The Wider Ecumenism

Download or read book The Wider Ecumenism written by Eugene Hillman and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By accepting the full implications of current salvation theology, Christians today are compelled to ask themselves precisely why they are Christians, and why they should be concerned at all about the existence of the Church anywhere and at any time. If the very same saving grace of Christ is universally available to all men simply because they are men, and if all religions manifest an anonymous but nonetheless effective operation of grace, then what exactly is the purpose of the Church in history? The answer--and thus the authentic meaning of the Christian vocation--is to be found only in a dynamic, pentecostal, evangelical, ecumenical, and sacramental relationship with all the others: the vast majority of human beings who must live and die with no one to tell them of Christ. Without this living relationship, and the far-reaching demands proceeding therefrom, our Christianity is simply the moribund culture-religion of Western man, and our churches are indeed the "sepulchres of God". For Christians are true to their calling, and the Church is alive, only to the extent that they exist for the whole of humanity.