Receiving 'The Nature and Mission of the Church'

Revd Dr Paul M. Collins, formerly Reader in Theology at the University of Chichester, Parish Priest on Holy Island, Northumberland, England. Michael A. Fahey is professor of theology at Boston College (USA). He studied philosophy in Leuven in the 1950s and in the late 1960s did doctoral studies in theology at the University of Tübingen under Professors Hans Küng and Joseph Ratzinger. Most of his academic work has taken place in Canada (Montreal and Toronto). He holds dual citizenship (Canada and USA). In 2005 he received an honorary doctorate from St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. Last year some fifteen of his colleagues and former students dedicated a Festschrift to him entitled: In God's Hands: Essays on the Church and Ecumenism in Honour of Michael Fahey (Leuven: Peeters Press, 2006). He has served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America as well as the American Theological Society.MICHAEL A. FAHEY, S.J., is Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. He has served for over twenty years on the Orthodox/Roman Catholic Consultation in the United States and is a consultant to the Anglican Church of Canada. He is past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and has authored several books. His articles have appeared in Theological Studies, Anglican Theological Review, Ecumenism, and the Journal of Ecumenical Studies.

'Opening remarks by Gerard Mannion remind us of the nature of the new reality in human organization which was the church, a movement that had spread far from its roots before it was an official religion of the Roman Empire. With a sense that our world today mirrors the class, religious and race divisions of those first years, our editors describe the inception and purpose of the movement out of which this book arises, the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network and its work as reflected through the American Academy of Religion and other venues. Through the inclusivity of authors in this volume, the editors are quick to affirm the links between ecclesiology and the contemporary socio-economic and political settings in which churches find themselves.' Rodney L. Petersen, Boston Theological Institute

• Foreword - Thomas Best, WCC, GenevaIntroduction - Michael A. Fahey, Boston College, USA 1. The Context of the document: Porte Allegre - Fr K. M. George, Orthodox Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala, India2. The Nature and Mission of the Church Communion: God, Creation, and Church - Paul Collins, University of Chichester, UK3. How to Express the Link between the Church and the Holy Trinity in a Common Ecumenical Discourse? An Analysis of Recent Ecumenical Documents on the Nature of the Church - Peter De Mey, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium4. Called to be the One Church? The Unity Statements of the WCC and Their Reception in the Document "The Nature and Mission of the Church"- Risto Saarinen, University of Helsinki, Finland5. Pentecostal Perspectives on The Nature and Mission of the Church - Wolfgang Vondey, Regent University, USA6. Is There a Future for the Catholic-Protestant Ecclesiological Dialogue? The Non-reception and a Challenge for Ecumenical Dialogue - Korinna Zamfir, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania7. Are Councils and Synods Decision Making? A Roman Catholic Conundrum in Ecumenical Perspective - Bradford E. Hinze, Fordham University, USAAfter-word - John Hind, Bishop of Chichester, UK