Doctorates at the faculty
Project:
Towards Visible Unity. The Future of Ecumenism in the Light of the Joint Declaration on Justification with Specific Reference to the Church in Tanzania.
Mshanga Vitalis
Email: vitalis.mshanga@student.kuleuven.be
Research unit: Systematic theology
Description:
The Status QuaestionisIn recent times, within the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, the doctrine of justification has increasingly attracted theological attention. It is considered to be central to the Christian faith in the two traditions, although there remains a controversy about the legitimacy of this claim. At the Feast of the Reformation, October 31, 1999, in the city of Augsburg, Germany, a common declaration between the two churches was signed regarding justification; stating that a person is saved by grace through faith. A wide range literature has been published in response to this document. A large section of this literature has given a verbatim approbation to the Joint Declaration on Justification (Hereafter: Joint Declaration) as an ecumenical breakthrough. Yet, a number of theologians, as individuals and as a body, have also published widely indicating that there was no consensus reached on justification. These two divergent views call for crucial investigation into the ecumenical significance of the document.
Fundamentally, the status quaestionis of this dissertation can therefore be summarized into the following set of questions: to what extent can one legitimately claim that the Joint Declaration is a milestone in the ecumenical movement and that it is destined to bring far-reaching ramifications to the ecumenical movement? What is its relevance to the Lutheran-Roman Catholic relations in Tanzania? To what extent do the remaining differences impede the goal to visible unity and full communion? And finally, how could these inveterate differences be viewed in this new ecumenical dispensation? Therefore, already one can say that this is a sustained study, whose objective is to investigate into the remaining differences of the Joint Declaration in an attempt to offer an original analysis of how the remaining differences could be viewed. What is more, this dissertation operates on the presupposition and conviction that to a large extent, Reformers and Catholics had similar fears and concerns regarding the doctrine of justification.
Prompted by such a need, therefore, one perceives the need to undertake a thorough research that aims at considering the background, publication and ecclesiological implications of the Joint Declaration to the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches but also to the ecumenical movement as a whole. This is so because, today, the unity of our churches is not a matter of choice or expediency but a necessity. Unity is highly required, first and fore most, in the proclamation of the Gospel, but also, in common witness through mutual cooperation. Needless to say, doctrinal unity is a prerequisite for a sustainable Christian unity. Thus, this research deals precisely with the doctrine of justification, which is considered to be a major factor that led to the 16th century Reformation but which has now turned out to be a milestone in overcoming the divisions of the 16th century between the two churches.
The Research Methodology
The research methodology of this dissertation shall consist in an historical-critical analysis, interdisciplinary and comparative study of the doctrine of justification. The study will not just be comparative but will also attempt to propose new insights and approaches to the issues raised. This will be accomplished by studying the most relevant documents of the Lutheran tradition, for instance, the works of Martin Luther, the Confessio Augustana and also the Roman Catholic, Decretum de Peccato Originali and the Decretum de Justificatione of the Council of Trent. Supplementary to this, a critical literature review on the subject will be made in an independent fashion in order to come up with a terse, strong and comprehensive basis of this doctrine. More importantly, field research will be conducted in the Church in Tanzania. The main objective of this field research is to investigate the impact that the Joint Declaration has made or can make to the ecumenical movement, especially in the Church in Tanzania. The field research stage will involve interview with professors of ecumenism in Tanzanian faculties of theology, bishops, clergy, laity and ecumenical spokespersons of both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches. This will make us aware of our respondents’ views concerning the significance of the Joint Declaration for the realization of full and visible unity between the two churches in Tanzania and the Church throughout the globe. To be sure, this threefold research methodology will be oriented towards the past, the present and the future.
The Structure of the Project
This dissertation forms the third stage of our project. The overall project is indeed a deepening and an expansion of the two previous phases of this study on justification. Thus, I will proceed in five steps: The first chapter will offer an overview and deepen the understanding of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic disputes on justification in the 16th century. This is meant to further and deepen the research already made in this area. Here, in the light of the historical-critical analysis of the understanding of justification we will ask: in which ways was the Reformation reading of justification different and/or similar to the Catholic reading? Were the two views mutually exclusive or complementary? If so, how? Are the two views reconcilable? If so, how? And what are the implications? Hence, in a bid to answer these and similar questions, special emphasis will be laid on the views of Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon and the Confessio Augustana on the one hand, and the understanding of St. Augustine Councils of Orange and Trent on the other.
The second chapter considers more in depth, the remote preparation of the Joint Declaration on Justification. In this entire section, a critical analysis of specific contribution made by each ecumenical dialogue will be offered. The question to be addressed is thus: what is the specific contribution of each dialogue towards the common declaration? The Malta Report on the Gospel and the Church is worthy of mention under this chapter because it did the groundbreaking work for the subsequent ecumenical dialogues. Another important dialogue is the Lutheran-Roman Catholic in the USA of 1983 that published a document of similar vintage entitled Church and Justification. This dialogue reaffirmed the epitome “Justification by faith.” In addition, worthy of consideration is the German dialogue, which published in 1986 a document under the title: Church and Justification: The Condemnations of the Reformation Era, do they Still Divide? The novelty of this document and so of the German dialogue lies in the fact that it declared that the condemnations of the Reformation era no longer apply to the partner churches. The international dialogue of 1994 merits special consideration because it issued a document entitled Church and Justification, which became a very useful resource for the Joint Declaration of 1999. The main motive in dealing with all these dialogues is to enquire whether the Joint Declaration stands in continuity with the previous dialogues. Succinctly, does each dialogue form a step towards the Joint Declaration?
The third chapter will offer an analysis of the Joint Declaration on the basis of the previous ecumenical dialogues treated in the second chapter. This investigation, aims in the first place, at evaluating the position of both traditions with regard to their view of the human spiritual condition before and after justification. One will also attempt to answer the question: what did both traditions had to forfeit in order to accept that justification is attained by faith through grace? More still, I shall probe into the core of the Joint Declaration in search of whether or not the two partner churches understood faith in the same way. An in-depth treatment will be offered on the issue of simul justus et peccator. Here, one shall ask: how is sin understood in both traditions? How possible is it for one to be at once righteous and a sinner? Moreover, one shall enquire: how can this thorny issue be overcome? Thereafter, one hopes to analyze the understanding of, and the relationship between law and gospel in both traditions with an agenda to see their relationship with justification. Last but not least, an investigation will be made to find out to what extent and in which way one can be sure of one’s own salvation. The most important point that will be on the spotlight is the position that asserts: “recognizing his own failures, however, the believer may yet be certain that God intends his salvation.” Finally, one shall ask, are good works significant for salvation? If so how? and to what extent can one go with them? Here an attempt will be made to make a distinction and analyze the role of the good works that are done prior to and those that are done after justification.
To be sure, the fourth chapter will attempt to present, in a critical fashion, criticisms not only of the opponents of the Joint Declaration, but also, positive remarks of declaration-friendly theologians. Furthermore, the understanding of the teaching function of ministry in both churches will also be investigated in order to reveal how far human error is thereby prevented in the light of the Joint Declaration. The motivation for studying the teaching function of ministry in the light of justification is that, Lutherans always ask whether the Catholic understanding of Church and her ordained ministry (ex instutione divina) does not obscure the gospel as the doctrine of justification explicates it. Conversely, Catholics wonder whether the Lutheran understanding of justification does not undercut the reality of the church. In this context one shall ask what is the proper locus of the ordained ministry in the processus iustificationis?
Finally, the fifth chapter will seek to examine the significance of the Joint Declaration to the ecumenical movement as a whole, but more importantly, to the Church in Tanzania. In view of this, some considerations will be made against the backdrop of the current state of the global ecumenical movement. A further step will indeed be made to narrow down our investigation to the Church in Moshi, Tanzania. As a matter of fact, it is ecumenically helpful to investigate how, in concrete terms, the consensus reached on justification might positively influenced the way Lutherans and Catholics live, relate and cooperate in Tanzania. Here, I shall argue that, if the Joint Declaration is significant, as certainly is, should be able to influence and give visible contours to the life and praxis of the churches. Eventually, this chapter will thus make concrete the ecclesiastical issues raised in the previous chapters.
