Volume 12 (2020): Issue 2 (August 2020)

Scattered throughout his many writings and lectures Karl Rahner frequently, directly and indirectly, addresses the topics of ecumenism and ecumenical theology. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the connection between Rahner’s mystical transcendental theology and his ecumenical theology. This is done in two successive steps. Firstly, the contours of Rahner’s mystical transcendental theology are developed by tracing Rahner’s foundational thought from Spirit in the World to Hearers of the Word and, finally, to his doctrine of the supernatural existential. The conversation then moves to the foundations of Rahner’s ecumenical thought as it is articulated in his article Some Problems in Contemporary Ecumenism.

Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) is well known as founder of the Focolare Movement with its large ecumenical commitment, but not so much in her mystical experience and writings, not yet published in full. In her experience of faith, especially in the mystical period called Paradise ’49, lies the spiritual ground of her engagement in worldwide dialogue. ‘Unity’ (John 17,21) and ‘Jesus Forsaken’ (as a speci!c understanding of redemption) are the two sides of a spiritual life based on the Word of God.

This study focuses on one outstanding theologian from the Church in France; his writings have influenced a whole generation of priests and laity seeking a Christianity that they were on the point of abandoning. In his search for the origins of this disenchantment, Maurice Bellet takes a fresh and unexpected look at the Christian faith, the Church and the society of his time.

The paper outlines the history and the spirituality of the Monastic Community of Bose, founded in 1968 in Italy by fr. Enzo Bianchi (b. 1943), in the broader context of the ecumenical movement and of the monastic renewal of the twentieth century, when monasticism rediscovered its vocation to unity, as an epiclesis to the Holy Spirit so that all may be one (Jn 17,22). In particular, the article considers the monastic spirituality of Bose, its roots in the tradition of the monastic Fathers both Eastern and Western, its peculiar ecumenical vocation and ecumenical service.

The imagery of light plays a key role in Basil of Caesarea’s narrative of God and salvation. Curiously, the communal aspects of this imagery have received little attention in scholarship. A systematic analysis of “De Spiritu Sancto” reveals that in Basil’s understanding, participation in divine light functions as a parallel concept to Church membership. To begin with, the corporate nature of participation in divine light is evident from the ecclesial rites of initiation whereby this participation is bestowed. Furthermore, Basil uses the imagery of light to underscore the corporate nature of both the mystical union between God and the baptized, and the outward expressions of the believers’ lives in the divine light: worship and public witness. In addition to shedding new light on the Basilian notion of Church membership, the study o#ers a fresh outlook into the ecumenical dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church bodies on the theology of initiation.

Theophany is a central concept in Eriugena’s spirituality and it has been comprehensively treated so far from a theoretical point of view. The present study aims at investigating John Scottus’s ‘practical’, i.e. ascetical, perspective. My hypothesis is that for Eriugena contemplation is always dependent on practice, to such an extent that his theophanic mysticism should be considered together with his asceticism. Given that John Scottus’s asceticism is not always systematically displayed, I assembled a number of ascetical aspects of his practical spirituality and organized them into two categories: (1) negative aspects of asceticism: repentance, purgation, mortification, and (2) positive aspects of asceticism: virtues, grace, and sacraments. All these ascetical aspects are presented in close connection to Eriugena’s ultimate spiritual purpose, which is attaining God in the highest theophanies.

St. Nikolaj Velimirović is known as one of the most influential Serbian theologians of the twentieth century. In his work he shows an admirable spiritual strength and contemplative depth that one would not expect from a thinker who was involved in all important ecclesiastical, political and cultural events of his era. He deliberately replaces the language and methods of academic theology with the language of poetry. This enables him to appropriately express the strength of his own mystical experience. He was fascinated by the ascetic and religious tradition of India and tried to explain his idea of a universal unity of all with the idea of Universal Man (Svečovek). Gradually he turns to the theological and ascetic tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy. There he finds, in the Christology of the Eastern Church Fathers, the testimony of the same experience of meeting Christ in love and truth.