What is it about?
Ecumenical impasse over necessity and shape of three fold ministry--bishop/priest/deacon--and how the impasse might be overcome by by a more expansive view of three-fold ministries in non-episcopal churches.
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Why is it important?
Stark YES-NO views of three-fold ministry creates a gulf between episcopally-ordered churches and non-episcopal churches. Each position can be challenged to appreciate the other by seeing underlying three-foldedness in the ministries of a wide variety of churches.
Perspectives
My participation in national and international dialogues and ecumenical theological consultations has shown me the intractable nature of differences about forms of ministry. Mutual recognition must go deeper than shallow affirmation if mutual reconciliation is to occur.
Joseph Small
Presbyterian Foundation
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Ordering the Church: Ecumenism and the Three-Fold Ministry, Ecclesiology, January 2020, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/17455316-01601005.
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