The panel begins with Trey Phillips' utilization of “receptive ecumenism” to dialogue the Episcopal Church with Elizabeth Gandolfo and Laurel Potter’s Re-membering the Reign of God—a Roman Catholic effort to decolonize ecclesiology by centering the witness of the poor in El Salvador, in "The Church Ignorant."
Next, in "Church, Spirit and Prophet," Isaiah Padget attends to Bruggemann’s prophetic imagination and its connection to Pentecostalism, offering a vision of a prophetically imaginative, creative, and liberative Pentecostalism.
For Craig Nessan and Darryl Stephens, exploring the renewed ecumenical interest in "Prophetic diakonia" (also the name of their paper) makes way for a new paradigm for the church. Moving beyond a servant model, Nessan and Stephans responds to the Lutheran World Federation's definition of Prophetic Diakonia.
Finally, Michelle Voss turns toward the Intercultural Development Continuum to help navigate polarizing ecclesial conversations around sexuality and gender identity, making a way forward, in "Intercultural Development."
This paper argues that decolonizing Episcopal ecclesiology requires reimagining the epistemic posture of privileged churches. Utilizing the method of “receptive ecumenism,” I place The Episcopal Church into dialogue with Elizabeth Gandolfo and Laurel Potter’s Re-membering the Reign of God—a Roman Catholic effort to decolonize ecclesiology by centering the witness of the poor in El Salvador. First, I introduce receptive ecumenism, explaining its decolonial potential and how it directly challenges notions of ecclesial self-sufficiency. Second, I introduce three promising concepts from Gandolfo and Potter for Anglicanism’s decolonial project: the critical retrieval of tradition for decolonial praxis; “adult faith” as a corrective to ecclesial infantilization; and solidarity as a difficult process of conversion for the privileged. In conclusion, I propose three corresponding interventions for Episcopal ecclesiology: retrieving Anglican “comprehensiveness” for decolonial praxis; reimagining confirmation pedagogy around theological agency; and cultivating epistemic practices of solidarity through virtuous unlearning and disciplined listening.
In light of Walter Bruggemann's Prophetic Imagination and the growth of Global Pentecostalism, this paper explores the ecclesiological characteristics and challenges of Pentecostalism. By attending to Bruggemann’s prophetic imagination and its connection to Pentecostalism, this paper offers a proposal of what a prophetically imaginative, creative, and liberative Pentecostalism might entail. As Pentecostalism is a major driving force of Global Christianity, this paper draws not only from the work of Bruggemann, but resources the work of global Pentecostal/Charismatic theologians who have reflected upon the importance of the prophetic imagination for the future of Pentecostalism. This paper argues that Pentecostalism’s pneumatic emphasis, when placed in conjunction with the prophetic imagination, can offer a constructive ecclesiological vision for the future of the church.
How can we reimagine the identity and mission of the church as it participates in a more just future? A new discourse about the significance of diakonia has emerged across the global church. The retrieval of diakonia by the ecumenical church is one of the most promising developments in contemporary ecclesiology. This emerging ecumenical consensus recognizes diakonia as an expression of the church’s prophetic imagination. Diaconal action by its very nature includes the task of unmasking systemic forms of injustice and promoting justice. Diaconal advocacy weds imagination with action, grounding the prophetic in material projects of mutual concern within community. The church is called not only to serve but to advocate. At the end of Western Christendom, the needs of the world for peace, healing, and repair are acute. This paper describes how prophetic diakonia and a theology of diakonia can contribute to a new paradigm for the future church.
Interest in the cultural dimensions of difficult conversations, such as those related to ‘race’ or sexual ethics, can be one way of softening the polarizing energies around these important dimensions of the life of faith. Cultures are processes, not things; contested, not total. Assuming, for example, that immigrant communities of faith do not share a mainline denomination's progressive values, or should be rejected if they do not express them in the “right way,” denies the grace of being in process. Denominations and their communities of faith are continually in process, working toward becoming intercultural as they uphold their traditions and values. This paper employs the framework of the Intercultural Development Continuum, which many theological schools now engage through the Intercultural Development Inventory, to demonstrate how this lens can chart a course through polarizing conversations around sexuality and gender identity, and minimizing conversations around ‘race.’