Robert S. Bilhiemer, Breakthrough: The Emergence of the Ecumenical Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), x + 235 Pps.
This is a personal, first-person account of the ecumenical movement, as Bilhiemer (ordained with the PCUSA) was an active participant in the ecumenical movement. He combines personal recollections and reflections with objective, documented material on the theological, ethical, ecclesiological, and spiritual elements of the emerging ecumenical tradition, seen principally through the establishment and elongation of the WCC. The book describes the churches’ ecumenical witness, including their work for peace and justice, as well as their inner renewal. This ecumenical movement does not obliterate denominational boundaries, but draws from them and is deepened thereby.
He asserts that three elements composed the emerging ecumenical movement: 1) a movement from ‘foreign missions’ to the world mission of the church; 2) a movement that sought the renewal of the church through confessing the faith in relation to society and culture; and 3) a movement from the historical denominations to an undefined vision of visible church unity (19). The renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s affirmed two important pillars of the ecumenical movement: first, the turn to scripture as primary for the source of Christian life and thought, and second, the radical differences b/t the claims of Christ and those of society (22). In 1946, the WCC’s first assembly laid out a covenant in which they explicitly claimed that they intended to stay together, despite possible conflicts, which has set the tone for the ensuing fifty plus years (42). Bilhiemer claims that the very existence of the WCC is a demonstration of supra-national unity (46). The WCC, as an ecumenical movement, stresses that the very point of its existence is to affirm diversity within the church body, highlighting the dynamic character of the relations b/t component churches. The member churches base their participation on Christ as the divine head of the body; they also base it on the fact that the NT presents the church as being one in unity; moreover, membership in the generic church of Christ is more important than membership to an individual denomination or church (52).
Bilhiemer highlights his role as an “ecumenical engineer”, noting that he saw his job as to help people respond to the Spirit who was already there with them (67). An implication of the term “church” in the ecumenical tradition was that of a universal mission to proclaim salvation to all humanity, throughout all history. Moreover, “church” implied a calling for Christians to witness together of the unity of humanity and the purpose of the triune God. Thirdly, the term church implied that the common faith required loyalty to God, love of neighbor, and anticipation of the Kingdom of God (216). The emergence of the ecumenical tradition provided an irreversible formulation of the nature of the church (218). Ecumenical Protestants, Anglicans, Orthodox, and RCC members have more in common with each other than they have with members of their respective churches that do not share the desire for ecumenicity (220–21).