[Oe List ...] Help on "ecumenical" piece

[John Cock]

Thank you, Jann,

 

One reason to write the paper on "ecumenical" is to move beyond the narrow
meanings you allude to  and reclaim the word's inclusive meaning. It is so,
so much bigger and wider and deeper than a few Christian denominations
working together.  As you know, at its root it refers to "world house"
(oikos/oikoumene), or the whole world community, or cosmos, or at least as
big as the Earth community. MLK was going further than most, but did not go
nearly far enough:

 

"We have inherited a big house, a great 'world house' [oikoumene] in which
we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners,
Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family
unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never
again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world,
to live with each other. 
    "This means that more and more our loyalties must become ecumenical
[oikoumene] rather than sectional. We must now give an overriding loyalty to
mankind [sic] as a whole in order to preserve the best in our individual
societies.
   "This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern
beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation [sic] is in reality a call for
an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men [sic]." 

 

~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, from Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Dec. 11, 1964
(45 years ago)

 

MLK's is a far better definition of "oikoumene" than the 1960's Protestant
Christian use, but it is much too narrow to do justice to the great word
"ecumenical." The three "sic's" above have to be included, of course, but
transcended:

 

*	from "mankind/humankind" to "Earth community"
*	from "tribe, race, class, and nation" to "Earth community"
*	from "men" and women to "Earth community"

We have to shift from a "human-centered understanding of world-centered" to
Earth-community-centered, or even cosmology-centered. Absolutely we have to
shift from an interfaith/interreligious understanding of the word
"ecumenical." It is truly evolutionary and revolutionary. Much bigger than
religious. Much bigger than "cultural." Properly understood, "history-long
and world-wide" takes on new meaning. The "world house" has to be itself,
maybe for the first time, in our understanding.

 

So, I'm a proud member of the Ecumenical Institute and am glad that
institution is still in being, still a legal entity, even.

 

Thanks for mentioning Fox's book. I've got it. I'll see if he and how he
uses the word "ecumenical." 

 

Seasons' Greetings to you,

 

John


  _____  

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of laurelcg at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2009 1:10 AM
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Help on "ecumenical" piece


Dear John
 
It was my impression that after we started working in places where
Christianity was a small minority, the word ecumenical was not helpful,
because it connoted inter-denominational Christian rather than inter-faith.
I don't feel very confident in this. I thought that was  why "I.C.A." and a
more secular approach was adopted, and other forms took the place of the
daily office.
 
Matthew Fox's book One River, Many Wells might be helpful.
 
Blessings,
Jann
 
In a message dated 12/23/2009 7:17:01 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
jpc2025 at triad.rr.com writes:

Am writing a paper on meaning of "ecumenical." 

I think the word can help us articulate our individual take on universal
reality as our gracioius home, our depth calling as a movemental community
(why did we choose the word for EI and OE?), our comprehensive mission as
the Earth community, and much more. Trying to get hold of a fuller context
of the word. 

If you have any insights, please share.

John

 
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