internal chritian attitudes

• Catholic Church

  • Apostolic Succession: continuity of the tradition of Jesus' Apostles
  • sacraments: gifts bestowed on the Church as an act of divine grace

  in their relationship with non-Catholic Christians, liberal Catholics adopt the approach of closed inclusivism:

  • other denominations reflect aspects of the Christian faith
  • only the Catholic Church, however, has true continuity + authority
  • dialogue is encouraged with non-Catholics, but not compromise
• Protestant evangelical Churches

  • tend to adopt an exclusivist position, based on the primacy of faith
  • salvation comes by the grace of God through faith, which is a personal commitment to Christ as saviour
  • the threefold ministry of the Church + the sacraments are viewed as unbiblical, so the Catholic, Orthodox + Anglican Churches are in error
  • those who do not make this personal commitment to God have rejected God's offer of salvation
• Church of England

  • includes members with a wide range of views, but could be said to be inclusivist
  • its ability, despite all the tensions, to hold together Christians varying widely in outlook, through discussion + a willingness to compromise on non-essentials
  • its recognition of other Churches, despite differences in structures
  • its unwillingness to exclude other Christians from the possibility of salvation
• the ecumenical movement

  • this is a movement aimed at promoting Christian unity
  • in the UK there is an annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
  • 1948: the World Council of Churches was set up, which seeks to promote dialogue between member churches + a greater shared understanding of the Christian faith (Catholic Church not a member, but does have representation)