Newtonian Cosmology underlies modernism and also modern theology. This context for ecumenism may account for the drift since the 1910 Edinburgh Mission Conference (which linked mission and ecumenism) to a strong emphasis on structural unity, culminating in the 1982 failure of the English Covenant. The Newtonian view sees ecumenism as a problem to be solved rather than as a way of life.
Quantum Mechanics and Complexity Theory have led to a post-modern worldview and invite Christians to see their faith in a new light. Post-modernism implies all our stories are just that - stories. Nothing is fixed or certain.
Many Christians are therefore suspicious of this worldview, believing it falsifies their faith. But it has to be asked whether their concerns are based upon a fixed Newtonian view that is threatened by a relativistic reading of these stories.
Post-modernism undermines all stories including the Newtonian cosmology which still underlies modern atheism. Today we live in a universe that is big enough to include more than can be seen directly through science.
The invitation for ecumenists is to enter into a new joint venture, to move from structural unity to an exploration of this new cosmos together.
The Christians stories have always been told and retold in different contexts. Post-modernism is not a ban on telling stories. We are encouraged to retell our stories and this is no different to how Christians have used their stories down the centuries. Each telling adds a new layer of meaning to familiar stories. The new (Newtonian) idea is that their meanings can be frozen for all time.
To maintain that one particular meaning is absolute is a denial of the incarnation. The reading of scripture becomes an exercise of the mind, of memorising the correct interpretation. Incarnation is about the living of stories engaged with the world as we find it. This is the distinction between faith and belief. Faith is living the stories in the flesh whilst belief is simply knowing the right things to believe.
This is why debates with atheists are ultimately futile. By allowing atheists to set the terms of the debate as being about belief in God, Christians are led into an intellectualised approach to Christianity. It is a short step from there into fundamentalism as a reaction to scepticism.
Faith is allowing the stories to live their life through our lives. Both atheists and fundamentalists would deny us this great gift from God. Ecumenism is a sharing of these stories, told and retold in many time and places.
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