O diálogo ecuménico enquanto diálogo com o «outro»

• Autor(a) principal: Soares, Fernando da Luz
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.34632/comunicacaoecultura.2011.554

The first two chapters of this article explain the tension experienced since the foundation of the Ecumenical Movement around the understanding of Christian unity, on the one hand, as a mere practical condition to accomplish the Christian mission of gaining proselytes, and, on the other, as a dialogue between the Churches, an attitude of discovery to reach a united Church. Some events that marked the path of ecumenism are analyzed in a short historical memory: from the World Missionary Conference, held in 1910 in Edinburgh, now considered the beginning of the Movement, until the Vatican II and its “Ecumenism” decree. Furthermore, in this regard, we detail some of the positions of prominent Catholic and Protestant theologians on ecumenical practices as a dialogue that leads to an understanding of the reality of different Churches and the value of difference. Chapter 3 addresses the issues of “other” and of otherness. Next, in chapter 4, we focus on the sociological changes that have occurred in Western Europe in the last 70 years, with consequent problems for ecumenical dialogue in a context of religious pluralism. In Chapter 5, two biblical stories of coexistence in diversity are presented: the case of Abraham in the Old Testament, and Pentecost in the New Testament. The last chapter concludes that Christian unity requires a change in the perspective of life by the Christian Churches, which would endow them with an attitude of true understanding about differences centered on the mystery of the other and the mystery of God.