Why the ecumenical movement is a historical event on par with the Reformation

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

A hundred years ago, Catholics were not interested in celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, except to remember how a bunch of reformers led people astray.
How times have changed!
This year, Catholics, led by Pope Francis, are celebrating the Reformation with their fellow Christians.

To read more:

http://religionnews.com/2017/10/31/why-the-ecumenical-moment-is-a-historical-event-on-par-with-the-reformation/

[sprinkleeninow]

1. Jumpin' Jehosaphat! Took a gander over at RNS.

My, they soitenly have quite a mixed bag on their team/staff/contributors.

The service was founded by a fellow of the Hebrew tradition of faith? Or at the least, of Jewish roots?

[guillaumeb]

3. They carry a mix of news and opinions.

Plus the occasional humorous piece to lighten up the mood.

[trotsky]

2. SPLITTERS!

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. Bullshit.

The Reformation dramatically altered the political landscape of an entire continent. The ecumenical movement can't even dramatically alter the political landscape of the average city block.

[guillaumeb]

5. It is settled. No more debate or discussion is necessary. eom

[Act_of_Reparation]

6. Oh, no. Do go on.

Tell us how Catholics and Protestants and Orthodox being superficially decent to each other well after secularization has robbed all of these institutions of their ability to directly affect one another is on the level with a paradigm shift in Western politics so far-reaching its effects are still felt today.

This should be entertaining.

[guillaumeb]

7. As I said, your response was so comprehensive, so clearly correct,

that no further response is required or possible.

[sprinkleeninow]

8. My puddin' head can't decipher what you wrote.

Could you rephrase it for the laity? Thank you.
And I'm not being a wise acre.

[Act_of_Reparation]

9. No problem.

The Protestant Reformation was a pivotal turning point in Western politics. Ecumenalism is pivotal in absolutely nothing. The ecumenical movement is not, therefore, as important as the Protestant Reformation.

[sprinkleeninow]

10. Yes, the reformation has strong relevancy to the 'west'

in many regards.

Ecumenism will most likely not pivot anything.

The die has been cast to any reuniting of especially the two major 'arms' of Christianity. It's said and written.

Do you personally have sentiments pro or con towards the reformation and its effect?

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. That's not an easy question.

By and large and I guess I skew towards con. The disruption the Reformation caused killed millions, be it through war, sectarian violence, or witch hunts. On the other hand, the shrugging off of papal authority paved the way for the Enlightenment, without which we probably wouldn't be living in a secular society. So I guess something good came out of it, if only because our attempts to fix the chaos caused by the Reformation got us to a better place than we were before.

[sprinkleeninow]

12. Most likely that nixing papal authority was a plus

to enable societies to become more 'secular'.

Do you have negativity towards say, Constantine and Eastern 'papal' figures?

It's true that early on, Christian practice did keep sacred writings and even the bible from the ordinary worshipper. Which was a burr in peoples' saddles back then when they became that kind of 'enlightened' and realized this was kept/hidden from them.

Only saving grace was/is: Orthodox Christianity incorporates an inordinate (word?) amount of scripture in all its services. Old and New Testament. If one is familar with scripture, one readily recognizes it in chanting, responses, choral singing.
If not that familiar, one learns scripture simply from attending services. It's said when Orthodox sing, they 'pray' twice! 😀

[sprinkleeninow]

13. What you said in the close of your reply brought a 'lightbulb moment' to me.

Hopefully good will come out of the bad that has been cast upon us by our maladministration of the day.