Eighth Council ( #8thCouncil )


Christendom needs an eighth ecumenical council, for the purpose of considering two questions.

I. Is the motto "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty and in all things charity" a proper basis for Christian cooperation and inter-church reconciliation?

II. If so, what are the non-essentials?

Point II is the sticky one. We do not agree on what is secondary and debatable. What is one church's non-essential is, to another, a seemingly essential doctrine, primary rather than secondary in importance and not open for debate.

If we cannot agree on some rather broad and substantial areas of Christian thought as being non-essential we can have no hope of ending our divisions on the basis of  "in non-essentials liberty." But can we pin down just where the non-essential areas lie, in a way that satisfies all corners of Christendom? There has been, to date, scant progress.

The "liberty" part is important. I doubt that some Christians could ever be persuaded to make invoking the saints an important part of their devotions, and some could never be persuaded to give it up. So the one whose faith tradition places a big emphasis on invoking saints must be left free, likewise the one whose tradition discourages it. They may attempt to persuade one another but must not divide from and despise one another on such a basis.

There are many more examples like that, ideas that are denominational or regional or matters of cultural syncretism, rather than simply Christian. They exist, as divisive differences, because church history is always as complicated as the devil can make it.

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