Apart from ecclesiology I suppose there are three main reasons for divisions between Christian traditions. Of these, theological differences and historical persecutions immediately spring to mind but in recent years ethical divisions have become more prominent. It is interesting that traditions otherwise divided find unity of purpose on ethical grounds.
If we take three ethical issues which typically divide Christians, namely ordination of women, abortion and sexuality, it is remarkable that the conservative stance is common to a wide range of traditions. To some degree there is dissent within some of these traditions but in terms of their collective stance they take a conservative view. The Protestant evangelical tradition, both within independent churches and as a part of mainstream traditions, the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Churches tend to take a similar view.
Note these are conservative traditions rather than fundamentalist. Fundamentalist traditions share these views and conservative traditions might express some of their views in a fundamentalist way but they are in no way restricted to fundamentalist Christians.
It is interesting to note these are shared across traditions which for other reasons might not recognise each others validity as expressions of Christianity. So, many congregationalist and independent churches, whilst sharing the values of many Roman Catholics, cannot recognise Catholicism as Christian. Some Orthodox understand Calvinism, for example, as heretical.
What we find as a result of this is a variety of alternative ecumenisms emerging that recognise the old divisions but also serve to distance themselves from the mainstream churches.
So, the Evangelical Alliance in Britain is an ecumenical organisation (very successful judging by their finance and staffing) that represents the interests of evangelicals who wish to distance themselves from mainstream ecumenism. One of the reasons for this is their resistance to recognition of the Roman Catholic Church as an ecumenical partner. But the Alliance tends to attract those Christians who wish to distance themselves from what they call liberal Christianity. I suppose some might still, for example, ordain women or recognise the leadership of women, but in the main women's leadership, abortion and sexuality remain areas of contention with the mainstream Protestant Churches.
When the Anglican communion started to ordain women, the Orthodox Churches (I'm not sure if this applied to all but certainly most) broke off ecumenical relations. Ecumenism now is not about unity but simply sharing of gifts and insights. So, gradually as more conservative Anglicans distance themselves from non-conservative Christians, alliances are beginning to emerge exploring the possibility of joining the Roman Catholic Church or starting a Western Orthodox Church.
I tend to view these trends with dismay. Not because I would wish to stop people forming their own alliances; on the contrary anything that brings Christians closer is to be applauded. My problem is that I am suspicious of motivation. Leaving aside the deplorable anti-Catholicism (reciprocated in some Catholic circles it seems) the way in which ethical issues are being used to create divisions seems to me a deep betrayal of the Christian faith. I will of course substantiate this in future posts.
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