iia School of Theology at Clar Documents. OF THE CHRISTIAcN me F ? > : y i < e a ata | ’ ys ~~ Vase ow i a an Sey ' DOCUMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH Chris Maunder is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the College of Ripon and York St John, and a Trustee of the Marian Study Centre, Ushaw College, Durham. ae DOCUMENTS OF THE 177 CHRISTIAN CHURCH Third Edition SELECTED AND EDITED BY HENRY BETTENSON THIRD EDITION EDITED BY CHRIS MAUNDER *OxFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS : OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. 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Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquiror British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0-19—288071-3 3579108642 Typeset in Minion’ by Cambrian Typesetters, Frimley, Surrey Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire Theology | ibrary SCHOOL OF THEOLOG AT CLAREMONT Californie PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION Tue world context in which the churches live and work at the end of the twentieth century is very different to that in which Henry Bettenson selected the material for the first two editions of Documents of the Christian Church. Theology, it could be argued, tends less to the establishment-centred and ecclesiastical, more to the marginal and prophetic; it is also confronted more than ever with the creative chal- lenge of pluralism and religious change. An increasing number of scientific and technological advances bring with them complex ethi- cal dilemmas, as the churches seek to interpret the contemporary world with the long-standing Christian means of scripture, tradition, and reason. This edition includes additional material which, it is hoped, bears witness to these newer concerns. Thus the inter-faith movement, liberation theology (of various kinds), the ordination of women, concern for the environment, moral questions such as artifi- cial insemination and AIDS—all find their way into this volume alongside the well-chosen overview of church history for which Bettenson’s Documents became popular. Understandably, several of the original Bettenson strands are continued: ecumenism, the (Roman) Catholic Councils, theological controversy. However, the need for a new edition becomes apparent when one recalls that, at the time of the previous edition (1963), the Second Vatican Council had only just begun to meet, the civil rights movement was barely under way, the feminist issue was not yet as prominent as it was to be later, the world was split—Berlin literally so—into two power blocks with the fear of massive nuclear strikes. Christian history does not stand still; nevertheless, it is a testimony to Bettenson that his volume has not been discontinued, but rather expanded to reflect the devel- opments of the last thirty-five years. This edition is no more able than its predecessors to pretend that it has fully covered the vastarea of documented church history. Bettenson himself admitted in niePreface to the First Edition that the book contained material ‘familiar to the specialist’ and in which there were ‘large and obvious gaps. A small book with such a formidable brief is bound to be limited, and to leave out material that some readers would vi Preface to the Third Edition prefer to see included. The omission of material from the East remains, despite one or two new extracts dealing with the Orthodox churches; the accent is still on the Anglican and Roman Catholic, despite several testimonies to the work of other denominations; the material is still more sensitive to the British context than elsewhere, although the new edition attempts to provide the global perspective essential in contemporary church history and theology. This is perhaps the most notable guiding principle for the expansion. In particular, the extracts on radical theology draw on writers from North and South America, Africa, and Asia, and the topic of Church and State is pursued with reference to Germany and South Africa. There are many indications of the continued work of the World Council of Churches. I hope that the new extracts will give the reader a flavour of what are probably the most decisive developments in Christianity of recent times, and inspire her or him to use the refer- ences to the original material for further reading. As this preface is written, new developments—in ecumenism in particular—threaten to outdate this edition before it is published: there are moves afoot, once again, to unite the Anglican and Methodist churches; the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches are engaged in a convergence of doctrine that may sweep away the theo- logical divisions of the past. The ecumenical movement will continue to be influential although, in the ‘postmodern’ environment, there will probably be more emphasis on mutual respect and dialogue than on church unity in the formal sense The new millennium has created an atmosphere of expectation, not only for the millenarian. While for nature the year 2000 means little, for the human (Christian) psyche the time boundary will inspire a surge of activity and debate, for the good of humanity, one hopes. Whatever is to come, a new edition of Documents of the Christian Church will doubtless be necessary in fewer years than the thirty-five between the second and third editions! As editor of the expanded edition, my appreciation of the original Bettenson that was a ‘must’ for the undergraduate shelf (and very useful for the postgraduate and tutor) is reflected in the fact that I have made only a few minor changes to the original material. The greatest changes are the reordering of the sections dealing with the churches in Britain, and the incorporation of Bettenson’s short sections on ecumenism into a new longer section. I have preferred the title “Roman Catholic Church’ to Bettenson’s ‘Roman Church’, which seems a little outdated now. Preface to the Third Edition vil Finally, I would like to thank various people who have helped the new edition into being: first, and most importantly, Adrian Hastings, who suggested my name to the publisher, and who has since made several very precise and useful suggestions as to what should be included. I am delighted that this edition is being published in the same year as Professor Hastings’ Oxford Companion to Christian Thought. Kevin Kelly kindly provided some bibliographical reference material for the sections on ethics. The Taizé Community, represented by Brother Pim, suggested the extract from Brother Roger’s No Greater Love, and provided the text. Austin Flannery sent new editions of his Vatican Council II. |w ould also like to acknowledge the support of my colleagues—academic, library, and administrative staff, as well as students—at the College of Ripon and York St John, especially Lesley Verity, who did the lion’s share of the typing, and Liz Gillings, who chose the extract from Matthew Fox. Several representatives of churches and publishers that I contacted were very helpful. I would like to mention in particular Colin Davey, of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, who made many useful suggestions for the Christian unity material; Ed Pinsent of the Church of England Record Centre; Noel Davies of Churches Together in Wales; Anne Hosking of _ the Quakers; those churches and publishers who gave their permis- sion to reproduce extracts very promptly and free of charge. It may be a cliché, but it is no less true for that, to state that the strengths of the new edition are due to the help of these people cited, and of course to the legacy of Henry Bettenson himself, while its weaknesses must be - my own responsibility. Bettenson’s selections and editorial comment remain for Part I and Part II, sections I to XII and XVI: I (a), (b), (c), II (a), IV, V (a), (b). Part H, sections XIII, XIV, XV, XVII and the remainder of XVI has been selected and annotated by myself. C.M. November 1998 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION In the selection of these documents the aim has been to provide illus- trations of the development of the Church and of her doctrines for the benefit of the general reader and the general student: a volume of this size, covering so long a stretch of time and on so wide a subject, could not pretend to include anything that was not familiar to the specialist. But it is hoped that a large part of the documents referred to in books of general interest and elementary scope have been here included in one volume. There are, as there must be, many large and obvious gaps. Perhaps the most glaring is the entire omission of any reference to Eastern Christendom between the Great Schism and the year 1922. But since many things had to be left out, and since it cannot be denied, though it may well be regretted, that in this country the study of the Eastern Church since the schism, even to an elementary degree, is almost confined to specialists, it seemed best to make no attempt to illustrate an important subject which could be treated neither adequately nor profitably in a book of such a size and with such an aim. In general it has been thought of more value to give a few docu- ments at some length rather than a multitude of scraps, and to prefer, at the cost of some disproportion, groups of connected documents to an impartial sprinkling of discontinuous material; and similarly, in respect of annotations and introductions, not to attempt equality of treatment but to employ, on certain of the more important topics or on points where the general reader might be expected to welcome some elucidation, a fullness which could not be extended to every case. It is unlikely that any two persons could be found who should agree on what should be included in such a book and what omitted; nor would agreement more easily be found on the arrangement to be imposed on the material once selected. This book is divided into two unequal portions. The first part deals with the early Church, to the time when the Fourth Oecumenical Council issued the last of the series of definitions and decrees to which all the historic churches refer as the expressions of the consent of the Church Universal in