Grassroots Ecumenism: The Way of Local Christian Reunion

by Karen Petersen Finch

Publisher:

New City Press

, 2022

Overview

The quest for Christian unity has traditionally been initiated at the international level between official leaders of Christian denominations, with the effects of their dialogue expected to trickle down to local Christian communities. In Grassroots Ecumenism, Karen Petersen Finch upends this process, proposing an approach to Christian unity that begins in your neighborhood. She draws directly from her experience equipping everyday Christians to know their own Christian tradition more thoroughly and to engage thoughtfully with separated Christians down the street and around the corner.

Key Features

• Argues that Christian unity begins in your neighborhood.
• Encourages Christians to know their own Christian tradition more thoroughly.
• Invites to engage thoughtfully with separated Christians down the street and around the corner.

Contents

• Foreword
• Introduction: Grassroots Ecumenism
• Chapter 1 The Clarkston Dialogues
• Chapter 2 Re-Imagining Lay People as Stewards of Doctrine
• Chapter 3 Once and Future Experiments in Local Dialogue
• Chapter 4 Dialogue Method for the Local Setting
• Chapter 5 How Do We Get to Heaven?
• Chapter 6 What’s Peter Got to Do with It?
• Chapter 7 The Eucharist—Where is Jesus?
• Chapter 8 The Local Way Forward
• Appendix A Advertisement and Schedule for Dialogue Cycle One
• Appendix B Syllabus for Dialogue Cycle Two
• Appendix C Syllabus for Dialogue Cycle Three (Reception Cycle)
• Appendix D Key Handouts
• The Nicene Creed: Nine Enduring Differences
• The Faith that Unites Us: The Nicene Creed
• The Emphases that Divide Us: Roman Catholic and Reformed
• “What I Want to Know” Form
• Dreaming of Church Structures: Papal Primacy Worksheet
• Notes
• About the Author

Praise for Grassroots Ecumenism

Karen Petersen Finch makes a compelling case that laypeople can serve the cause of Christian unity in their local settings as skilled theologians. She shares her personal experience in providing the necessary training, including a candid account of real obstacles that she faced along the way in equipping lay people to be “stewards of doctrine.” This is a wise, theologically solid—and wonderfully readable—book.

—Richard J. Mouw, PhD., President Emeritus Fuller Theological Seminary

The rewards of ecumenical dialogue come alive in Dr. Karen Petersen Finch’s very engaging book. Through her poignant stories of real encounters and outlines of practical skills that can facilitate breakthroughs, this book will inspire readers toward engaging in ecumenical dialogue. She shows the importance of open, honest, and sympathetic acknowledgement of difference. But she also shows that most effective dialogues are surrounded by processes of self- and mutual education, and she provides rich theological and historical background that people can draw upon for deepening dialogue. While the book focuses upon dialogue between Reformed and Catholic traditions, she provides a model of how dialogue across many other kinds of differences can proceed fruitfully.

—Patrick Byrne, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Past Director of the Lonergan Institute Boston College

Karen Petersen Finch is at once a Presbyterian minister and an ecumenical theologian. In this book she tells the fascinating story of a joint Catholic-Protestant Vacation Bible School which spawned a lively experiment in Christian unity with implications far beyond its local origin. Practical, charitable, serious but not stuffy, here is a gift to the Lord’s people everywhere.

—Timothy George, Distinguished Professor of Divinity Beeson Divinity School of Samford University Co-chair, Evangelicals and Catholics Together

Product Details

• Title: Grassroots Ecumenism: The Way of Local Christian Reunion
• Author: Karen Petersen Finch
• Publisher: New City Press
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Pages: 292
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781565484931, 1565484932
• Resource ID: LLS:GRSSRTSCMNSMRNN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-12-10T16:43:15Z

About Karen Petersen Finch

The Rev. Dr. Karen Petersen Finch is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and an ecumenical theologian specializing in the Reformed and Roman Catholic traditions. Karen has studied the theological method of Bernard Lonergan, SJ at Gonzaga University and Boston College and has published widely on its application to ecumenical dialogue. Currently, Karen serves as Professor of Pastoral Leadership at the Presbyterian College in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and teaches courses on Ecumenism and the Reformed Tradition for McGill University. She also represents the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the Roman Catholic-Reformed Ecumenical Dialogue in the United States.