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Ecumenism and the Spirit of the Age

George MacLeod, founder and leader of the lona Community, published some of his convictions on God, church and politics (of which there was no shortage) in his book Only One Way Left in 1956. The title was deliberately, and typically, a pun. And in the same spirit, he dedicated the book 'to my wife who is always Right'. Whether left or right, however, MacLeod turned to the German philosopher Hegel for an analogy which formed the basis for one of the arguments in his book. (The fact that Karl Marx had also found it useful is of course beside the point.) The Hegelian philosophical formula 'Thesis: Antithesis: Synthesis', is applied by MacLeod, first, to the way children and young people reach maturity; and, second, to the story of the church and the churches in the context of the processes of history during the last 2000years. As to the first, in their early years children are dependent 'tied to their mother's apron strings' (thesis). Then they set out to assert their independence, especially in their later teens (antithesis). Finally they grow up and discover that life is to be understood and enjoyed best in interdependence (synthesis). We may allow ourselves a wry smile and the wish that it was as simple as that. However, despite the optimism, the formula does throw light on the difficult business of growing up. The parallel with the history of the last 2000 years also requires a broad brush and the avoidance of value judgements. But it is not too difficult to see vast empires holding together a wide variety of peoples and tribes; then the rise of nation states, with much quarrelling and obstreperous behaviour; and the new emphasis on the individual the blessing and the curse of the 'teenage years'; and, finally, the first steps towards interdependence. There are also echoes in the story of the church since its birth. For the early centuries the church was, if not tied to mother's apron strings, at least keeping its quarrels within the household. Then comes the East/West separation and, later, the heady explosion of ideas and the separations which followed at the time of the Reformation; and the fact that churches became rooted in the newly born nation states had the effect of solidifying the separations and