Theology of Ministry in the Twentieth Century: Ongoing Problems or New Orientations?*
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The first World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 unwittingly provided strong impetus to unprecedented endeavours to establish an ecumenically agreed theology of ministry. Between the first Faith and Order Conference in 1927 and the Fourth in 1963 an ecclesiological revolution occurred. Its distinguishing achievement was to locate the gift of ministry not in ordination or its equivalent but in baptism. This principle was established on the basis of the New Testament term for ministry, diakonia, understood as a total giving of self in service to others. Consensus to this effect developed around the work of Karl Barth, Eduard Schweizer and Ernst Käsemann, but in ecumenical circles strong tensions developed about the implications for ordained ministry. The linguistic study of 1990 Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources challenged the semantics underlying the consensus and provided a new semantic profile for an understanding of ecclesial ministry. The re-interpretation has been endorsed by subsequent lexicography and by Anni Hentschel's semantic investigation (2007). Theology of ministry in the twenty-first century has the opportunity to enrich the ministry with which the church is provisioned.
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1)
W.H.T. Gairdner, ‘Edinburgh 1910’: An Account and Interpretation of the World Missionary Conference (Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1910), p. 54.
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8)
Gaius Jackson Slosser, Christian Unity: Its History and Challenge in All Communions, in All Lands (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1929), p. 351.
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9)
Slosser, p. 372. And see further comment in John N. Collins, Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990; reprinted 2009), pp. 26-28, especially note 16 (p. 273).
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10)
G.K.A. Bell (ed.), Documents on Christian Unity, Third Series 1930-48 (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), p. 267 and pp. 268-269.
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11)
Rodger, P.C. and L. Vischer, The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order: The Report from Montreal 1963 (London: SCM, 1964), p. 62.
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12)
Rodger and Vischer, p. 63.
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14)
H. Kraemer, A Theology of the Laity (London: Lutterworth, 1958), p. 149.
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15)
Kraemer, p. 154.
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16)
Kraemer, p. 187.
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26)
John W. O’Malley, What happened at Vatican II (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008), pp. 115, 114.
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30)
Eng. trans., Vol. 2 (1964), pp. 81-93; German original, TWNT 2 (1935).
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31)
Gütersloh, 1931.
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56)
Ormonde Plater, ‘The Collins-Kittel synthesis’, Diakoneo 17 (Easter 1995), p. 5.
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57)
M. Ernst Wahl, ‘Diakonie, ein grosser Irrtum? Wie ein australischer Katholik die evangelische Sozialarbeit zum Nachdenken zwingt’, Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt 100.29 (17 Juli 2005), pp. 2-3; Annette Noller, ’Die Grundlage der Diakonie wankt nicht. Gedanken zur diakoniewissenschaftlichen Diskussion um John Collins’, Ev. Ge.100.35 (4 September 2005), p. 7; and see the correction to the conclusion, Ev. Ge. 100.36 (11 September 2005), p. 7.
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62)
‘Foundations’, p. 26.
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63)
‘Foundations’, p. 43.
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64)
Paul Avis, A Ministry Shaped by Mission (London: T&T Clark, 2005). See especially the nuanced discussion of ministry in relation to baptism, mission and charism in chapter 2.
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70)
Note the translation by G.H. Box (1927) of Testament of Abraham 9.24 (A) ‘be the medium of my word’ (diakonēsai moi logon); see Diakonia, p. 99.
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71)
See Collins, Diakonia, pp. 203-05 in the light of non-Christian usage as at pp. 84-85, 115-24, 131-32, 136-38, 148-49; ‘The mediatorial aspect of Paul's role as diakonos’, Australian Biblical Review 40 (1992), pp. 34-44.
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72)
Collins, Diakonia, pp. 248-52, and Hentschel, Diakonia im NT, p. 278 with note 438. Compare Beyer, TDNT 2, p. 86: ‘… in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28 … diakonein is now much more than a comprehensive term for any loving assistance rendered to the neighbour. It is understood as full and perfect sacrifice, as the offering of life which is the very essence of service.’
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Theology of Ministry in the Twentieth Century: Ongoing Problems or New Orientations?*
In: EcclesiologySearch for other papers by John N. Collins in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The first World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 unwittingly provided strong impetus to unprecedented endeavours to establish an ecumenically agreed theology of ministry. Between the first Faith and Order Conference in 1927 and the Fourth in 1963 an ecclesiological revolution occurred. Its distinguishing achievement was to locate the gift of ministry not in ordination or its equivalent but in baptism. This principle was established on the basis of the New Testament term for ministry, diakonia, understood as a total giving of self in service to others. Consensus to this effect developed around the work of Karl Barth, Eduard Schweizer and Ernst Käsemann, but in ecumenical circles strong tensions developed about the implications for ordained ministry. The linguistic study of 1990 Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources challenged the semantics underlying the consensus and provided a new semantic profile for an understanding of ecclesial ministry. The re-interpretation has been endorsed by subsequent lexicography and by Anni Hentschel's semantic investigation (2007). Theology of ministry in the twenty-first century has the opportunity to enrich the ministry with which the church is provisioned.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 479 | 58 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 83 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 86 | 8 | 2 |
