Penitence, conversion, reconciliation
Bose, 2-4 May 2008

The topic was treated in an ecumenical perspective according to the classic approach, beginning with Biblical data, then in succession dealing with history, theological systematization, ethics, and practical theology. After a look at the Old Testament and the Pauline letters, the theme was treated according to historical periods: developments in the patristic age, conflicts in the medieval period before the Reform, the understanding of penitence among the Reformers, Roman theology after Vatican II. The Systematic theology and ethics were examined from two confessional angles, Catholic and Protestant. Finally, an ecumenical approach was offered through an ample presentation, given by a delegation of seven representatives, of what the Dombes Group has done regarding the topic of the conversion of the Churches, central for the unity of all Christians.

 

Baptism, source of the Christian life
Bose, 6-8 May 2005

“The study pf baptismal spirituality has its own field of interest, which does not coincide with any of the theological disciplines. A spirituality of baptism comes as a denial of a rupture of the tie between faith and life. Spirituality does not have in view a life on the summits of beatitude, but is inscribed in dynamic of Christian existence according to a dialectic of death and life already put forward by Paul in Romans 6. The baptismal dimension of Christian existence implies a dimension of a anamnesis, at the service of which theology and the Churches should unceasingly place themselves.” (From the conclusions by E. Parmentier and M. Deneken)

Scripture - Gospel - Church
Bose, 10-12 May 2002

The work of these three days concentrated on the triad “Scripture — Gospel — Church” and sought to bring out the issues and challenges that today are for the most part the same in the various Churches that issued from the Reform and in the Catholic Church. After a historical introduction, so as to examine the methods of Biblical interpretation in the ancient Church and by the Reformers, the conference had as its task to analyze the ecclesial dimension of hermeneutics as well as its “vital” impact, the “necessary risk” of interpretation (without which Scripture remains a “dead letter” and which finds its real culmination in practice and in life). A final practical panel described the “geography of communication in which homiletics moves” as also the dialectic between preaching and sacrament.

The present ecumenical debate essentially takes into account doctrinal problems and their dogmatic data: does this mean that there is no connection between the problem of unity and spirituality? The 1999 colloquium wanted to ask about the role played by spirituality for the rapprochement between the Churches in the reality of our Christian lives. The different analyses of Christian spirituality have thus discussed the various church traditions in what is specific to each This highlighting of the confessional character of spirituality has permitted at the same time to grasp what possibilities the spiritualities have of openness and of ferment of unity.

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