hierarchy and Covenant: The Intrinsic Openness of the Economy of Salvation and Dynamic Christian
Faith
One of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council was a more open attitude on the part of the Catholic
Church toward the world, including other ecclesial communities. While the attitude and approach of the
Church has shifted, there are certain ecclesiological elements, particularly involving the hierarchy, that
would seem to restrict the Churchs engagement with non-Catholics. This paper will show how Catholic
ecclesiology and its view of hierarchy actually promote dialogue and the dynamism of the Church,
especially when one ties ideas regarding faith to a biblical theology of creation.
For many Catholic thinkers, ecclesiastical history has demonstrated the need for hierarchy and authority
to preserve and expound what God has revealed in word and deed throughout history. In this vein, I
shall (i) investigate how theological work over the past two centuries has shown that the true function of
hierarchy/ authority is in service to divine revelation and the covenantal relationship between God and
humanity. The very structure of the Church is part of Gods economy of salvation, which ensures that
what was revealed would be preserved. Preservation, however, always includes proclamation; safeguarding
revelation necessarily involves interpretation of that which has been received and is aimed at the church
and world. It is in this sense that the Catholic view of hierarchy and authority does not exclude openness,
but rather requires it, as the hierarchy serves a critical function in the larger Body of Christ. I shall then
(ii) articulate this idea with more clarity by analyzing the categories of the fides quae and the fides qua as
primary elements in the response to Gods self-revelation in history. Both categories, or dimensions, of
faith together indicate how the Churchs stability is itself dynamic and open to history, experience, and
the other. The fides quae is typically described as the content of faith which the Church believes and hands
on to subsequent generations of Christians. The fides qua is often portrayed as the faith by which believers
remain faithful at any given time in history. I will argue that these categories achieve their true cogency
within what can be called a biblical theology of creation and narrative-relational view of reality, which
indicate Gods economy of salvation with greater precision. Moreover, while they are distinct elements or
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dimensions of Christian faith, the fides quae and fides qua should, according to this view, be held together
in a fruitful tension, fostering a more robust understanding of assent.
The two parts of this paper will primarily engage the thought of John Henry Newman and his interpreters
ultimately to sketch a more relational, narrative, and open view of the hierarchy within the economy of
salvation that comports with a biblical theology of creation.
Timothy Crutcher (Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma City)

Congregational Episcopacy: On Balancing Authority and Freedom in the Church
The Church of the Nazarene began as an off-shoot of the Methodist Episcopal tradition, but when it merged
with a congregationalist group, it had to re-think its polity. The result was a hybrid of congregational and
episcopal thinking that it has practiced for the last 110 years. This paper will be a critical theological
appraisal of this hybrid as a model for balancing episcopal and congregational concerns when it comes to
church polity.
In essence, each level of operation in the church (local, diocese, general) elects its overseers and then
covenants to obey them. This practice allows for a functional episcopacy with real authority (both teaching
authority and material authority over such things as property) sufficient to keep the church united and
focused on a common mission. So, for example, the Church of the Nazarene, like the Catholic church,
maintains a worldwide organization and has not federated as many other Protestant denominations
have, and the global church workers are paid by the global church (and not by individual congregations).
However, because each level of oversight is elected by those who will be overseen, this polity fully
implements the principle of vox populi, vox dei, in which the process of discernment about who leaders
should be is entrusted to the entire church - lay and clergy - and not just reserved for the institutional elite.
The implicit ecclesiology behind this polity offers some useful handles for balancing the need to have de-
mocratic church structures against the need to have sufficient oversight to ensure unity. While the Church
of the Nazarene is a protestant denomination without an official theology of bishops or of the sacramental
nature of ordination, the practice of the church suggests that its implicit ecclesiology leans historically
more toward an Anglo-Catholicism than toward Protestantism on these questions of the role of power in
the church. The paper will conclude with some suggestions for refinements to this model of church that
would both strengthen it for the Church of the Nazarene but also commend it to the Catholic church as
its people and theologians reflect on the best way to address the concern of democratization and power
structures within the church.
Paul DaPonte (Stonehill College, Easton)

Theologys Task in a Fragmenting World
This present time of political upheaval, fear of the other, and the threatening rise of antagonistic national-
isms has led more than a few Christians to invoke the memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his example
of courageous resistance and solidarity with the suffering of the world. The subtitle of this conference,
Renewal and Reform Beyond Polemics, provides an additional reason to recall the life of Bonhoeffer, here
with respect to his own movement away from the more exclusive, intellectual sort of theology, toward an
increasing concern to develop the actuality of Christian living in the world as the arena of Gods revealing.
In light of his example, in his own time of turmoil and crisis, we are right to wonder whether a similar shift
away from academic theology and toward a theology embedded in the life of the church might actually
lead us to a place of genuine reform beyond mere polemics. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was, of course, both
theologian and pastor. But the dire crises of his day led him to conclude that the place where he was called
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to theologize was precisely in the midst of the suffering Christ existing as community. Importantly, this
shift likewise led Bonhoeffer to recognize that the grave plight of the Confessing church in Germany was
truly an ecumenical matter of concern. Having maintained his ecumenical relations abroad, he enlisted
the help of the churches, and in their response to the pressing demands of the suffering ones, they could,
to some extent at least, draw together as one. Implied here is a challenge to power structures within
academy and elsewhere in the institutional church, which unwittingly contribute to the prolongation of
Christian divisions.
Anton De Preter (KU Leuven)

Cornelius Jansenius on Ecclesiastical Reform
The person of Cornelius Jansen or Jansenius (1585-1638) is primarily associated with the so-called
Jansenist controversy. As the Jansenist faction has been condemned several times by papal writings (e.g.
Cum occassione, 1653; Unigenitus, 1713; ...), its major figures and their writings were regularly negatively
evaluated by history. This evaluation, though, is not really in accordance with the contemporary historical
developments. Cornelius Jansen, for example, was an highly esteemed academician who even achieved the
office of Bishop of Ypres in 1636. One of the reasons of this appointment by Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-
1644) was Cornelius Jansens zeal against the protestant interpretation of Christianity. Nevertheless, the
person as well as the writings of Cornelius Jansen give rise to a lot questions: how was it possible that this
at first sight very catholic bishop provoked, post mortem although, that much uproar? The struggle to find
an answer on this question can, maybe, be indicative of Cornelius Jansens own struggle. In my opinion,
it is beyond dispute that Cornelius Jansen belonged to the Roman Catholic faction in a time of ongoing
confessionalization. But did the Roman Catholic Church of the Counter-Reformation have an univocal
answer to the challenges raised by the different protestant factions? Cornelius Jansen seemed convinced of
the need for a catholic reformation. But what was the foundation of his ecclesiological ideas?
It is the aim of this presentation to discuss Cornelius Jansens conception of ecclesiastical reform. I intend
to describe Cornelius Jansens understanding of ecclesiastical reform on the basis of his own writings. The
dispute of Cornelius Jansen with the reformed preacher Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) after the conquest
of the city of s-Hertogenbosch by the Dutch Republic (1629) gave rise to a lot of writings on the method
and content of ecclesiastical reform and reformation, amongst which Cornelius Jansens Alexipharmacum
(1630) and Notarum spongia (1631). But his conception of ecclesiastical reform can also be reconstructed
on the basis of the Mars Gallicus (1635), in which he criticized the French policy as regards the Low
Countries, and the Augustinus (1640), in which he explained the interpretation of Augustine.
I conclude by analyzing if the method as well as the content of Cornelius Jansens idea of ecclesiastical
reform are indicative of or compatible with the Jansensist conception of ecclesiastical reform. In other
words, is it possible to retrieve a kind of Jansenist conception of the method as well as the content of
ecclesiastical reform in the writings of Cornelius Jansen.
Colby Dickinson (Loyola University Chicago)

Negative Ecclesiology: Moving Beyond Polemics in Contemporary Accounts of Liberalism and Ecclesiology
John Caputos recent declaration of the need for a theologically-inflected nihilism of grace sets the stage
for his own deconstructive ecclesiology, a permanent reformation of Church structures that borders, for
some, on being perpetually antinomian (and so the true conclusion of all forms of weak theology).
In many ways it could be argued that Caputos ecclesiology is a repetition of Luthers challenges to the
Catholic Church while also bearing the possibility of embodying what the political theorist Leo Strauss
had already pronounced: modern forms of liberalism inevitably lead to cultural relativism and embodied
nihilist perspectives. Opposition to such forms of liberalism, which Caputos work seems to descend
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from, have already been seen in certain responses of Radical Orthodoxy, which, like Strauss, declares to be
nihilistic. Despite these charges, there have yet been attempts to read Caputos claims as being a call for
radical democracy apart from liberalism (J. Robbins, C. Crockett). More recently, Achille Mbembe has
called for the detachment of liberalism from neoliberalism, which is the truly nihilistic capitalistic ethos
that plagues the otherwise positive legacy of a liberalism that itself bears Christian roots (e.g. L. Siedentop).
If seen from this point of view, the rise of modern secularism denotes the existence of a relativistic and
nihilist space, though its existence does not proclaim that one should adopt secularism as an ideology (and
thereby sacralizing it) (cf. C. Taylor, J. Habermas). Secularism, as such, does not eradicate religious belief,
but only, and ideally, holds open a neutral space for dialogue between committed religious traditions.
Hence we encounter something like the post-secular in todays theoretical conversation.
By tracing the Christian legacy that might be said to initiate a space for the secular (e.g. G. Vattimo,
J. Caputo, L. Siedentop), I argue that Caputos somewhat nave nihilism of grace (often taken as the
perceived threat of postmodernism) cannot simply be equated with the nihilism of neoliberalism, but
represents rather an attempt to construct a negative ecclesiology parallel in its operations to traditional
negative theologies. That is, perhaps the Christianity gives birth to both the church and the secular at the
same time, offering the church a chance to read the secular as a negative, critical space through which the
church might offer a critique of itself. By elaborating on this claim, I point toward this bifurcated reality of
church/secular space as a negative ecclesiology that exists as (a) an openness to the churchs own negativity,
(b) the possibility of bearing witness to the role of the negative in law and institutional form, and (c) how
such a negative ecclesiology might possibly be the best way to bear witness to the seemingly invisible
(eschatological) Kingdom of God which ceaselessly critiques the churchs worldly existence. Rather than
espouse an antinomianism (as Caputos work seems to many to lead to) or withdraw from traditional
ecclesial structures, a negative ecclesiology presents us with a picture of a church always reforming itself
from within, and thereby potentially disarming the oversimplified polemical debates that often surround
ecclesiological discussions (e.g. J. Caputo vs. J. Milbank).
Nicu Dumitracu (University of Oradea)

Cyril Lucaris and the Unfinished Reformation of Romanians in Transylvania
The occurrence of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century in Western Europe caused a real
earthquake inside the Roman Catholic Church, with extremely interesting reverberations also in the
Eastern Christian world. The intention of this short essay is to show the impact that the reform has
had among the Orthodox Romanians from Transylvania, who, although a numerical majority, were
not recognized as a nation although their faith enjoyed just a certain tolerance. The episode that we
will examine here takes place in the early part of the XVIIth century during the time of prince Gabriel
Bethlen, who under the pretext of a so-called religious, cultural, and even national, emancipation of the
Romanians, proposed their conversion to Calvinism. In this regard, he asked for help from the ecumenical
Patriarch Cyril Lucaris, an unusual hierarch for his time, flexible and firm at the same time, open to
dialogue with other Christian denominations. With good knowledge of the political-religious realities
from Transylvania, Patriarch Cyril replied to him in the most possible ecumenical way, defending the right
of the Orthodox Romanians to keep their faith, language and the customs they hold in common with
their brethren beyond the Carpathian Mountains, Moldavia and Wallachia.
Elochukwu Uzukwu (Duquesne University, Pittsburgh)

Ministry with Large Ears Dynamic African Patterns of Re-imagining/Reforming the Church Today
The Catholic Church in Africa has gone through two rather highly publicized Synods: The Synods of
Bishops for Africa 1994 and 2009. These are lauded as setting the template for the re-evangelization and
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healing of wounds in the Church and among the peoples of Africa through the search for reconciliation,
and the practice of justice and peace. Nevertheless, the results of the two synods are way below the
expectations, energy and the dynamism demonstrated in the Church and its leadership in the 1970s. The
experience of the African Church during the 1974 Synod on Evangelization and as clearly manifested
during the fourth General Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar
(SECAM) in 1975, showed the adult African Church assuming responsibility for its life and mission
with confidence. The 1975 SECAM assembly in Rome displayed highly imaginative and creative Church
leaders presenting their plan of action for the church renewal and growth, and seeking the reduction of the
excessive centralization that plagues of the church of the Latin rite. In Evangelium Gaudium (2013; #17
and 32) Pope Francis I lamented that Excessive centralization, rather than proving helpful, complicates
the Churchs life and her missionary outreach.
This presentation which takes seriously the views of the Pope and the creative dynamism demonstrated by
the Bishops of Africa in the 1970s. Drawing from the genius of indigenous African social organization,
evolving through the ambiguous history of the continent, this presentation takes up and develops the
argument first presented in the book, A Listening Church: Autonomy and Communion in African Churches
(1996). It will demonstrate that the wishes of the Pope if carried through will happily rekindle the
dynamism experienced in the Churches of Africa in the 1970s. This will not only reinvigorate liturgical
creativity, that is today moving backwards to Tridentine uniformism, but will also reawaken reinvention
of the Church structures, energizing the Small Christian communities.
Jerry Farmer (Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans)

Karl Rahner, Charism, Institution and Discernment: Incarnating Justice and Love For All Refugees
and Migrants
The process of discernment has an important place in the theology of Karl Rahner. In the sphere of
ecclesiology, there is an investigation of the charismatic element in the Church, noting particularly the
polarity which exists between charism and institution. But, as highlighted by Richard Lennan, Rahners
sacramental ecclesiology avoided contrasting the external reality of the Church a shibboleth for Catholics
with the freedom of Gods Holy Spirit a Protestant shibboleth. In the sphere of spirituality, the
discernment of spirits in the strict sense is an approach that Rahner values very highly. Here the spirituality
of Ignatius of Loyola has a profound influence on Rahners theology, specifically his pnuematology; Rahner
views the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius as a fundamental document of the modern period. Peter Fritz
states: Ignatius entirely redefines the emerging modern idea of freedom. In contrast to his humanistic
contemporaries, and more like the Protestants, he defines freedom, [citing the analysis of Louis Dupr]
as a divinely inspired surrender within which action itself becomes grounded in passivity. Freedom is
primarily Gods, and God shares this with human creatures. Rahner finds in Ignatius one who is situated
at the beginning of the modern period, but who, at the same time, transcends it. It is a movement away
from the radical autonomy and self-sufficiency of the individual. Ignatius is drawn instead to a deliberatio
communitaria, ... that is, to an existential decision done in groups, by groups, and for groups. His is a
communitarian view of human subjectivity. And in this light, Rahner observes that today humankind
is searching for higher forms of social structure which seek to reconcile the dignity and value of the
individual with the social character of man ... These higher social formations are something new ... [that]
will stamp the emerging historical period. In 1983, Rahner, along with Heinrich Fries, published Unity
of the Churches: An Actual Possibility. Richard Lennan notes that Rahner was convinced that the churches
could effectively address the questions and concerns of the contemporary world only if they spoke with
one voice ... [The Church] needed to be a community that relied on the Spirit, focused on Jesus Christ,
prized unity, and worked to incarnate justice in the world. And today this challenge is seen in one of the
most pressing of ecclesial and social questions: to incarnate justice, and love, for all refugees and migrants.
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Benedict (Daniel) Fischer (KU Leuven)

The Mass as a Sacrifice: Sacrificial Typology in the Bible Commentaries of Cornelius a Lapide, S.J.
(1567-1637)
This paper will assess renowned early modern Bible commentator Cornelius a Lapides presentation of
Jewish sacrificial types in his commentaries on Exodus (1616), Leviticus (1616) and Malachi (1625)
to illustrate how his Catholic theology of the Eucharist as sacrament and sacrifice is in continuity with
the Old Testament sacrificial system. The assessment will take into account (1) the historical context in
which A Lapide wrote these commentaries, namely as a 2nd generation Jesuit first at Louvain, then in
Rome; (2) the vocabulary of sacrifice A Lapide uses to explain the Jewish sacrificial system, particularly
his approach to Hebrew and Greek; and (3) the Eucharistic theology of sacrament and sacrifice that A
Lapide demonstrates as evolving out of the Jewish rituals viz. his placement of types into antitype. At this
point some consideration of auctoritates or A Lapides main theological influences comes into play, as
well as how post-Tridentine Catholic doctrine effected his scholarship. The final area of reflection will
consider A Lapides theological adversaries (Luther, Calvin, Beza), and his understanding of their work on
the Eucharist/Lords Supper. Here we confront important questions of our day concerning confessional
identity and ecumenism, 500 years after the beginning of the Reformation.
Michael Fletcher (KU Leuven)

After 500 Years: Luthers Theologia crucis as the Crux for (Ecumenical) Reform
If the church must always be reformed, then we must ask the question: if one denomination, sect, or rite
is reformed, while the rest remain unchanged, was that reform successful? We claim that this reform
would not have been successful, because it would have been inward focused and would not have had an
impact on the other. In other words, in todays context, reform must be ecumenical in scope, however,
the ecumenical movement itself it not without its own need for reform in certain respects. Therefore, this
article is about a type of reform for the ecumenical movement.
It has been said that the ecumenical movement is in an ecumenical winter because of the minimal
progress over the past 50 years, and many theologians are now searching for methodologies to bring
about an ecumenical spring. In other words, they see the need for ecumenical reform. As a way to
commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we ask, is it possible that Martin
Luthers theologia crucis - the hallmark of Protestant Reformation theology - could indeed be useful for
(ecumenical) reform, and if so, how? We claim that it is precisely Luthers theologia crucis which is the crux
for (ecumenical) reform. We will give warrant to this claim through two stages. In the first stage, we will
use a historical-critical method, and in the second we will use a systematic-theological approach.
In the first stage, we will examine Luthers theologia crucis as the most prestigious doctrine of the Protestant
Reformation. Most notably we will examine the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, though we will also be
mindful of the rest of his oeuvre. Luther presented the theologia crucis in a relation-in-tension alongside
the theologia gloriae, and he did so as a way to help reform the church, albeit, unsuccessfully. Today, this
doctrine is often distorted because it is not properly presented in-tension with the theologia gloriae.
After having a proper understanding of the theologia crucis, we will turn towards the question of using it
for reform within the ecumenical movement. In this stage we will use a systematic-theological approach
to propose parallel themes for the ecumenical movement, namely, oecumenismum crucis (ecumene-of-
the-cross) and oecumenismum gloriae (ecumene-of-glory). These two have a relation-in-tension with one
another, and help illuminate aspects of the ecumenical movement, similarly to how Luthers originals
illuminated his contemporary theology. Luthers theology-of-the-cross was explained to help reform the
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church, likewise, the ecumene-of-the-cross will be explained to help reform the ecumenical movement.
It is our hope, that after 500 Years, Luthers theologia crucis will finally be shown to be the crux for
(ecumenical) reform.
Joshua Furnal (Radboud University, Nijmegen)

Ecclesial Renewal through the Eyes of Marie-Dominique Chenu OP
In Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Pope Francis recalls a phrase from Dei Verbum n. 12 when he says that the
Church needs to grow in her interpretation of the revealed word and in her understanding of truth. It is
the task of exegetes and theologians to help the judgment of the Church to mature (n. 40). The judgment
of the Church is in continuous need of renewal. This is an insight that Pope Francis has highlighted in
word and deed throughout his papacy, which distinctly echoes the teaching of the Second Vatican Council
(1962-1965).
In this short paper, I will briefly survey the theme of ecclesial renewal and reform during the Second Vatican
Council through the eyes of the French Dominican Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895-1990), as recorded
in his Council notebook from 1962-1963. As the director of Le Saulchoir, Chenu was a very influential
fore-runner to the ressourcement movement that shaped Vatican II, whose work on Thomas Aquinas
contributed to the renewal that liberated Catholic theology from the constraints of Neo-Scholasticism.
The upshot of this historical and theological analysis is to signal the ways in which the task of ecclesial
renewal continues today - especially, regarding ecumenical discussions about Scripture, Tradition, grace,
sacrament, and institutional structures. My argument is that against the backdrop of Chenus observations
during the Council, a fresh perspective on the Churchs mission of renewal gets illuminated today with
Pope Francis who issues the task of renewal to every believer.
Anthony J. Godzieba (Villanova University)

Lutherans, Catholics, and Musical Ecumenism: Pergolesi and Bach Together Again for the First Time
One of the undoubted musical hits of the mid-eighteenth century was Pergolesis emotion-laden Stabat
Mater, transmitted throughout Europe in countless manuscript copies and prints. It became one of the
exemplars of the lighter and more sentimental style of Roman Catholic sacred music developed in Italy in
the 1730s. Ironically, one of the earliest traces north of the Alps of the piece leads to Bachs library (C.
Wolff). Thus the staunch Lutheran J. S. Bach, criticized in print for his old-fashioned and turgid style,
actually remained stylistically ahead of the curve with his wide-ranging interests that extended even to the
latest galant music from Catholic Italy. In his arrangement (Tilge, Hchster, meine Snden, BWV 1083),
Bach removed Pergolesis Marian-centered text, unusable in a Lutheran context, and substituted a poetic
setting of the Miserere (Psalm 50 [51]), thus creating a major shift in the doctrinal and overt affective
intentionality of the work.
Music history is filled with cases of Lutheran composers of the 17th and 18th centuries traveling to
Catholic Italy to experience splendid sacred music in Venice, Rome, or Naples, in order to learn that
Baroque style and bring it home to employ in their Lutheran churches and courts. This paper, however,
focuses on a more particular issue. It was not unheard of that Lutheran composers would re-text Italian
Marian motets for use in Lutheran contexts, and so Bachs treatment of Pergolesi was not unprecedented.
However, this raises a crucial question: how can a specific musical work expressing a particular set of
affects support different texts with divergent religious claims? Are these instances which demonstrate that
Lutherans and Catholics had in common a devotional piety that cut across doctrinal differences, a kind
of deep-seated musical ecumenism? This paper takes a phenomenological approach, examining some of
these instances, especially the Pergolesi-Bach connection. It asks whether, beneath these religious texts and
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their claims, there may have been a more fundamental devotional affect and intentionality that 17th- and
18th-century Lutheran and Catholic piety shared and that might be appropriated today.
Joseph Grabau (KU Leuven)

Ecumenical Exegesis? Reading the Gospel of John in Roman-Christian North Africa
In his 2011 doctoral dissertation (Rome), Gabriel Quicke drew up a scheme of principles for a spirituality
of ecumenism, in which his primary source-book was the In Iohannis euangelium tractatus (Io. eu. tr.)
written by Augustine of Hippo, between A.D. 405 and 430. An elaborate commentary on the Gospel
of John, begun at the height of the so-called Donatist Controversy in North Africa, these tractates
simultaneously reveal Augustine as Church architect and biblical exegete, convincing orator and preaching
pastor. Yet other work (e.g. Dupont-Dalvit 2014, Grabau-Dupont 2016) suggests that in his Tractates
Augustine may have chosen to downplay or misrepresent interpretations of John, to oppose any Donatist
conception of the body of Christ, and even of God as Trinity (Ployd 2015). Thus, in emphasizing the
integrity of the Roman, Catholic Church, in a certain light Augustine also overturned and undermined
the Church of his own neighbors in North Africa. This paper would like to synthesize these two strands
of argumentation in scholarship on Augustines commentaries on John principally by turning to his
own tractates for evidence for and against his input for a spirituality of ecumenism, that would overcome
factional polemics.
As a proposal, I offer an alternative approach for the history and sociology of religion, that will help also
in contemporary, systematic reflections on ecumenism and renewal. In particular, my work seeks to offer
a glimpse into the world of an archeology and retrieval of North African preaching, between the Council
of Nicaea and the Byzantine conquest (A.D. 325-533). This shift of perspective away from that of heresy,
schism and orthodoxy offers the opportunity to retrieve the essential defining characteristics, as well as
the measure of internal diversity, within a body of collected homilies, sermons, and tractates. As source
material, I wish to broaden the scope of consideration beyond that of the studies introduced above, to
evaluate sermon material of other, contemporary North Africans with questions about the Church, the
spirit of renewal and ecumenism, and the interpretation of John and Johannine ecclesiology. How might
many of these anonymous or pseudepigraphal documents illuminate the multiplicity and diversity of the
Church in North Africa, seeking to define itself and to overcome internal division and aggression towards
outsiders? This short presentation will thus offer methodological insights, as well as confront modern
scholarship on Augustines Io. eu. tr. with the need for greater contextualization. By appeal to other
contemporary evidence from the same region, I hope to reconstruct an outline of what other preachers in
North Africa were saying about key passages from the Gospel of John, and how they sought to make sense
of the Gospel text especially on the nature of the Church and its relation to Christ in their own theological
and pastoral reflections.
Christopher Hadley (Santa Clara University)

The New Testament as the Churchs Book: Which Church ?
The paper re-imagines the classical claim that the New Testament is the churchs book, according to
which only the hierarchical, apostolic, Catholic church can legitimately interpret Scripture. The churches
and individual Christians of the early Reformation saw themselves as under the absolute authority of
Scripture in a way that seems almost directly opposed to any sense of the notion of the NT being the
churchs book. Is not the church rather the church of the NT? The Catholic churchs understanding
of its relationship to the NT and the Bible as a whole has changed in light of its increasingly historical
self-awareness as constituted by the reading and handing on of that Scripture. If the New Testament is
still legitimately understood by the Catholic church as its book, are there other churches for whom
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the NT serves as their book in a parallel way? Could there be a communion of churches in a common
understanding of this axiom, and even more importantly, in a communal act of reading and being held
accountable to the event of this reading?
The paper proposes an analogy between Catholic NT scholar Sandra Schneiders understanding of the
New Testament as a revelatory text and Orthodox theologian Metropolitan John Zizioulas understanding
of the Eucharist as mutually constitutive along with the church. The analogy is applied to the question of
how an interdenominational sharing of the biblical interpretive task might contribute to the restoration
of communion in ways parallel to and at least as equally crucial as ecumenical dialogue on Eucharist and
authority. If, in the Catholic and Orthodox understanding of Eucharist, the church is present where the
Eucharist is shared, how might the Church of Christ that exists among all the baptized as understood
by Vatican II be realized in shared scholarship, and even shared worship, centered on the reading of the
Bible as a revelatory text? The fruits of such a study are expected to be provisional but hopefully useful for
ecumenical dialogue.
Darryl Hale (Western Carolina University, Cullowhee)

A Tale of Two Martins? Luthers Political Theology, Humanism, and Ecumenism
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. So began Dickens masterpiece about the French
Revolution. And so proclaim many about the results of Luthers Reformation. Older biographers saw
Luther as bringing into existence, constructively, almost ex nihilo, modernity through Reformation
insights vernacular translations of the Bible, making the Word accessible to the ordinary, marginalized
believer; egalitarianism, resulting from his priesthood of all believers doctrine; and sacralizing of secular
callings as on par with a professional priesthood. Luther here is the new Adam before the Fall. More
recently, postmodern critics treat Luthers Reformation destructively in that his liberation of believers
brought about rampant possessive individualism, his faith egalitarianism denigrated tradition (hence,
rejected all standards of reason), as displayed in the Peasants Revolt, and other radical fringes of the
Reformation; and fostered unbelieving secularism, all of which constitute the unintended, but disturbing
wakes of modernity. In this lies the worst of times, the visiting of this later Adams sins upon the 4th and
5th generations.
However, all of these assessments seem to focus primarily on the latter-day social, politically incorrect,
or contrarian elements in Luther. I am not denying these are present, but they ignore the theologico-
ethical aspects biblical, humanist, and ecumenist that ground Luthers own new way of thinking.
These days, the theological is regarded with deep suspicion and hostility, since many are convinced that
the theological aims only at defense of sectarian values. In so doing, we overlook some revolutionary
insights Luther gained from his humanist education, biblical expositions, and ecumenical thinking, all
grounded in a return to Scripture and plain reason. This means that paradoxically, Luther does not regard
plain reason as the Devils whore, only sophistical reason. With this distinction, Luthers very public
theology began with a grounding in biblical exegesis & its import, 1515-17 (Lectures on Romans, 95
Theses), expanded to a critical populist-egalitarian ethic of summer 1520 (Christian Nobility, Babylonian
Captivity), and culminated in his own dialectical-ecumenical political theology of late 1520 (Freedom of a
Christian). As a result, education in Theology, for Luther and Melanchthon, incorporated new humanist
methods of interpreting/translating biblical insights, and stressed the power of Moral Philosophy for
moving humans toward peaceful means of reconciliation. Accordingly, training in theology increasingly
became education in Christian humanist, morally reconciliatory, and ecumenical thought.
Historically, Luthers own political theology typically has been regarded as sectarian, conservative, even
reactionary. Largely due to his well-known treatise of 1523, On Secular Authority, Luther was regarded as
the princes friend. Therein, Luther proclaimed the famous two kingdoms doctrine believers belong
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to a spiritual kingdom, bound to the Word, but also are obligated to follow the Sword of the prince, since
he is ordained of God. And Luthers negative reactions to the Peasants War of 1525 seemed to confirm
further his political conservatism in being bound to the rule of the sword.
Still, we might challenge this traditionalist reading of Luthers political theology. There were seeds in his
writings for a more revolutionary, though populist and ecumenical, public theology. So, perhaps Luthers
own theological perspective, since it is biblical humanist in origins but ecumenical in outreach, is not so
much a Tale of Two Martins under the Sword as that of one Martin with Two Hammers, the one forging
Swords into Plowshares, while the other (Radical Reformers Martin) forged Plowshares back into Swords.
In this more revolutionary theology were laid the seeds for renewal, reconciliation, and reform of the
church. However, Luther himself grew increasingly frustrated with the more radical, violent, apocalyptic
subversions of his public theology by political activists, such as leaders of the Peasants Revolt, Mntzers
Radical Reformers, and Zwinglis eikonoklasts. One recent Christian thinker who completes Luthers
revolution in Public Theology by combining all these disparate concerns is Jrgen Moltmann.
Riyako Cecilia Hikota (Institut Catholique de Paris)

To Relive Calvary with Mary: Balthasars View of the Eucharist
and Its Implications for Ecumenism
It has been pointed out that ecumenical concerns have often led Catholic theologians to start with the
aspect of communion of the Eucharist and downplay the sacrificial significance of the Eucharist. This
tendency has been found in the twentieth-century Catholic theology of the Eucharist and apparently still
continues. However, bracketing the sacrificial significance of the Eucharist could end up downplaying
the aspect of communion as well. The Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar was one of the
exceptions to this trend and did not hesitate to argue for the sacrificial significance of the Eucharist. He even
supported it by a radically considered Mariology (another aspect which ecumenically-oriented theologians
would likely avoid). However, in a sense this was how Balthasar attempted to respect the Protestant
concern not to belittle the uniqueness of Christs sacrifice. Though some aspects of his Mariology and
Eucharistic theology (e.g. radical passivity and characterization of passivity as feminine) can be considered
problematic, we can still learn from his style of being ecumenical by being thoroughly Catholic. Thus,
based on a critical appreciation of Balthasars theology, this paper will affirm the sacrificial significance
of the Eucharist as well as its profound connection with Mariology and also explore an effective way of
receiving the reformation legacy within contemporary Catholic theology.
Scott Holland (Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond)

Reformations Old and New in a Post-secular and Post-ecclesial Age
Death of God theologians and Radical Theology thinkers of the 1960s expected to see and celebrate the
arrival of Harvey Coxs Secular City. However, two decades later Cox was writing about the unexpected
flourishing of religion in the secular city. The postmodern turn in philosophy and critical theory helped
deconstruct old religious metanarratives and invite the recognition of previously repressed minor narratives
as well as open hospitable space for new spiritual stories. The postmodern turn invited the return of God.
Yet many of these new stories of God often defy the standard historical and theological categories of
Reformation, Counter Reformation and even the Radical Reformations.
They also challenge both established sociological understandings of the secular and received theological
traditions of the sacred. With more Europeans and North Americans alike at home in the confession, Im
spiritual but not religious, a number of contemporary scholars and religion watchers are concluding that
we are entering an era that is both post-secular and post-ecclesial.
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This paper will focus on this unconventional spiritual reformation of belief without borders in the
American religious context. Between 1990 and 2010 the number of Americans who claimed to have no
religious affiliation more than tripled from 14 million to 46 million. This makes the so called nones
those who claim no current formal religious affiliation the fastest growing spiritual group in the United
States, far outnumbering the increase of Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists. We refer to this unaffiliated
group spiritual because a large percentage of its members still value and desire religious discourse and
values but prefer a kind of faith and practice that is more artfully theopoetic than traditionally theological.
As a professor of Theology and Culture and a pastor who serves a growing number of nones and dones in
their rites of passage such marriages and funerals as well as one who offers spiritual counsel, I will present
a phenomenological and theological analysis of this new spiritual reformation. Can we really call this
startling trend a reformation? What are its implications for the future of churches, denominations and
religious institutions? What might it mean for the future of God-talk?
Thomas Hughson (Marquette University, Milwaukee)

Receptive Ecumenism: A Lutheran Proposal for Eco-Reformation
The model of receptive ecumenism developed at Durham University pertains to what Catholicism has
been learning from other churches. It is also open to what other churches may learn from Catholicism. An
example of the latter is a Lutheran appropriation of Pope Franciss Laudato si in Lisa E. Cahill and James
B. MartinSchrammm, eds., Eco-Reformation: Grace and Hope for a Planet in Peril (Cascade Books/Wipf
and Stock: Eugene, Ore., 2016). Fifteen Lutheran theologians proceed from a common conviction
that a gospel call for ecological justice belongs at the heart of the five hundredth anniversary observance
of the Reformation in 2017. In tandem with the reception of Laudato si the authors are committed
to Liberated by Gods Grace (Lutheran World Federation, Department for Theology and Public
Witness, https://www. lutheranworld.org/reformation-2017). The direction in the Lutheran proposal is
toward a new understanding of Ecclesia semper reformanda. Sustaining the Reformation requires an Eco-
Reformation, ecclesial conversion to a renewed relation to God through a renewed relation with creation.
Although the authors direct their contributions primarily to Lutheran and other Protestant readers, the
question arises, could Catholic theology for its part recognize and receive the variously-argued Lutheran
proposal? The purpose and goal of the paper consists in testing my hypothesis in favor of Catholic
recognition of a positive answer. Three sections move toward the goal: 1) what is Eco-Reformation? 2)
what theological legitimacy does shifting from the 16th c. focus on human salvation/justification before
God to planetary well-being enjoy? and 3) what understandings of creation characterize the book? Section
3) will concentrate on the ecclesiological implications (Lutheran and Catholic) of divine immanence in
creation.
The foregoing is the outline and expectation of my research on the Lutheran proposal, already an instance
of receptive ecumenism, as a theological position open to Catholic reception.
Arnold Huijgen (Theological University of Apeldoorn)

Allegory Within the Bounds of the Letter: Towards a Renewal of Protestant Hermeneutics of the Old
Testament
Many of the 16th century Protestant Reformers rejected allegorical interpretation of the Bible and favored
humanist, literal-grammatical exegesis. This resulted in ample attention for the specific character of the
Old Testament and stimulated biblical studies. Meanwhile, various kinds of theological interpretations
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have been presented (e.g., by Matthew Bates and R. Kendall Soulen) that interpret the Old Testament
in a Trinitarian way but step away from historical-critical exegesis. In this presentation, theological
interpretation and literal exegesis are connected. The Old Testament stories of Saul and David are used to
explore the potential of an allegorical approach that respects the letter of scripture.
Nathanael Inglis (Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond)

Reforming Christian Theology in a Detraditionalized Society
One of the central legacies of the Protestant Reformation was Martin Luthers teaching on sola scriptura,
which affirms that the Bible is the primary source for Christian belief and practice, and all other traditions
are derivative of the scriptural witness. By drawing a sharp line between what he perceived to be divine
and human authority, Luther sought to make clear theological judgments on disputed questions without
recourse to institutional church hierarchies. Today, social scientists recognize a different reformation
that has taken place over the last several decades, especially in Western societies. And like the Protestant
Reformation five hundred years ago, it has to do with a social realignment of tradition. While Luther
sought to distinguish between the limited authority of human tradition and the absolute authority of divine
revelation, today there is a shift of authority from traditions and the institutions that maintain them
like churches, governments, and community or family structuresto individuals and their preferences.
Social theorists like Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens refer to this process as detraditionalization. In
detraditionalized societies, external authority becomes subject to and derivative of an individuals primary
authority. Unlike societies in which normative traditions strongly shape peoples identities and life choices,
in detraditionalized societies, people are not born into social contexts with set identities and social roles.
When considering theology in this setting, it appears that even though methods have become more
sophisticated and contextual, the appeal to religious traditions as justification for new claims continues to
play a prominent role.
The problem with this approach is that in detraditionalized societies, fewer people are convinced by an
appeal to tradition as a trustworthy basis for moral decision-making. If theologians do not attend to this
cultural shift in the way that people relate to traditions, they run the risk of writing theology in ways
that are distant and irrelevant to the actual practices of many Christians. Given this context, I suggest
that rather than using traditions to regulate religious belief and practice, theology should draw upon
traditions as building blocks for constructing a revitalized present and an imagined future. Using the work
of Gordon Kaufman, Terrence Tilley, Katherine Tanner, John Thiel, and Lieven Boeve, I will identify a
shifting current in theologies of tradition that is influenced by social constructivism, historicism, and
pragmatism. I will put the findings of this study into conversation with detraditionalization theory in
order to suggest ways that constructive theologians can continue to use traditions to situate their claims,
but not to regulate them. Overall, this presentation will critically examine detraditionalization as an
emerging social reformation and suggest a possible way forward for theologies to address this transforming
cultural landscape.
Mariia Ivaniv (Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv)

Ukrainian Laity on Vatican II: Desire to be Visible
The Second Vatican Council was a great opportunity for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to speak
about itself to the whole world. The Ukrainian Bishops who were present on the Council, had a goal
to be the voice of the silent Church. They tried to do this, but here arises a question: did they give an
opportunity to the Ukrainian lay people to be heard, or they just presented their own point of view as
hierarchs? Research about the participation and activity of the Ukrainian bishops in the Vatican II is still
in progress but already showed that bishops contributed to a few conciliar documents and some of them
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were actively involved in the work of the Council. Simultaneously, the role and activity of UGCCs faithful
during the Council was not so much seen as an object of research till now. Some books and articles about
the Council were made by researchers and journalists, who were present on the Council, but an analysis
of their work and influence on the Ukrainian hierarchs and their positions, is not discovered yet. So, this
paper has as its goal to discover the role and activities of the Ukrainian laity during the Second Vatican
Council. Specifically, in my project, I will be looking at the work of the Ukrainian Press Bureau, which
has published a newsletter Noticiario Ucraino in Italian and a newsletter News from Rome in Ukrainian
and at the work of the Ukrainian lay organizations in the diaspora, which had their own positions about
the topics, discussed during the council. The analysis of their work will allow me to understand which
influence the Ukrainian laity had on the Ukrainian Bishops Conference, in particular, and on the Council
in general. So, this paper will show how the Ukrainian hierarchs and lay people collaborated during the
Council and how the UGCCs bishops spoke both from themselves and from their faithful.
Jitka Jonov (Palack University, Olomouc)

The Eucharistic Congresses The Youngest Form of Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass
The worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass has evolved throughout history. While the keeping of the
Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass seems to have been part of the Eucharistic Christian practice from
the beginning, the practice of adoration began somewhat later. In connection with the development of
the doctrine of the Eucharist the worship of the Eucharist outside Mass was the expression of catholic
orthodoxy. In the thirteen century the Feast of Corpus Christi was instituted. From this point, devotion to
the Blessed Sacrament, both within and outside the Mass, became central in the piety of Roman Catholic
Christians.
The Eucharistic Congresses appeared as a new form of the Worship of the Eucharist in the second half
of the 19th century. Eucharistic Congresses were held at the international and national or diocesan level.
The form of the celebration of the Eucharistic Congress was naturally influenced by the liturgical reform
of Vatican II. At its beginning Eucharistic Congresses were mainly the manifestation of the Catholic
faith. Gradually, among the themes of congresses not only an interest appeared in current issues in
society, but also in the ecumenical dimension of the congresses. From the originally exclusively Catholic
manifestations became also an opportunity for cooperation and dialogue. Accompanying activities may
also have a missionary character.
The paper will be focus on the differences in celebration of Eucharistic Congresses before and after the
liturgical reform of the Vatican II. and on the development of the main themes of the Congresses.
Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Volos Academy)

Returning to the Roots and Return to the Fathers: An Orthodox Version of the Reformation?
It is commonly asserted that every reformation seeks its legitimization by harking back to the roots. Both
Luther and Calvin called for a return to the authenticity of early Christian life and to the simplicity of the
gospel, as opposed to the abuses and excesses of the medieval papacy. For his part, Harnack consistently
emphasized a return to the authentically biblical spirit, calling for an overcoming to what he saw as the
digression of the Hellenization of Christianity. However, while reformation may seek to return to basics
and appeal to the primitive Christian communities and the truth of the original text, it cannot separate the
essence of these communities or texts from their history and socio-cultural life, or from history itself, for
no text exists outside of its own history and that of its interpretations. A return to the roots is not simply
a backward move; it does not mean resistance to change or an escape to the past. Rather, it seeks a critical
appropriation of the original message, a deep understanding of the fundamental, holy text. Moreover,
any reform requires a redefinition of the past, a critical re-evaluation of history and tradition; it therefore
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involves a dynamic analysis and interpretation of the past. In this way, the return to the roots could in fact
be seen as a dynamic, creative process.
The Return to the Fathers movement became the hallmark of and the dominant paradigm for Ortho-
dox theology for the better part of the 20th century. As it is well known, in the First Orthodox Theological
Conference (Athens, 1936), Fr. Georges Florovsky, proclaimed Orthodox theologys need to return to the
Fathers and to be released from its Babylonian captivity to Western theology in terms of its language,
its presuppositions, and its reasoning. His call was quickly adopted by many theologians of the Russian
Diaspora, while he also gathered fervent supporters in traditionally Orthodox countries (Greece, Serbia,
and Romania). The 20th century was, therefore, a time of renewal for Orthodox theology, which for
the first time in many centuries, due to the influence of the Orthodox Diaspora and the ecumenical
dialogue, ventured out from its traditional strongholds and initiated a discussion with other Christian
traditions. But, despite its innovative moments, it seems that the 20th century precisely because of
the way in which this return to the Fathers was perceived and of the corresponding program to de-
westernize Orthodox theology - was also for Orthodox theology a time of introversion, and of a static
or fundamentalist understanding of the concept of Tradition, which very often came to be equated with
traditionalism. The present paper seeks to discuss the reasons for which the return to the Fathers opposes
to any reform movement, preventing thus Orthodoxy from being part of the modern word, discouraging
it from addressing the challenges the modern world had posed - and continues to pose - to Orthodox
theology.
John Bosco Kamoga (KU Leuven)

African Theology and the Renewal of Christianity: Retrieving the Dream of Nurturing a Creed-less
Continental Christianity
Could Africa have reshaped the face of Christianity with the birth of an African Christianity? African
theologians at the 1977 Accra Pan-African Conference of Third World Theologians felt the need to review
the presence of Christianity on the continent. As part of her struggle for independence and recovery of
her identity, they argued that Africa needed a version of Christianity devoid of all the cultural, historical
and structural baggage that came with it from the West. They particularly felt it was regrettable that the
Christian faith had come to Africa already branded with creedal distinctions. As such, those African
families that chose to convert to the Christian faith had to contend with the rampart fall-out arising from
the choices people had to make, either for Protestantism or Catholicism. In some countries like in Uganda
religious-proxy wars had to be fought between the Anglo-Protestants and the French Catholics. An African
council that was proposed by the African Catholic theologians in the expectation that it would map out
the path of a renewed Christianity on the continent was in part thwarted by efforts of the local episcopate
and that of the Roman Curia. Instead, an African Synod of Bishops was convoked in 1994, in Rome,
replacing the issues pertinent to the African Church proposed by the theologians and other stakeholders,
with issues Rome thought were the most important for the African church. Although theological discourse
on the continent has continued to be conducted largely with a largely Ecumenical attitude and tone,
on the ground inter-faith relations within Christianity have generally remained antagonistic or at best
competitive instead of being complementary in their effort to witness to the liberating message of the
gospel. I want to argue that it is time to retrieve the African theological initiative of a nurturing a creedless
version of Christianity on the continent, using the rich cultural tools and practices in the continent. This
will aid the Christian churchs potential to impact on the process of liberating Africa more positively and
effectively than is the case now.
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Bernhard Kohl (University of Toronto/University of Erfurt)

Rethinking Incarnation. Towards an Ethical Paradigm of As Well As
Instead of Either Or
In my talk, I would like to discuss in what way the critical theories of trans- and posthumanism can be
helpful to rethink the biblical concept of Incarnation, and therefore, to detect and prevent dualistic and
excluding patterns in this concept and vice versa re-understand it as an ethical paradigm of as well as
instead of either or. I develop my argument in three steps:
1 | Rethinking Incarnation: Becoming flesh/human

Since the third century incarnatio as Latin translation of srkosis is commonly used, to describe Gods
unconditional positive regard and unparalleled revelation of his grace. In the biblical context flesh signifies
the full reality of human beings. Furthermore, the Council of Nicaea began employing srkosis (becoming
flesh) and enanthrpesis (becoming human) synonymously.
How do theological anthropology and ethics look like, when they start from this concept? To draw on the
Second Vatican Council the thought of incarnation leads to an integration of God and creation, of God
and human so that there cant exist any dualism in thinking the relationship between church and world,
believers and non-believers.
2 | Rethinking Humanism: Trans-/Posthumanism

Posthumanist theories often start with a critique of classical humanism. This critique is not meant to enforce
an in-humanism, but to rediscover and to strengthen humanisms genuine meaning and significance.
As well as a concept of incarnation can help to overcome any dualistic thinking, concepts of eitheror,
posthumanist theories turn to the question of incarnation as question of corporeality and becoming/
being flesh/human, to overcome a dualistic dissociation of human and non-human and to establish a
concept of a human-environmental-network.
Thus, a dualistic separation or a construction of artificial borders between human and non-human, human
being and the in-human other cannot be regarded as consistent anymore.
3 | Rethinking ethics: as well as instead of either or

Theological conceptions of incarnation, as well as posthumanist approaches stand for attempts to
understand humans, world, reality, technology, nature etc. in a non-dualistic way and by this as a
relocation and radicalization of the human.
Speciesism and anthropocentrism are questioned in order to problematize any kind of identification
of subjectivity and the boundaries of species, categories, generic groups etc., which also can be seen as
liberating potential of posthumanism.
A posthumanist ethical concept therefore contains the promises of interconnectedness, complexity und
emergence and doesnt regard the human as metaphysical-ontological status, but as an always renewing
process, as becoming human in conjunction with environment and non-human actors as a concept of
as well as.
Maksymilian Kumicz (Catholic University of Lublin)

Light-Life Movement A Platform for Unity Between Western Christians?
There are a lot of differences and misunderstandings between Catholics and Protestants which should be
reworked not just by theology but also by new propositions of Christian life. One of them is the Light-
Live Movement, one of the renewal movements in the Catholic Church, which could be, in my opinion,
a proposition of platform of the unity of western Christians.
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In my presentation I would like to show how the awareness of common ground of faith with reformed
Christians provide to include some of their methods into the LLMs formation system. In 1970s LLM
encountered the Campus Crusade for Christ, evangelical charismatic movement. From them LLM took
not only the method of evangelization, but also another elements, such as:
1. personal conversion and reception of Jesus Christ as ones Lord and Savior;
2. the teaching about reconciliation by faith in Jesus cross, even without sacrament;
3. a new born through personal conversion to Christ;
4. the teaching about certainty of salvation;
5. strong responsibility of laic leaders;
6. openness for charismatic gifts and Gods grace acting directly in person (not via offices of the Church).
In the second part of my presentation I would like to present the LLMs interpretation of the Eucharist and
other sacraments, the understanding of the Church and the pope, which is quite original. The founder of
the LLM, Francis Blachnicki, believed that this purified understanding could be accepted by the brothers
from Reformed Churches. This purified concept of Liturgy means that:
1. it is the privileged place of meeting Christ in the Holy Spirit (dialogical interpretation);it is realizing
the mystery of the Church as a community (the importance of the Assembly as the sign of Gods
presence);
2. it is making Gods works done in history present here and know (according to Jewish concept of
zikkarion);
3. aware and active way of participating in Liturgy are conditions of its fruitfulness (in opposite to
magical thinking, when only words and gestures matter);
4. believing that Christ is present in the sign of the assembly, and the priest, and the word, and the bread
and wine;
5. Eucharist is consider as a sacrifice and feast in the same time, when Lord is present by signs (mentioned
in point 5).
All of them fulfil, in specific way, Martin Luthers postulates. As a conclusion I will summarize a potentialof
the LLMs programme as a way of the renewal of the Catholic Church and a platform of Christian unity.
Petre Maican (University of Aberdeen)

Sensus Fidelium and the Reformation of the Church: An Eastern Orthodox Perspective
The consensus among liberal Christians within the Western world appears to be that the laity is pushing
the Church in the right direction, while the hierarchy represents a hindrance to this movement. This
reforming role of the laity inside the Church is usually connected to the notion of sensus fidelium,
developed by the Roman Catholic theologian John Henry Newman in the nineteenth century. At the
core of sensus fidelium lies the conviction that the laity is more than a passive receptacle for the teachings
of the magisterium. The Holy Spirit acts inside the Church not only through bishops or councils, but also
through the laity. Hence, the laity should also be consulted whenever important decisions are to be made.
This paper will argue that to use sensus fidelium to promote a certain agenda, be it liberal or traditional,
challenges the credibility of the concept itself. In this sense, this paper will try to show how the application
of sensus fidelium to the context of the Eastern Orthodox Church could lead to opposite results than
those intended by Western liberals, thus discrediting the usefulness of this notion for the reformation of
the Church. More precisely, it will unfold how sensus fidelium can be used by ultraconservatives in the
Eastern Orthodox Church to endorse an anti-ecumenical agenda. The argument will be structured in
three sections: a first one presenting the notion of sensus fidelium in John Henry Newman, a second part
showing how this concept can be applied against ecumenism, and a final one proposing a revaluation of
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sensus fidelium for the Eastern Orthodox context.
Christopher McMahon (Saint Vincent College, Latrobe)

Beyond Hubris: The Case For a More Functional Approach to Roman Catholic Ecclesiology
Roman Catholic ecclesiology has served as a point of contention since the time of the Reformation,
although the Second Vatican councils nuanced, inclusive, and more ecumenical approach to ecclesiology
provided a significant step forward, several factors conspire to derail this momentum in recent years. First,
Dominus Iesus, though framed as a mere restatement of authentic Catholic theology, was widely viewed
as retrograde and provoked a backlash among many Christians. Second, the emergence of a new neo-
thomism (e.g., de la Soujeole, The Mystery of the Church) along with its emphasis on the metaphysics of
ecclesiology threatens to broaden the gap between Catholic ecclesiology and other ecclesiologies.
This paper will contend that a more functional approach to ecclesiology (e.g., Ormerod, Revisioning the
Church) provides a way forward by recasting the major themes of Catholic ecclesiology within a more
ecumenical framework, one that is also likely to contribute to ongoing reform of Church structures and
enhance the mission of the Church within the contemporary world.
Martin Mihalik (Comenius University, Bratislava)

Renewal of Theological Methods in the Documents of the International Theological Commission
The paper analyzes methods of Catholic theology and its renewal based on the documents of the
International Theological Commission. The aim of this presentation is to clarify the method of
the theology in a broader perspective of the Tradition and the teaching of the Catholic Church. The
analysis begins with examining the status of the International Theological Commission and the status
of its documents. The first part analyzes the role of Tradition and rationality in theology. It presents the
teaching of the International Theological Commission as a search for authentic human wisdom and right
reason. Consequently, it presents confrontational paradigms of the wisdom of this world. The authentic
human wisdom is characterized by a constant openness of mind, while the opposite paradigms presume
a self-enclosure of thought. The next part examines fundamental aspects of Catholic theological methods
which are viewed through two distinct theological methodologies. The first methodology starts in the
metaphysical orientation of theology and proceeds through a deductive method. The second methodology
emphasizes the rootedness of a theologian and the Magisterium always in a certain context and presents
the methodology of hermeneutics as a tool of interpretation. The renewal of theological methods is
viewed in a dialogue between these two methodologies. A crucial point in the context of the renewal
of Catholic theology is the concept of Gods revelation based on the document of the Second Vatican
Council. The methodological documents of the International Theological Commission are consequently
read as commentaries of the constitution of the Second Vatican Council Dei verbum. However, the way
of the renewal is not unidirectional. Therefore, several principles that characterize the development of the
Catholic theological methodology in recent decades will be outlined.
Anton Milh (KU Leuven)

A Reform Without Improvement: The Donatist Reform in the Belgian
Capuchin Province in the 1920s and 1930s
In this paper I want to discuss the so-called Donatist reform within the Belgian Capuchin province in
the 1920s and 1930s as an actual case of how an attempt to reform can also mean a setback instead of a
step forward.
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The tension between action and contemplation and the strict observance of the Rule lies at the roots of the
reform movement the Capuchin Order has always been. This tension has been the subject of discussion
ever since its foundation. At the end of the 19th century, the influential Minister General Bernard of
Andermatt stressed the necessary equilibrium between contemplation and action, hereby leaving room
for the development of all sorts of Capuchin engagement in the Church and the world. The Belgian
Capuchins took this to heart and got involved in cultural, academic, social and even political affairs.
However, under the Superiors Chrysostomus of Kalmthout (first period of office: 1919-1922; second
period: 1925-1928) and Donatus of Welle (first period of office: 1928-1931; second period: 1931-1934)
the Belgian province saw a movement towards limitation of apostolate and action and interiorization.
Valerius of Geel, one of the friars who was actively engaged in politics, referred to this as a spiritualist
coup detat.
In this paper I want to demonstrate that although the basic motives of this reform movement within the
Belgian Capuchin province might have been religious and spiritual, it quickly degenerated into officialism,
a fixation on rules and an atmosphere of backbiting and suspicion, while in the long run it resulted in
a standstill or even a decline of the existing apostolic activities of the Belgian Capuchins. Even after his
two terms as a provincial, Donatus of Welle (hence the name of the movement, Donatism) still had a
controlling influence on the Belgian Capuchin province, since he became Minister General of the Order
in 1938, an office he held until 1946. Only after the Second World War the Belgian Capuchin province
could continue the development and expansion of her apostolate.
The case of the Donatist reform gives food for thought in line with the theme of Ecclesia semper reformanda
(or Ordo semper reformandus): it shows how clinging to the letter of the law can be at the expense of the
spirit of the law and how the original motives that created a reform movement got lost along the way.
Daniel Minch (KU Leuven)

Holding Open the Doors for Mercy: Towards a Trinitarian Concept of Christian Sovereignty
This paper will examine important themes from the Christian tradition in relation to the continuing
problem of the governing structure of the churches, and especially the Roman Catholic Church, in a
changing world. One of the crises of modernity that the churches have struggled with is that of authority and
governance, which points to the problematic relationship between human action and divine inspiration.
Edward Schillebeeckx has examined this problem in the third part of his Christological trilogy, Church: The
Human Story of God (1989). Schillebeeckx uncovers the historical contingency of the churchs espousal of
hierarchy and the challenge of too closely identifying human sovereignty with divine sovereignty. The rise
of democratic institutions has called into question the traditional reference to hierarchy. The reliance on
monarchial sovereignty, especially identified in the Catholic church with papal primacy and infallibility,
has created a perceived tension between faith understood as a relationship - a human response to Gods
free offer of graceand faith characterized primarily as assent to received propositions.
This paper will [1] briefly explore the historical adoption of monarchial sovereignty in relation to Catholic
authority as presented by Schillebeeckx and others. Monarchial sovereignty can be characterized by actions
of exclusive inclusion. The boundaries of the church are decided by creating a clear inside/outside-
distinction: the faithful are inside, while others are only included insofar as they are excluded from
the juridical body of the church. This paper will then [2] argue that overreliance on what is ultimately
a historical-political form of authority creates an unnecessary tension between two understandings of
faith and tradition: relationship and assent, more often named as the fides qua (the dynamic faith of the
believer) and the fides quae (the content of faith received from authority). Finally, this paper will [3] argue
that recovering a Trinitarian, and ultimately pastoral understanding of sovereign authority can alter and
perhaps balance the aspects of the fides qua and the fides quae. I will propose that a Trinitarian form of
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sovereignty relies on the operation of pastoral economy and has an exclusionary inclusion at its center:
those who are excluded by the norms of law, or the normal order of things are able to be exceptionally
included in the Body of Christ. Therefore the primary sovereign function of Christian governance is to
maintain this pastoral liminal space through the sovereign exercise of mercy. Such a model of sovereignty
can be productive for holding together the relational aspect of tradition with its received content, and
therefore also for the ongoing dialogue and reconciliation between the churches.
Michael Muonwe (Diocesan Catholic Secretariat, Awka)

Africa Independent Churches: Reform or Cultural Revivalism ?
Once reform of the Church is discussed in the West, what readily comes to mind is the renewal of an
institution that was once the major stakeholder in the production of the culture of the people. However,
when Africa is in focus, the issue takes a different turn. Questions of reform would ordinarily change to
those of rooting and growth. Hence, instead of talking about reform of the Church, many would prefer
to talk about cultural revivalism, presumably geared towards making the church authentically African.
This cultural revivalism came as a reaction to what many see as cultural imperialism of colonialism and
Christianity in the continent, and has important implications for the Church in Africa. For one, it has
led to the emergence of many Africa Independent Churches (AIC), especially in the sub-Saharan Africa,
ranging from the earliest Ethiopian churches that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century to the
recent prophet-healing, spiritual. neo-Pentecostal, and charismatic ones.
This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of these churches and the challenges they pose to
African Christianity. Many of the AICs have their strongest root in the peoples pre-Christian religions.
Nevertheless, some see the emergence of AICs as important growth in African Christianity. My point
is that they are mere avenues for the assertion and renegotiation of the place of African religion and
culture in the world, but not that of the growth of Christianity. I will argue from the point of view
of their ownership, institutional organization, teachings, and practices. My argument is that they are
more of syncretised religions than Christian churches. I will argue that a better rooting of the church
in Africa should not entail a reversion to pre-Christian religions of the people, but a proper integration
of the Christian faith into the culture without the destruction of its identity. This can only be done
through authentic inculturation rooted in dialogue with the indigenous religion and culture and not on
reactionary cultural revivalism, as witnessed in the AICs.
Paul D. Murray (Durham University)

Receiving Reform and the Humbling of the Church: Catholic Ecclesial Learning from the Lutheran
Tradition
This paper explores a Receptive Ecumenical perspective on the theological lessons which Catholicism still
has to learn during this Reformation anniversary year. Receptive Ecumenism is an instrument of ecclesial
reform and renewal, which functions as a practice of ressourcement against the lost gifts of Christ and
the Spirit in the other traditions. This particular exercise in Receptive Ecumenism asks after a possible
Catholic reception of and learning from the Lutheran tradition. It is conducted in three steps.
First, attention is given to the achievements and the limits of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification. The claim is that the Catholic sensibility of graced existence and associated Catholic instinct
for stable structures of grace e.g. habits, virtues, and the formation of character still need to engage the
challenge and promise of a Lutheran actualist understanding of Christian existence as a life of continually
renewed graced dependence. The argument is that in these regards there is still considerable need for
substantive receptive learning on Catholicisms behalf; a need which the ecumenical methods at work in
the Joint Declaration leave untouched.
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Second, it will be shown that this has implications well beyond the level of individual Christian existence
and is of relevance also to the need for ecclesial renewal within Catholicism. The connection between
the earlier discussion of justification and this discussion of ecclesiology lies in the relationship between
Lutheran graced actualism and the default Catholic instinct for stable structures of grace. At the individual
level, this manifests in the characteristic Catholic focus on habits, the virtues, and the formation of
character; at the ecclesial level, it manifests in the Catholic emphasis on the reliability of the sacraments,
the ordained ministry, and church authority. The essential argument is that this Catholic concern for the
visibility and stability of the structures of grace (in itself right, proper, and required) is always in danger
of being distorted into an idolatrous self-sufficiency. The constructive proposal is that the potential cure
for this default pathology lies in the Catholic instinct for stable structures of grace needing to be held in
close tension (much closer than is typical in Catholic spirituality, ethics, and ecclesiology) with a sustained
Lutheran-style sense of our utter dependence on the moment-by-moment renewal of the active gracious
initiative of God in the Spirit. This culminates in a proposal concerning what it means for the church to
understand itself as the creature of the Word in the power of the Spirit, and as simul iustus et peccator. It is
to this that the humbling of the church refers in the title.
Third, some initial consideration will be given to identifying some of the practical implications of all of
this for Catholic ecclesial habits of mind, process, and structure.
Emmanuel Nathan (Australian Catholic University)

Robbing Luther to Pay Paul: Luther(an) Contributions to the Introspective Conscience of the West ?
This paper will take as its starting point the influential (1963) essay of the Lutheran biblical scholar,
Krister Stendahl, which argued that Luthers reading of the apostle Paul in light of his (i.e., Luthers) own
self-understanding had in turn bequeathed to modern biblical scholarship of Pauls letters subsequent
exegetical readings that aligned well with Western categories of the mind and conscience (e.g., the debates
on justification, grace, free will, etc.). Stendahls essay is usually situated at the origins of a movement
within Pauline studies known as the New Perspective on Paul, which enjoyed considerable momentum
in the 1980s. This particular perspective adopted Stendahls main argument that Paul was not mainly
concerned with inner categories, but rather more pragmatic, social, concerns of the new kinship between
Jews and Gentiles within the fledgling Jesus movement. The New Perspective on Paul within biblical
scholarship was not without its detractors, particularly from New Testament scholars who have since
been labeled as defenders of an Old Perspective on Paul, which was essentially defending the traditional,
Lutheran, exegesis of Pauls writings. In fact, there has been something of a double squeeze on the New
Perspective on Paul since, at the other end of the spectrum, biblical scholars have also argued that the
New Perspective on Paul did not go far enough in situating Paul within the Judaism of his time. For the
purposes of this paper, however, I will examine the extent to which both the New Perspective on Paul and
its detractors have contributed to a traditioning of Luther within the history of interpretation of Pauls
letters, and ask what sort of Luther emerges in the process (as opposed to the usual question of recovering
the identity of the apostle Paul).
Ivana Noble (Charles University, Prague)

Jan Hus: Between Reform and Reformation
This contribution will explore the intersections between reform and reformation using the example of
Jan Hus (c.1370-1415), a Roman Catholic priest, university philosopher and theologian from Bohemia.
First, Huss quest, aiming at the conversion of the church of his time, will be explored against his own
historical and ecclesial background. Then attention will be turned towards accusations of heresy against
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Hus, his burning at the stake by the Council of Constance, and the subsequent protests in Bohemia
that would lead eventually to war and alienation from Rome, as well as to new forms of ecclesial life in
the Roman Catholic Church in Bohemia, which assumed a greater authority for the local church. The
paper will show that now, looking retrospectively, the theologians who count Hus among those who
struggled for the reform of the church draw more on his own theological and personal contribution, while
the theologians who join him to the reformation club, refer more to the process at Constance and the
subsequent reaction, in which Hus is caught up. Finally, the paper will analyze the intersections between
reform and reformation as these have been approached in the process of rehabilitating Hus, a process
encouraged both by Pope John Paul II and by Pope Francis, taking on board both the historical figure of
Jan Hus and the symbolic meanings associated with Hus in the following generations.
Tim Noble (Charles University, Prague)

The Holy Spirit and Reform in Liberation Theology
The Second Continental Congress of Theology, a major meeting of liberation theologians, was held in
October 2015. The theme of the congress was The Church that Walks with the Spirit and from the
Perspective of the Poor, and one of the major sections of the conference, reflected in the proceedings
published in 2016, was Paths to turn to in the processes of reform. My paper will examine these
contributions with the aim of highlighting three aspects of the importance of the necessary ongoing
reform of the church. These will be pneumatology, liberation and process. The paper will argue that there
can be no reform without the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, that all reform should aim (at the very
least among other things) at the liberation of those who are excluded, socially, economically, politically,
and that this reform is a process that requires the commitment and activity of all members of the church.
In conclusion, noting that all the authors dealt with are Roman Catholic, the question will be asked if
their ideas can also contribute anything to overcoming religious and specifically Christian disunity in
Latin America, or whether, as one critic of liberation theology has put it, they are not just repeating the
same old tune endlessly.
Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke (KU Leuven)

Transformation Through Dialogue: Insights from Anglican-Roman Catholic Communio Ecclesiology
Is dialogue capable of transforming ones self-understanding? If this were possible in individual cases,
could it also be said of communal identities in dialogue? In other words, do the identities of ecclesial
communities experience transformation in the course of mutual dialogue? Certainly in the process of
dialogue, the communal identities of the dialogue partners are brought to the table. In most cases these
identities are affected either positively or negatively. Perhaps, we may assume that one experiences some sort
of transformation, whether in cases of positive or negative effects. However, we can thus ask: What are the
effects of positive transformations in the self-understanding of a particular church? Do transformational
experiences from ecumenical dialogue help churches in their internal reforms and renewal of identity? In
any case, this paper seeks insight into how ecumenical dialogue could foster the transformation or renewal
of communal identities of churches in dialogue. To do this, I shall examine the example of the Anglican-
Roman Catholic dialogue. I shall pay attention to the joint communio ecclesiology of both churches as
reflected in the 1981 First Report of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC
I). I will draw some useful insights to stress how ecclesial communities could be positively equipped
through such dialogical encounter for the purposes of internal reform and renewal. It is hoped that this
investigation will provide also a clue to how communal identities can be transformed when churches
transcend their particularities in the process of dialogue.
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Olisameka Rosemary Okwara (KU Leuven)

Self-Reformation for Salvific Dialogue: Exploring the Use of New Testament Texts in Vatican II and
Gerald OCollins Approach to Interreligious Dialogue
Vatican II drew upon a rich tapestry of the Scriptures to illustrate its teaching on the universal salvific
will of God (cf. Rom 8:29-32; Acts 17:25-28; 1 Tm 2:4). Striving to affirm Christs universal salvific
significance the Council makes great use of Christocentric anthropology (Gaudium et Spes 22) which links
the universal salvific role of Christ to the incarnation whereby all human beings become Christologically
characterised. As Gerald OCollins argues, the praxical and on-going character of the Christ-event is
constitutive to the New Testaments affirmation of its universal, unique, complete and definitive character.
Moreover, the New Testament, in affirming the universality of Christs salvific role points to the significance
of individuals and traditions outside Christianity (cf. Acts 4:12; 10:34-36; 17:22-31). Furthermore, given
the way Karl Rahner formulates his understanding of universal salvation, there is further work to be done
on clarifying how to relate the Christological anthropological provenance of the universal salvific role of
Christ with the ongoing, praxis-oriented and eschatological character of Gods salvific work, especially, as
it concerns the salvific values of other religions. This paper will study the New Testament texts embedded
in Vatican II soteriology, along with the works of Karl Rahner and Gerald OCollins to demonstrate that
the relationship between the praxical nature of the Christ-event and its eschatological character is the
indispensable and illuminating source to the Christian soteriological claims.
Cyril Orji (University of Dayton)

Avery Dulles Program of Church Reform and Renewal: Lessons for Contemporary Church
At the time of his death in 2008, the American Jesuit theologian, Avery Dulles (b. 1918), had the distinct
honor of being the only American theologian in the ranks of the College of Cardinals. He was also a
great scholar and an unheralded contributor of Church reform in the years following the Second Vatican
Council (1962-65). Much of Dulles scholarship was devoted to interpretations of the changes brought
about by Vatican II. Though revered as a voice of mediation between the Church and American Catholics
who challenged Church teachings and/or at odds with the Teaching Office, appreciation of his program of
reform in a Church in need of renewal has been largely limited. Dulles embraced the adage Ecclesia semper
reformanda and understood it to mean that reform must touch all areas of the Churchs life - laity, clergy,
religious, bishops, and the office of the papacy.
This paper is an attempt to systematize what Dulles termed corporate reform of the Church (the Church as
institution), with a view to showing how contemporary church reform programs can avoid the danger of
confrontation or polemics by attentiveness to equilibrium between fidelity to tradition and commitment to
innovation. Using the heated debate surrounding the issue of dogma in the years following the Council as
a case in point, I contrast Dulless position with those of some reform-minded Post-Conciliar theologians,
Gerald OCollins for example, who like Dulles raised serious questions about aspects of Neo-Scholastic
notion of dogma. These reform-minded theologians see dogma as antithetical to reform - an ecumenical
problem - because the Neo-Scholastic notion of dogma has an air of certainty and even irreformability.
OCollins solution was that because dogma has produced countless evil effects we dispense with dogma
altogether. Dulles own solution was far less controversial. In spite of his concerns about dogmas identity
with revelation, its conceptual objectivity, its immutability, and its universality, Dulles reform program for
the new ecumenism still had a place for dogma, so long as the notion can be reconstituted and understood
in a historically-minded way.
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William Odeke Owire (KU Leuven)

The Hermeneutical Legitimacy of Dialectical Tensions in the Theology of Religions as a Locus for
Ecclesial Renewal and Reform: The Case of Jacques Dupuis and Dominus Iesus
Since the inception of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the concept of salvific significance
of non-Christian religions has dominated theological debates in the theology of religions. Even if the
Council encourages a positive appreciation of other religions (Nostra Aetate, 2), there remains a certain
tension with regard to this question. The bone of contention has roots in the conviction that the full
and complete revelation of the salvific mystery of God is given in Jesus Christ (Dominus Iesus, 6). In this
sense, there is a need of repositioning the idea of religious pluralism.
This paper deals with the less acknowledged methodological differences between two theological positions
on the salvific role of non-Christian religions, often termed as restrictivist inclusivism and inclusivist
pluralism. While the first position is represented by the declaration Dominus Iesus, the latter will be
analyzed through Jacques Dupuis position on religious pluralism de iure. In my expos, I will first focus on
divergent methodologies between the two, demonstrating the link and more importantly, the differences
between the theological approaches that they employ and theological positions they espouse in their
treatment of the contentious Christological and ecclesiological themes. In that respect, the presentation
contrasts Dupuis combination of deductive and inductive approach but nevertheless gives primacy to
the latter an approach which represents theological renewal as a movement from the periphery to the
center, and Dominus Iesus which is predominantly both deductive and neo-scholastic in its approach,
and its generalized application of pronouncements from the center towards the periphery. The main
theological conundrum inherent in both approaches is their tendency to resolve the question of the salvific
significance of other religions as a clearly defined positioneither in a form of religious pluralism de iure
(Dupuis) or, effectively, as affirming the indispensability of the Churchs mediatory role (Dominus Iesus).
This paper proposes a more open approach which sees the search for the salvific value of other religions
as something that always remains in a dialectical tension between restrictivist inclusivism and inclusivist
pluralism. While eschewing the risk of relativism, the key argument is that authentic interpretation of
dialectical tension between the two paradigms can serve as a creative locus theologicus for ecclesial renewal
and reform. Contrary to a one-sided emphasis on either restrictivist inclusivism or inclusivist pluralism,
Church renewal and reform admits of a certain amenability to both approaches.
Rowan Rebustillo (KU Leuven)

Sambayanihan and Church Renewal. An Inquiry into the Impact of Filipino Migrant Communities
on the Shifting Grounds of Catholic Ecclesiology; A Western European Scenario
It is generally agreed that the phenomenal presence of migrant communities in the West significantly
affects the current and future configuration(s) of the Catholic Church. These ethnic minorities from
the global South have been filling the empty pews of the churches in Europe and in the U.S. which
were traditionally occupied by the white western worshippers. As the second biggest and, maybe, the
most ecclesiastically committed, minority group in the U.S., Filipino migrant ecclesial communities are
regarded as a force to reckon with. Stephen Cherry argues that in in general, Filipino Americanshave
the potential to reshape American Catholicism [They] are challenging the Church itself. In Western
Europe, however, perhaps due to the prevailing social climate, it is unfortunate that despite their active
involvement in various ecclesiastic activities, their contribution has not been valued as much as in the
U.S. They continue to be relegated to the fringes of the European Church. And some of them are even
looked down upon as irrelevant self-enclosed spiritual ghettos. To say the least, their impact has been
underwhelming. In view of this lacuna, this paper proposes an inquiry into the potential contribution of
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the Filipino migrant communities to the ongoing transformation of Catholic ecclesiology, especially in
the Western European context.
We contend that by properly addressing the problematic tendencies present in these communities and
by creatively harnessing and strengthening their inherent positive values, they can be re-configured as
Basic Ecclesial Communities in Western Europe which employ non-condescending reverse evangelization
approach suited for missionary work in a region where the so-called death of God is profoundly felt.
Concretely speaking, we suggest that these migrant BECs be called as SAMBAYANIHAN communities
[i.e., (Sam/isa) oneness, (Samba) worship/religiosity, (Bayan) community, (Bayani) heroism/martyrdom,
and (Bayanihan) collaborative endeavor] which embody the dialogic, co-responsible and participative
Church envisioned by the Second Vatican Council. As such, they are deemed as veritable contact points
for critical conversations, as Tracy would put it, between interpretations of faith and interpretations
of social worlds within which we live. Moreover, they may be utilized as significant sites, according to
Bernard Lee, for transformation authentically conducted within a community, by a community, for
the sake of the community which we perceive as a necessary step to be taken by the Church to maintain
its relevance to the contemporary world. This renewal certainly entails that the Filipinos in diaspora
will graduate from being economic migrants to becoming global missionaries armed with soft-power
diplomacy. In short, they do not only redefine their role in the contemporary globalized world but,
without being imposing, they also help shake and shape our Catholic world according to the signs of the
times.
Dennis Rohatyn (University of San Diego)

Luthers Language: The Faustian Bargain
Martin Luther is the godfather of theological clichs. Man of the Word, raging beast, here I stand and can
do no other, convert or die, justified by faith alone, predestined fate, all poor beggars, beyond all words.
Everything has discursive limits, except the unlimited. Thanks to its oracular prose the Reformation
produced games of apocalyptic rhetoric and circuses of bombast. We cannot even imagine Calvinists,
Puritans, or (19th century) Revivalists, Abolitionists, and Evangelists in the absence of linguistic
theatricality and verbal piety.
Even Winthrops city on a hill owed more to Lutheran and Augustinian metaphors than it did to religious
rituals, political movements or vernacular architectural traditions. Is it any wonder that Protestant
ideology both resisted and demanded translation from inner lives to outer experience, while semantic
dodges convinced few skeptics to convert? Yet Luther was more of a mystic than a myth-maker, and he
relied far more on human pathos than on textual logos. As a consequence, every (re)reading of Luther
risks utter misinterpretation, both of his ideas and his ultimate intent. In the end, the way of the word
is an emotional shorthand for divine transcendence, not a symbolic short-cut toward atonement and
redemption. It is a Faustian bargain, not a gnostic conquest. Neither sinners nor saints can close the gap
between God and the created world, or dare to eff the ineffable. But surrender does not mean capitulation,
and defeat does not mean despair: I am who am is ecce homo writ large. Presence is shared in attention,
pure action and devotion, like Tillichs Ultimate concern. So I kneel and can sing no other hymn. The last
word is a poetic prayer for Faust: not ceaseless striving, but perpetual repentance.
Philip Rossi (Marquette University, Milwaukee)

Plurality as the Grace of Secularity: Reform, Christian Identity, and the Horizons of Otherness
In A Secular Age, his landmark account of the emergence of secularity, Charles Taylor identifies an
overarching dynamic of Reform - of which the 16th century Protestant and Catholic Reformations
embody particular manifestations - as the most potent force fashioning the guises of secularity. His
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account indicates how various reform movements helped to shape the social imaginary of Western
secularity into an immanent frame of meaning in which affirmation of a transcendent, personal God
ceased to be a default position for the conditions of belief.
This account of the emergence of secularity in terms of a Master Reform Narrative provides the backdrop
for this essays exploration of one inflection of the dynamism of Gods agency that Christian theology terms
grace. Disputes over the meaning and scope of that dynamism were central to the Reformation as different
theological construals of grace came into open conflict in the ecclesial, social, and political circumstances
of the early 16th century. Despite the larger and still present divisiveness in human communities this
conflict then occasioned, the issues under theological contestation were (and still are) framed mainly in
terms that are matters of intramural Christian concern, such as those noted in the second conference
theme, The tensile relationship between sin, grace, free will, justification and sanctification.
Against the background of this contested Christian conversation about grace, this paper will offer a case
for a re-orientation of that conversation away from an intramural focus to one that is occasioned (and
perhaps even made necessary) by the circumstances of Christian living in a secular age. It proposes a way
in which the immanent frame of secularity calls for an important repositioning (a term Taylor uses
to describe the movement of religious thought and practice in response to conditions of secularity) of
Christian theologys construal of grace. This repositioning has its basis in the attentiveness to plurality
particularly as a reality fully implicated in the circumstances of humanitythat has arisen as a key marker
of the social imaginary of secularity. I will argue that the dynamic of plurality has a disruptive dimension
that offers an invitation to discern an inflection of grace operative in very fracture, incompleteness, and
interruption that thoroughly interlace secularitys immanent frame. This inflection resides in the varied
and incomplete character of the human receptivity into which God seeks entry in grace, and in the plural
operative modalities with which God appropriately nurtures such plural receptivity in a rich variety of
human paths to fullness. This inflection suggests that the very fracture, incompleteness, and interruption
that thoroughly interlace secularitys immanent frame and all who inhabit it are key loci in which humans
are called upon to be participants in the enactment of grace.
Thomas Ruster (Technical University of Dortmund)

Theism, the Main Obstacle for the Renewal of the Church
The theistic tradition with its way of speaking about Gods omnipotence and sovereignty seems to be
the main obstacle for the renewal of the church. From this tradition derives not only the hierarchical
structure but also all problems of reconciling human freedom and selfdetermintation with the christian
faith. Luthers attempt to liberate christian faith from Theism has been uncompleted. My paper outlines
the main characteristics of the theistic thinking and some perspectives of a post-theistic christian life and
faith.
Hector Scerri (University of Malta)

The Pact of the Catacombs: An Early Harbinger of Pope Francis Vision of the Church
52 years ago, the Pact of the Catacombs was signed by a small group of churchmen, determined to make
a difference. It was the time of the Second Vatican Council. It was the closing phase of that momentous
experience in the Churchs life a transforming event about which many still talk about, half a century
later. A handful of bishops forty out of an impressive two-thousand-plus contingent meeting in St Peters
Basilica decided to assemble at the dead of night in the Catacombs of Domitilla, outside Rome. During
that eventful night of 16 November 1965, they dreamt of a poor servant Church. In that holy place,
beneath the earths surface, where many generations of early Christians met to pray and to bury their loved
ones, those forty modern-day bishops met in heartfelt prayer to celebrate the Eucharist. They also signed
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the Pact of the Catacombs as they committed themselves to the ideals of Vatican II.
The group of like-minded courageous shepherds was led by Archbishop Helder Camara of Recife, Brazil,
the revered champion of the downtrodden poor and marginalized. Those gathered made a common pledge
to live according to the daily manner of ordinary people, with regard to housing, food, means of transport
and such routine needs. In the Pact, they renounced the appearance and trappings of wealth, especially the
use of gaudy vestments, resembling those of earthly monarchs, and symbols of precious metals, insisting
that such signs should rather be according to the spirit of the Gospel. They promised to divest themselves
of earthly riches and properties, and if they had to possess something they placed it in the name of the
diocese or some charitable foundation.
In the humble consoling light of flickering candles, the group renounced all those aspects which appeared
to be associated with privilege, prominence and the wealthy echelons of society. In line with this, they
expressed their desire not to be addressed verbally or in writing with titles expressing power, but rather
with the more scriptural and homely title of Father. Their evangelical intention was focused on avoiding
any sort of vanity. The signatories that night at the Domitilla Catacombs, affirmed that we will give
whatever is needed in terms of our time, our reflection, our heart, our means, etc., to the apostolic and
pastoral service of workers and labor groups and to those who are economically weak and disadvantaged,
without allowing that to detract from the welfare of other persons or groups of the diocese. We will
support lay people, religious, deacons and priests whom the Lord calls to evangelize the poor and the
workers, by sharing their lives and their labors.
This paper will show how the Pact of the Catacombs was to be an early harbinger of Pope Francis vision
of the Church.
Joseph Selling (KU Leuven)

Renewing Moral Theology Into Theological Ethics
Traditional Catholic moral theology was based upon an approach that emphasized normative ethics
and subsequently equated moral responsibility with the following of moral rules. The Second Vatican
Council (1962-5) strongly suggested a fundamental renewal of the discipline, emphasizing the need to
incorporate more scripture in its approach. Because the thrust of the New Testament is attitudinal (Love
God and love your neighbor as yourself ), the process of renewal ultimately demanded a reform of how one
approaches theological ethics as well. While several moral theologians took up this project immediately
after the Council, the Humanae Vitae event (1968) effectively ended the process as the hierarchy insisted
upon the reinstatement of normative ethics (Veritatis Splendor, 1993).... For the past thirty years, some
theologians attempted to construct an alternative approach to the discipline by appealing to virtue ethics.
Unfortunately, this has not successfully addressed the basic method of constructing a renewed theological
ethics. However, with a new approach to virtues as complementary pairs, a new avenue has been opened
for a fundamental renewal of the discipline to take place.
John Sheveland (Gonzaga University)

Real Humanity: Karl Barth and the Construction of an Ecclesial Theology of Trauma
The most recent significant statement released by the Vatican on the sexual abuse crisis is dated February
12, 2015, almost two years ago. It is a statement by Sean Cardinal OMalley, head of the Pontifical
Commission for the Protection of Minors. While the precise occasion and context for the writing of this
statement are unannounced on the Vaticans website, the cardinal comments on what he understands to
be best practices in the wake of the disclosures of sexual abuse. In addition, several times the statement
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refers to damage done by the abuse.
In this paper I explore what Cardinal OMalley means by best practices and test the fitness, appropriateness,
and scope of these best practices up against theological reflections on ethnographic scholarship of Susan
Shooter (Anglican, UK), the pastoral theology of Deborah van Deussen Hunsinger (Presbyterian, USA),
and the systematic reflections of Alistair McFadyen (Anglican, UK). I argue that while the cardinal is to be
confirmed and supported for the good work undertaken by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection
of Minors, the commission nonetheless would benefit from specific features of trauma studies and from
a more robust commitment to address the scandal not only through administrative goals and objectives
the dominant perspective offered in the letter and elsewhere but to elevate concrete experiences of
pastoral harm and of pastoral care as the primary locus of the churchs theological reflection on sexual
abuse and trauma, effectively rendering persons visible. Arguably, fifteen years on, the church has not yet
begun to articulate, circulate, and enact concrete best practices of pastoral care for persons suffering post-
traumatic stress. We lack an ecclesial theology of trauma. One becomes more feasible upon shifting the
paradigm that describes harm done to survivors from damage to trauma. Once the features of trauma
are named and located in the concrete and messy lives of concrete persons, appropriate and responsive
redemptive practices can then be brought to bear in the shared work and communal task of being the
church in which these forms of harm are present and find personal, redemptive address.
I close the paper by offering a constructive statement on the theological anthropology of Karl Barth
(Reformed). Applied to the site of traumatic wounding, Karl Barths theology of real humanity (wirkliche
Menschlichkeit) poses a christologically sourced vocation for human flourishing, mutual responsibility,
and ecclesial accompaniment which can be shown to respond directly to post-traumatic stress. Both in
its investigation of an appropriate vocabulary to analyze and address the harm of sexual abuse and in its
ecumenical reception of theological wisdom from several contemporary Reformed and Anglican voices,
this paper addresses the fourth theme central to LEST XI, namely, Democratisation and power structures
within the church.
Glenn Siniscalchi (Notre Dame College)

Postconciliar Popes and Catholic Credibility: From Apologetics to Fundamental Theology
Given the popes recent concerns to implement the New Evangelization, it is imperative that theologians
and engaged laypersons understand the theology of credibility. For, the New Evangelization calls for
Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize and places particular emphasis on re-proposing
the gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith due to secularization.
Apologetics is the discipline that deals with the rational defense of the gospel. It cannot be denied that
postconciliar popes will occasionally show a concern to provide reasoned defenses of the faith, especially
when the broader context allows for it. Be that as it may, the popes do not reduce the theology of credibility
to theoretical defenses. The more prominent vision of credibility in the postconciliar period stresses a
phenomenological encounter with human holiness, love, and unity. Proper understandings of the churchs
teaching also serve as reasons for faith. These experiences might be characterized as existential motives
of credibility. This paper argues that postconciliar teaching on credibility is primarily found within the
existential realm.
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Jaroslav Skira (Toronto School of Theology)

Can One Speak of Reform or Renewal in Eastern Orthodox Theology ?
This presentation will centre around developments in modern Orthodoxy theology, beginning in the early
19th century and right up to today. It will touch upon Orthodox theologys encounter with the West, and
the degree to which Orthodox theologians engaged or confronted the West. One can thus speak both of
reform in Orthodox theology, and concurrently also a renewal or renaissance. This renewal was manifested
in different theological movements in Orthodoxy itself, giving rise to two main theological clusters: those
advocating for a neo-patristic synthesis and a return to the Fathers (the likes of Vladmimir Lossky or
Georges Florovsky) and those of an earlier intellectual renaissance in Russian migr communities (like
Sergii Bulgakov). Concluding comments will then reflect on how these two streams of theology have been
received in more recent scholarship, drawing some relationships to the conference themes of Tradition,
soteriology and sacraments.
Stephan Tautz (University of Freiburg)

On the Way Towards a Post-secular and Post-liberal Political Theology? Reassessing the Theo-political
Identity of Christianity Against the Background of Radical Democratic Theory
In the Churchs continuous need for renewal, the question of her theo-political identity has always been
of paramount importance. The contemporary context, in which the Church has to fulfil this task, can
be defined as both postsecular and multireligious or multicultural. Under the current postmodern and
postsecular condition, the two main features of modernity, i.e. (1) secularism, as the agenda of strictly
separating politics of religion, and (2) liberalism, often viewed as intrinsically linked with it, have become
disputable. I argue in this paper, that political theology currently not only is required to renew its account
of its relation to liberal democracy, but also that in this renewal, one should not all too hastily set aside
liberalism entirely. For this purpose, I will link the accounts on liberalism within the discussion and critique
of the religion-politics divide of the theologian William Cavanaugh with the debate of the so-called radical
democratic theory, as it is represented in the work of the political theorists Sheldon Wolin and Chantal
Mouffe. This comparison provides us with an interpretation of liberalism, which is inseparably linked
with democracy, which in turn can be seen as the permanent and preferable political model for current
Christian political theology. The aim is to indicate, to what extend the concept of radical democracy might
be a useful paradigm for reassessing and actualizing the theo-political identity of the corpus mysticum in a
post-secular and multireligious context.
Stephan van Erp (KU Leuven)

The Reform of Modern Theology: The Influence of Protestant Theology on Schillebeeckx
After the Second Vatican Council, Roman Catholic theology engaged differently with Protestant theology
than before the Council. This was not only the case in ecumenical encounters, but also in the development
of exegesis and systematic theology. This paper will present the Protestant influence on the work of the
Flemish theologian Edward Schillebeeckx.
Already before the council, Schillebeeckx wrote favorably on the theology of Karl Barth, as for example
Hans Urs von Balthasar and Hans Kng also had done. After the council, when Schillebeeckx developed
his theological hermeneutics, he was critical of the existentialist tendencies in Protestant theology, most
notably in the work of Rudolf Bultmann. Protestant exegesis however played a crucial part in his historical-
critical approach. Despite the theological similarities with his Protestant counterparts, the confessional
differences became clearer when he worked on his Christology in the 1970s. The debate with Protestant
theologians in the Netherlands Harry Kuitert, Heiko Oberman, and Gerrit Cornelis Berkouwer
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concerned the different foundations for establishing the divinity of Christ between Catholic and Protestant
Theology. Schillebeeckx held a plea for a more substantial role of experience and politics in Christology.
He criticized his Protestant conversation partners for keeping an all too sharp division between Dogmatics
and Ethics, and for neglecting the intrinsic relationship between politics and mysticism.
In this paper, Schillebeeckxs engagement with Protestant theologians will be described in the development
of his theological hermeneutics, his Christology, and his political theology. The description of his dialogical
and atoning theological style will make manifest how ecumenical conversations have contributed to shape
modern theology after the Second Vatican Council. This way, his theology could prove to be an example
of how an interconfessional discussion can shape theological reform.
Rik Van Nieuwenhove (Mary Immaculate College, Limerick)

From Making Satisfaction to Penal Substitution: How Luthers View of Christ as the Universal
Sinner Changed the Nature of Soteriology
In this paper I will examine how Luthers soteriology differs from Catholic theology, in which the influence
of the Anselmic notion of making satisfaction (with an emphasis upon the sinlessness of Christ) generally
remained prominent. More in particular, I will argue that Luthers radical claim that Christ associates, or
even identifies, with sinful humanity (i.e., Christ as the universal sinner, guilty by association, as Luther
suggests in his commentary on Gal. 3:13), introduces a new understanding of the meaning of the Cross,
which will come to fruition in Calvins theology of penal substitution. This Lutheran insight of Christs
radical identification with sinful humanity has been adopted by a number of Catholic theologians in the
20th century most prominently by H.U. von Balthasar. The strength and weakness of both perspectives
(making satisfaction, which is akin to penance on the one hand, and penal substitution on the other hand)
will be highlighted.
H.H. Drake Williams (Evangelical Theological Faculty, Leuven)

Commenting on a Lament of David: Caspar Schwenckfeld, Psalm 102, and the Body of Christ
Most of Caspar Schwenckfelds writings are letters or treatises, but there are a few places in his writing
where he directly comments on Scripture passages. This paper will examine the main themes that emerge
from Schwenckfelds commentary on Psalm 102. While the Psalm would be considered in relation to
private worship if one were looking at the Bible alone, Schwenckfeld applies the ideas from this Psalm
to his perception of the salvation for individuals and also in relation to his view of the church in his day.
Contained within his comments on Psalm 102 are aspirations for renewal of the church in unity. The
paper will also fit his comments on Psalm 102 in relation to his A German Theology for God Fearing Laity
from Christ and the Christian Teaching of Godliness which is the closest systematic presentation of his
theology.
Timothy Derrick Witherington (KU Leuven)

Sacraments of the Word, Sacraments of the Spirit: The Ecumenical Potential of Chauvets Theology
The French Roman Catholic Theologian Louis-Marie Chauvet is most well-known for his innovative
sacramental-theological method which combined Heidegerrian philosophy, Lacanian psychoanalysis,
linguistic theory, and a careful reading of history. Chauvets motivation for this was ultimately to help in
coming to understand the sacraments as occupying a rightful and central place in the life of Christians.
The importance ascribed to this endeavour is related to Chauvets emphasis on the Word throughout his
theological oeuvre, coupled with his emphasis on the role of the Spirit. For Chauvet, any discussion of the
sacraments must begin with an analysis of the Word which underlies the sacraments as well as with the
60
Spirit in and by whose action the Word becomes sacramentally effective.
In this paper we seek to highlight and emphasize these aspects of Chauvets thought while at the same
time further developing them through our reading of Chauvet which is made in dialogue with one of
his philosophical interlocutors, namely, Paul Ricur. Taking Chauvets focus on the Word as well as
his pneumatological emphasis as a starting point, we will connect Chauvets reflections with Ricurs
understanding of language as poesis as well as with his theory of metaphor. As a result of our analysis,
we will show how the sacraments, grounded in the Word and Spirit, can become potential places of the
creation of meaning and the expanding of horizons. Inspired by the 500th anniversary of the beginning
of the Protestant Reformation, we will ultimately also show how an such an understanding of sacrament,
grounded in the Word and sustained by the Spirit, provides ample ecumenical opportunities between the
Roman Catholic Church and the church communities born out of the Reformation with their emphasis
on placing the Word of God at the centre of theological reflection and ecclesiastical discipline. Particularly,
we will utilize the document From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of
the Reformation as a way to frame our reflections.
George Worgul Jr. (Duquesne University)

Papa Francesco: Reform and Renewal
Jorge Borgoglio was elected to reform the church. As Papa Francesco he has acted on this mandate which
is synonymous with his ministerial name. First, this paper will note that while returning to the vision
of Vatican II as a Pastoral Council, Francis also recognizes that the world context of the church is very
different than at the time of the Council. Furthermore, reform for Francis is always linked with a spiritual
renewal. The overriding theme marking Francis reform and renewal is mercy.
Second, the paper will identify the reform and renewal of pastoral ministry within the Catholic Christian
community as it is expressed in the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and the
encyclical Amoris Laetitia. Third, the paper will explore Francis 12 principles guiding Curia reform.
Finally, the paper will explore reform and renewal in Francis ecumenical and inter religious discussions
and actions. Needless to say, Francis reform and renewal has engendered tension with those who may not
accept Francis vision and profoundly call it into question as an abandonment of the unchanging tradition.
Victor Yudin (OTI, Ghent/Brussels)

The Dogma of Sin and the Council of Trent: Discrepancies in Catholic and Orthodox Positions
In the classical manual on Patrology, Introduction to the Patristic Theology, John Meyendorff curiously
devotes almost an entire chapter to St. John Chrysostoms teaching on the original sin. You do not need
to be an expert in order to realize that this issue was of secondary importance to Chrysostom, yet it was
rather the scholar himself who was looking for the support of his own position by the typical Orthodox
church father. Obviously he exaggerated this issues significance for Chrysostom. In fact, J. Meyendorff
tries to counter a certain Orthodox position to the teaching of the Catholic Church on the matter of
original sin. To achieve this goal, he finds nothing better than to copy Erasmus criticism of Augustines
exegesis. Erasmus claims that all of Augustines teaching on the original sin is based on the elaborated
interpretation of the erroneous translation of one short passage from the apostle Paul (Rom. 5:12) in the
early Latin translation of Itala.
61
In this paper, I will examine how typical J. Meyendorffs rather confused position for an Orthodox scholar
is in seeking an adequate response to the Catholic dogma on original sin. This dogma was formulated at
the Council of Trent (1545-63) as a consistent reaction to the Reformation. I will examine the issue why
modern Orthodox theologians tend to associate the Catholic dogma of original sin with the doctrine of
purgatory, the practice of the first Communion, as well as with some other issues that separate the two
churches. The final question is, whether or not does the Orthodox Church has the doctrine of original sin
at all, and if it does, what exactly is it all about.
62
Keynote Speakers
Andreas Beck
Andreas J. Beck, PhD (Utrecht University), is Professor of Historical Theology
and Academic Dean at the Evangelical Theological Faculty, Leuven, and the
director of the Institute of Post-Reformation Studies there. He also serves as
chair of the international Research Group Classic Reformed Theology. He is
the author of Gisbertus Voetius (15891676). Sein Theologieverstndnis und seine
Gotteslehre (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007), the editor or
co-editor of several books on medieval and early modern theology, and the
author of numerous scholarly articles in this field.
Wouter Biesbrouck
Wouter Biesbrouck received his PhD from the Faculty of Theology and Re-
ligious Studies, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium, where he now serves
as education policy advisor. His research interests are to be situated within
systematic theology, with a focus on theology of the interreligious dialogue.
He also has a keen interest in ecumenical theology at the interface of Roman
Catholicism and Evangelicalism. His most recent publications are Theolog-
ical Themes in Gavin DCostas Theology of Religion, in The Normativity of
History: Theological Truth and Tradition in the Tension between Church History
and Systematic Theology (Leuven: Peeters, 2016), Discerning the Divine and
the Demonic through Dialogue: Recent Evangelical Theology of Religions,
in The Past, Present, and Future of Theologies of Interreligious Dialogue (Oxford
University Press, 2017) and Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same
God? Lessons for and from Evangelicals in Louvain Studies 40 (2017).
Theodor Dieter
Dr. Theodor Dieter has been Research Professor at the Institute for Ecumenical
Research in Strasbourg, France, since 1994 and its Director since 1998. He
studied Protestant Theology and Philosophy at Heidelberg and Tbingen. He
gained his doctorate in theology from the Faculty for Protestant Theology in
Tbingen in 1991 with his thesis Die philosophischen Thesen der Heidelberger
Disputation Luthers und ihre Probationen. Ein kritischer Kommentar and a Ha-
bilitation from the same school in 1998 with Der junge Luther und Aristoteles.
He is an ordained pastor of the Wrttembergische Landeskirche. He has served
as consultant to the international Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogue and the
Lutheran/Mennonite dialogue. His main research emphases are Martin Lu-
thers theology in its medieval background and contemporary significance, as
well as basic problems of ecumenical methodology and hermeneutics. He has
taught and lectured in Tbingen, Hong Kong, Decorah, Iowa (USA), and Aarhus (Denmark). Every year
starting in 2009 he has led intensive seminars on the theme Studying Luther in Wittenberg for Lutheran
theologians and pastors from around the world. Together with Prof. Wolfgang Thnissen of the Catholic
Johann-Adam-Mhler-Institut in Paderborn, Germany, Dieter is the leader of a working group of fourteen
63
Keynote Speakers
Catholic and Protestant theologians reconstructing the debate on Luthers 95 Theses on Indulgences. Diet-
ers publications include Der junge Luther und Aristoteles (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001) and a long list of articles
on Luthers theology, social ethics, and Lutheran ecumenical relations. In 2017 he will receive honorary
doctorates from the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Erfurt, Germany, and the Catholic
University of Leuven, Belgium.
Wim Franois
Wim Franois, Ph.D. in theology, University of Leuven (2004), is a research
professor of the Special Research Fund (BOFZAP) at KU Leuven, Faculty of
Theology and Religious Studies, Research Unit History of Church and The-
ology. His field of research is the history of Church and theology in the Early
Modern Era (1450-1650). Especially he is interested in the space occupied by
vernacular Bible reading in the life of the faithful in that period. His research
further focuses on the Bible commentaries edited by the Louvain and Douai
theologians during the Golden Age of Catholic biblical scholarship (1550-
1650), with a particular focus on the Augustinian inspiration of the above-
mentioned commentaries. He has published several articles and book chapters
in the aforementioned fields. Wim Franois is also the chair of the Institute of
Medieval and Renaissance Studies at KU Leuven.
Przemysaw Kantyka
Prof. Rev. Przemyslaw Kantyka is a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of
Kielce, Poland. He acquired his Theology Master in May 1993, at the Papal
Academy of Theology, Krakw, Poland. Rev. In the period between 1993-2000,
he completed his doctoral studies in ecumenical theology at the John Paul II
Catholic University of Lublin. From 2000 until now, he is employed at the
Faculty Theology of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. In 2001,
rev. Kantyka was promoted as a Theology Doctor, by the John Paul II Catholic
University of Lublin. In 2008 he went through habilitation in theology, at the
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. From 2008-2014 and from 2016
until now, he has served as the director of the Ecumenical Institute at the John
Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. As of 2010 until now he serves as the
professor extraordinary at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. He
specializes in: Protestant, Anglican and Methodist theology; ecumenical dialogues and their reception; eccle-
siology; Christian anthropology; WCC works. He is an author of 2 monographs, 5 edited books, over 100
articles in theological periodicals.
64
Keynote Speakers
Karen Kilby
Karen Kilby is the Bede Professor of Catholic Theology at the Centre for
Catholic Studies in the University of Durham. She is a systematic theologi-
an who has worked on questions related to the Trinity, evil and mystery, and
published books on Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. She was one of
the editors of the Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, has served as the
President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, and will be-
come President of the Society for the Study of Theology in January 2017. She
did her PhD at Yale, where she was a student of Kathryn Tanner and George
Lindbeck.
Deenabandhu Manchala
A Lutheran pastor from India Dr Deenabandhu Manchala has served as a pro-
gramme executive at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland,
coordinating the theological reflection for the Decade to Overcome Violence
(2000-2006) and the Just and Inclusive Communities (2007-2014) that facil-
itated theological reflection among five networks of the marginalized people
who experience discrimination. These are racism, casteism, indigenous peo-
ples, people living with disabilities, and the migrant communities and people.
Earlier, he was on the staff of the National Council of Churches in India and
Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai, India. Currently, he is the
area executive for Southern Asia in the Global Ministries of the United Church
of Christ and the Disciples Church(Christian Church), USA and works from
Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He holds a doctorate in theology with his doctoral
dissertation on Dalit Ecclesiology (An Ecclesiology in the Experience of the Victims of Indias Caste System) from
the South Asia Theological Research Institute, Bangalore, India. He has been engaged with a number of ec-
umenical initiatives and social movements at national and international levels and has also published many
articles in the areas of ecumenism, mission, ecclesiology, justice, peace, and on the issues of the marginalised
communities.
Annemarie Mayer
Annemarie Mayer is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Reli-
gious Studies, KU Leuven. She is a member of the Research Unit of Systematic
Theology and the Study of Religions. Her research focuses on Christology and
the doctrine of God, especially in the light of other monotheistic religions
throughout the centuries, in particular polemics, controversial theology and
inter-religious dialogue in the Middle Ages, the understanding of salvation in
contemporary context, analysis of the changing ecclesial landscapes in Europe
and elsewhere; on theology of religions and different approaches to inter-reli-
gious dialogue and on ecumenical hermeneutics.
65
Keynote Speakers
Charlotte Methuen
Charlotte Methuen is Senior Lecturer in Church History at the University of
Glasgow and an Anglican priest. Her research focuses in three main areas: the
Reformation, the ecumenical movement, and the history of womens ministry.
She has written extensively on different aspects of the German Reformation,
and on the Reformation in England and in Scotland in international perspec-
tive. Before moving to Glasgow, Charlotte taught Liturgy and Church History
at Ripon College Cuddesdon, and Church History at Oxford University. She
has also taught Church History at the Universities of Bochum and Hamburg,
in Germany.
Violet Soen
Prof. dr. Violet Soen is Chair of the Research Group Early Modern History
at the KU Leuven. She takes a special interest in Church state relations in
the sixteenth century, and the developments of confessional identities in the
borderlands of the early modern state. She is a series editor of Habsburg Worlds
at Brepols Publishers, and serves on the editorial boards of the Revue dhistoire
ecclsiastique, The Louvain Journal of Church History, and the series RefoRC
Academic Studies at Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht in Gttingen. She has been vis-
iting scholar at Columbia University (Spring 2014) and the cole des Hautes
tudes en Sciences Sociales (Spring 2011). She was also a Max Weber Fellow
of the European University Institute (2008-2009). Her latest book dealt with
noble, royal and imperial peace attempts during the Dutch Revolt (Vredehan-
del, Amsterdam University Press, 2012). She is principal investigator for the
projects within www.transregionalhistory.eu studying religious exile in early modern times.
Mirjam van Veen

Mirjam van Veen is professor in Modern Church history at the
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She wrote her PhD on the polemic between
Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert and John Calvin and has published widely on
especially the polemic between the magisterial reformation and the radical ref-
ormation. Together with Jesse Spohnholz she coordinates a research project
on Dutch refugee communities in the German Rhineland. She is currently
working on a critical edition of Sebastian Castellios writing on predestination
and on a book on John Utenhoves Fidelis Narratio (a book published in 1560
on a group of Dutch refugees in search of a home).
66
Keynote Speakers
Lee Palmer Wandel

Lee Palmer Wandel is the WARF Michael Baxandall Professor of History at
the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is the author of Always Among Us:
Images of the Poor in Zwinglis Zurich (1990), Voracious Idols and Violent Hands:
Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel (1995), The Eucharist
in the Reformation: Incarnation and Liturgy (2006), The Reformation: Towards a
New History (2011), and Reading Catechisms, Teaching Religion (2016); she has
edited A Companion to the Eucharist in the Reformation (2014) and with Walter
Melion she has co-edited Early Modern Eyes (2009) and Image and Incarnation:
The Early Modern Doctrine of the Pictorial Image (2015).
Susan Wood
Susan K. Wood, SCL, is professor of systematic theology at Marquette Univer-
sity. She received her doctorate in systematic theology from Marquette Uni-
versity. Very active in ecumenical work, she serves on the U.S. Lutheran - Ro-
man Catholic Dialogue (1994-present), the North American Roman Catholic
- Orthodox Theological Consultation (2005-present), and the International
Lutheran - Catholic Dialogue (2008-present). She has also participated in con-
sultations on baptism, theological anthropology, and the nature and purpose
of ecumenical dialogue sponsored by Faith and Order of the World Council of
Churches and the Joint Working Group and in the conversation between the
Roman Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance (2006-2010). She is
an associate editor of Pro Ecclesia and serves on the editorial advisory board of
the journal Ecclesiology. Most of her writing explores the connections between
ecclesiology and sacramental theology. In addition to numerous articles, she has published Spiritual Exegesis
and the Church in the Theology of Henri de Lubac (Eerdmans, 1998), Sacramental Orders (Liturgical Press,
2000), which has also been translated into Spanish, and One Baptism: Ecumenical Dimensions of the Doctrine
of Baptism (Liturgical Press, 2009), and co-authored with Timothy J. Wengert, A Shared Spiritual Journey:
Lutherans and Catholics Traveling toward Unity (Paulist Press, 2016). She is the editor of Ordering the Baptis-
mal Priesthood (The Liturgical Press, 2003) and co-editor with Alberto Garcia of Critical Issues in Ecclesiology
(Eerdmans, 2011). She served as President of the Catholic Theological Society of America 2014-2015 and
will begin a three-year term as Chair of the Department of Theology at Marquette University in May, 2017.
67
Appendices
Maps
Maria-Theresiacollege (MTC1)
Sint-Michielsstraat 6
3000 Leuven
69
Maps
De Valk
Tiensestraat 41
3000 Leuven
70
Maps
College De Valk (DV1)

Tiensestraat 41
3000 Leuven
71
Maps
De Valk 3 (DV3)
Tiensestraat 41
3000 Leuven
72
Maps
Leuven - Presentation Locations
73
Maps
Leuven - Special Events Locations
74
Maps
Leuven - Special Events Locations
75
Conference Sponsors
KU Leuven GOA research project: The Crisis of Religion and the Problem of Roman Catholic Self-definition -
This project seeks to dispel some of the confusion surrounding the notion, and the contemporary discussion,
of religion by means of a critical reflection on one of its most complex and enduring manifestations,
namely, the Roman Catholic tradition of Christianity. More concretely, our research explores the content
and development of Roman Catholicisms religious self-definition throughout history. This history has
been marked by internal tensions, and disputes and divisions within Catholicism, as well as repression and
corruption. In the course of its existence, Roman Catholicism has encountered multiple cultural, religious
and philosophical systems which it has both opposed and/or, to some degree, appropriated. Since the advent
of modernity (and postmodernity) it has been obliged to address the emergence of modern atheism and
the processes of secularization (and secularism). Most recently, it has been required to meet the challenges
issuing from the increasing presence and growing popularity of rival religious systems, both Christian and
non-Christian.
RefoRC - The Reformation Research Consortium is a unique, leading and attractive international network
in the field of studies related to the Sixteenth Century Reformations. RefoRC is the academic department
within Refo500. It connects academics and supports them in their research activities. Thereby RefoRC
collaborates as closely as possible with all the RefoRC members and their scholars whose field of activity is
connected with the history and theology of the reformation era. RefoRC offers academics a varied program
of conferences, research support, academic series etc.
FWO - the Flemish Research Foundation (Brussels)
ETL - Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses (ETL), founded in 1924, is a quarterly publication by pro-
fessors of Theology and Canon Law at the KU Leuven and the Universit catholique de Louvain (Louvain-
la-Neuve). As a peer-reviewed and internationally distributed journal, it publishes articles, notes and com-
ments, and reviews (in English, French, German) on all aspects of theology and canon law for an academic
readership. The journal appears in four instalments (March, June, September, December).
Doctoral School Humanities and Social Sciences, KU Leuven. They mediate the Flemish Governments
Support for Young Researchers (OJO) which is part of the YouReCa programme of the EU.
YouReCa aims to provide support beyond the research, assisting our highly qualified young researchers to
develop themselves into well-rounded professionals. YouReCa achieves this by organising a broad range of
training courses, offering career support and stimulating mobility.
Peeters Publishers Leuven
Re fo RC
CONNECTI NG
AC ADEMIC S
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Polis and Theos:

23-26 October 2019

the importance of the Scriptures for the inner

The conference will conclude with a roundta-

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the

Four themes will be central during this confer-

Antonio Gerace is a post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology and Re-

Date Location Time

Saturday, 14th October at 12.00

Common commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation:

A warm welcome to all conference participants!

Opening session, Gothic room

19.00 - 21.00 Introduction Prof. Peter De Mey

Thursday 12th October

First plenary session:

*All Coffee breaks are located in MTC1 00.03

Friday 13th October

Third plenary session:

*All Coffee breaks are located in MTC1 00.03

Saturday 14th October

chair: Johan LEEMANS

Quick note on the Room Codes!

If you are required to go to MTC1 00.12 then follow these steps:

chair: Wouter BIESBROUCK

chair: Wim FRANOIS

chair: Przemyslaw KANTYKA

chair: Dries VANYSACKER

chair: Colby DICKINSON

Reforming or Decolonizing Church? Gerald BOODOO

chair: Lee Palmer WANDEL

chair: Pantelis KALAITIZIDIS

chair: Mirjam VAN VEEN

chair: Terrence MERRIGAN

chair: Charlotte METHUEN

chair: Judith GRUBER

Wim Franois (KU Leuven)

Wouter Biesbrouck (KU Leuven)

Andreas Beck (Evangelical Theological Faculty, Leuven)

Karen Kilby (Durham University)

Lee Palmer Wandel (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Susan Wood (Marquette University, Milwaukee)

Annemarie Mayer (KU Leuven)

Charlotte Methuen (University of Glasgow)

Christiane Alpers (Catholic University Eichsttt-Ingolstadt)

Kenneth Ameke (KU Leuven)

Pablo Argarate (University of Graz)

Neil Arner (University of Notre Dame)

Anthony Atansi (KU Leuven)

Marie Baird (Duquesne University, Pittsburgh)

Craig Baron (St. Johns University, New York)

Kateina Bauerov (Charles University, Prague)

Maura Behrenfeld (KU Leuven)

Jacob Benjamins (KU Leuven)

Chiara Bertoglio (Independent Scholar)

Gerald Boodoo (Duquesne University, Pittsburgh)

Christopher Cimorelli (Caldwell University)

Timothy Crutcher (Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma City)

Paul DaPonte (Stonehill College, Easton)

Anton De Preter (KU Leuven)

Colby Dickinson (Loyola University Chicago)

Nicu Dumitracu (University of Oradea)

Elochukwu Uzukwu (Duquesne University, Pittsburgh)

Jerry Farmer (Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans)