The Communion of Saints (original) (raw)
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Founders Journal, 2020
From the editorial page of the journal: Scott Callaham has written an excellent piece on chapter 27, “On the Communion of Saints.” This is a strikingly thorough discussion, a virtual biblical theology, of that rich biblical idea. He brings to bear a comprehensive grasp of the distinctives as well as the unity of the Old and New Testaments, an excellent competency in the biblical languages, and a love for doctrine that arises from careful exegesis. This is an encouraging and spiritually edifying look at the blessing that God has given in our fellowship and union in the gospel.
COMMUNION OF SAINTS THE UNITY OF DIVINE LOVE IN THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST
All biblical citations that I have used in my own original text are taken from the Knox Bible, copyright, Baronius Press, London. All Scriptural passages contained within quotes are kept in their original form. Concerning the former, I have decided to use the translation of Monsignor Ronald Knox, which he completed in 1948, because alongside the Clementine Vulgate which had been the official Latin text of the Catholic Church for centuries, Mons. Knox studiously cross-checked his translation with Hebrew and Greek texts; consequently we get closer to the inner theological and spiritual heart of Sacred Scripture. Abbreviations CCSL: Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, Turnhout, 1953-. A critical edition of all the Latin texts from the first eight centuries of the Christian era.
Cruciality of the Communion of the Saints
Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology
The “communion of the saints” is usually considered a New Testament topic. It appears in the Apostles’ Creed as a mandatory commitment for church orthodoxy and orthopraxy. However, the Old Testament Hebrews were also a faith community and committed to beliefs and behaviors (at least “on paper”) that enable and enhance communion and fellowship as well as exclude actions that cause division and dissension, which can lead to discouragement, disengagement, and even destruction. Consequently, the Hebrew Bible can offer, at least typologically, statements and stories that illustrate how crucial communion and community were for God’s OT people, and anticipate the same for the NT churches. This article will make use of selected passages in the Pentateuch that provide mainly data about what would prevent or pervert communion among ancient Hebrew believers inYahweh, which provides principles applicable to modern Gentile believers in Jesus as the Christos.
The Eucharist as the Sacrament of Sharing
The Ecumenical Review, 1986
I. The eucharist as the sacrament in, for and through the church As the locus of an ever-renewed Pentecost, the glorified humanity of Christ comes to us in the sacraments of the churchor rather the church is in the deepest sense nothing other than the sacrament of the risen Christ.' The church as eucharist is the hidden intention -"under a veil"of the risen Christ drawing all things towards him in order to restore them to life permanently. At the same time, God expects a free and creative response by humankind: hence the veiled mystery of Easter can only be revealed through the cooperation (synergia) of the Holy Spirit and our freedom. Within each baptized person lies hidden the divine life, the "Spirit" @neumu) at the "heart" of his or her personal existence that is the integrating centre of the total human person and hence the organ that permits a form of knowledge in the Spirit in which justice, beauty and love are inseparable. By a gradual process of acquiring roots both in communion with the One who alone is holy and with the communion of saints, this knowledge develops in the individual and he or sheinstead of living in separateness and deathwill live in the Spirit, for "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" as Christ says in St John's Gospel (3:6).
The Mystical Communion of the Saints: Why was Sanctorum Communionem added to the Apostles’ Creed?
The first instance of 'communion of the saints' in the Apostles' Creed appears in a version of it in a sermon by St. Caesarius of Arles in the 6th century. Why does it appear, and why did it appear at this time, in this context? This paper argues the best explanation is lex orandi, lex credendi was at work, that Southern Gaul, Caesarius' bishopric, had become the epicenter of veneration of the saints, and he emphasized it here in part to affirm the common practice of the Christians, and to depaganize the Gauls.
The Saints as an Element in the Communion and Communication in the Early Church
The cult of the martyrs and saints, their veneration and fame for miracles, intercesson to them, the cult of relics, the custom of seeking burial near the shrines of saints, etc., grew and spread as a development of popular devotion in the ancient Church without much regulation except on a local level by the local bishop. The lack of control of course led to the growth of all sorts of legends, which, as mentioned at the beginning, the Bollandists have tried to sort out for centuries.56 It also lead eventually to more centalized forms of regulation. The theological rational for the cult of the martyrs and saints was provided in the development of the idea of the communion of the saints by many theologians.
Towards a Common Understanding of the Sacraments
Louvain Studies, 1998
There is a necessary relationship between our understanding and practice of baptism and our understanding and practice of the Lord's Supper. We must learn afresh the implications of baptism for our sharing in the eucharist. Our failure to share in the one Table of the Lord, to live and act as one visible and united body appears to many a contradiction of the baptismal gift that we all claim to have received." 4. See for the influence of this convergence on a lot of official ecumenical dia
Horizons, 2018
This theological roundtable discussion on shared communion, presented at the 2018 CTS Convention, reflects twenty-plus years of conversations among theologians: some Catholic, members of the College Theology Society; and some Baptist, members of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, region-at-large. They gather at the annual convention of the College Theology Society not only for intellectual exchange but also for common prayer. Over the decades, the Baptist theologians have always participated in Mass. Their fidelity informed Sandra Yocum's presidential address at the convention, which began with a lament over our Christian disunity reflected in the faces of my dear friends in Christ, these Baptist theologians who with all humility process with the other communicants, but with arms crossed over their chests to signal that they cannot receive Christ, whom they too believe to be present in the sacrament.1 The lament sparked a desire in Curtis Freeman to resp...
The Church as Communion in Early Christian Thought
In the New Testament the term koinônia denotes Christ’s sharing in our flesh and blood as well as the communion/fellowship among the members of the community because of the communion that we have with Christ, and with his Father. In the Pauline letters the phrases “in Christ,” “in the Spirit,” “one body” are used to signify the abolition of the barriers ans obstacles to communion. In the early Fathers we find an emphasis on the link between doctrine and communion as well as an emphasis on the unity of the community often centered on the bishop. In the Latin Fathers the question of doctrine is connected with the links with the apostolic churches and the unity among the bishops themselves is stressed. The Trinity itself is put forth by several fathers as a model of the unity that should exist in the church. Augustine stresses above all the unity of the Body of Christ and the connection of that unity with the Eucharist. A similar emphasis is found in John Chrysostom. Finally with Basil we find the relations within the Trinity described as a communion (koinônia), which in turn becomes the model for the communion within the church.
Sacrament of holy communion: a real fellowship
2013
Luther turns to the sacraments into to rewrite the contours of a Christian life (and theology). The sacraments and especially the sacrament of Holy Communion, as a place of proclamation, exercise us in faith. In order to highlight this characteristic, Luther works with the metaphor of the happy exchange - a metaphor that has been sidelined or even forgotten by some current of Lutheran theology. Yet, it is in the happy exchange that for Luther the real significant of this sacrament lies: a true fellowship.