ROBERT SVATON, OLOMOUC

An undivided loving heart is the true reason for the fact that Spidlik was honoured by the Orthodox world with the significant and fitting title of "theologian of the undivided Chun:h".33 The symbol of the heart on the cardinal's coat of arms is overlapped by a cross, where the words PHOS and ZOE are given on both limbs, "light" and "life", the names for God. Pope Benedict XVI took this particular fact when summing up Spidlik's mission at the funeral liturgy. He said: "There­fore , the person who fully receives, ex toto corde, God's love, accepts light and life and becomes in turn light and lifo in humanity and in the universe. "34

Summary: With regard to his lifelong work on the dialogue between the traditions of Western and Eastern Christianity, a Czech Jesuit Tomas Spidlfk (1919-20 lO)was declared a "theologian of the undi­vided Church". The text presents first the initial context of Spidlfk's religious and academic formation, in which the efforts to restore Chris­tian unity in the spirit of unionism were deeply rooted; next the main characteristics of Spidlik's approach to the treasures of Eastern theol­ogy and spirituality are mentioned. Finally answers are sought for the reason of his extraordinarily prolific ecumenical activity.

Keywords: Tomas Spidlfk - Eastern Christianity - Methodology -Theology - Spirituality - Jesuits - Ecumenism.

33 These words were expressed by the patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church Daniel immediately after Spidlfk becoming cardinal; cf. Richard Cemus, "Aristokrat ducha -Tomas Spidlfk". in: Teo/oiicke u:xty 5 (2003), p. 204.

34 Funeral mass for cardinal Tomas Spidlfk, S. J. Homily of his holiness Bene­dict XVI (cit. June 02, 2015). URL: http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/ cn/homilics/201O/documcnts/h(_bcn-xvi_hom_20100420_cscquic-spidlik.html#.

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• 1

BERT BEVERLY BEACH: BRIDGE BUILDER

Stefan Höschele, Friedensau

lt is widely acknowledged that individuals have made significant con­tributions to the Ecumenical Movement, 1 and in some cases there are reasons to surmise that their influence left indelible marks or shaped aspects ofthe movement that otherwise could have looked quite differ­ent. This paper2 discusses one such person who is little known among scholars today: Bert Beverly Beach.

Beach's background - his membership in the Seventh-Day Adven­tist (SDA) Church - is crucial für understanding his thinking, back­ground and the contributions which he was able to make. Adventists emerged from an apocalyptic-fuelled revival movement in the USA that occurred shortly before the mid- l 9th century. lt owed a lot to the ecumene, that is, the Christianities of the period, the various other movements that provided the sphere for their formation: Methodists and the Holiness Movement with their emphasis on ethics and spir­ituality, Puritans and Seventh-Day Baptists with their focus on the divine law and the Saturday Sabbath, as weil as American Restora­tionist movements (such as the Disciples) with their combination of an originally biblicist theological hermeneutic and ecumenical rhetoric.

These various strands did not match easily but finally converged into a denomination that believed itself to be both predicted in bib­lical prophecy and endowed with a special mission around the globe before the Second Coming of Christ. In terms of relationships to other Christian bodies, it is probably sufficient to summarize, at this point, that genuine interest in non-Saturday keeping churches - and

1 See, for instance. Christian Möller - Christoph Schwöbel - Christoph Markschies -Klaus Zecltwitz (ecl~.). We[?bereiter der Ökumene im 20. Jahrhwulert, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005, which features eighteen portraits of persons who contributecl signiticantly to ccumcnism.

2 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Scientitic Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Conference "Ecumenical Reception ancl Critique of 20th Century Orthodox Thcology in Exile ancl Diaspora", Praguc. May 22-24, 2015.

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STEFAN HÖSCHELE, FRIEDENSAU

of course this means: almost all of the "separated brethren" and sis­ters - was not pronounced in most of Adventist history. In fact, the anti-Catholicism typical for 19th century Protestants in America has been preserved in this denomination more than in most other major non-Roman churches.'

Yet this set-up, together with an ambivalent attitude even to fellow evangelical traditions and to the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement also implies that Orthodox Christianity (and particularly Orthodox the­ological diversity) has hardly entered Adventists' view ofthe Christian world at large.4 Other believers might be genuine Christians and form the ecclesia invisihilis in some manner,5 but according to official doc­trine the end-time remnant of God is visible in (or, one might even formulate, "subsists in")6 the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Such an ecclesiology evidently lends itself to some degree of hesitancy in ecumenical matters, and after four generations of existence it took the initiative of individuals to explore adequate ways of relating to other churches. 7 The outstanding pioneer in this process was Bert Be ach.

This paper proceeds in several steps to highlight Beach's signifi­cance - and the importance of people in general in the relationship between the churches. ( l ) His background shows that ecumenical involvement at times starts almost accidentally. (2) Beach's contri­butions to ecumenical practice in his denomination must be acknowl­edged as pioneering efforts in a context that largely lacked a conscious­ness for ecumenism - and where it existed, it was partly dominated by negative stereotypes. (3) A third important issue is his contribution to ecumenism at )arge. (4) And, tinally, I will turn to some preliminary

3 Cf. Reincler Bruinsma, Sevellfh-Day Adventist Altitudes roward Roman Catholicism, 1844-1965, Berrien Springs: Anclrews University Press, 1994.

4 Thus one can argue that interaction with representatives of both Eastern and Orien­tal Orthodox coulcl take place on relatively neutral ground, even though so far little interaction has taken place. The denomination's Fundamental Belief 13, says, "The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ."

6 CL the Roman Catholic debate on what is mealll by the formulation in Lumen Gen­ti11111 8.

7 Fora collection of Significant texts from the histüry of Adventist relationship to other churches, see Stefan Höschele, 1/llerc/wrch and 111te1faith Relations: Seventh-Day J\dve/llist S1ate111e11ts a/1ll Documents (Adventistica 10), Frankfurt a. M.: Lang, 2010.

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reflections on the importance of people and personal relationships in the ecumenical sphere.

1. Bert Beach's background8

Bert Beverly Beach was born to American missionary parents in 1928. Beach's father, Walter R. Beach, then the leader of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Belgium, soon climbed the ranks of the denomi­nation in its Southern European territory. 9 In 1936 the family moved to Berne, where Bert added German to his knowledge of English and French. After studies in the USA, he became the director of the Flo­rence Adventist seminary in Italy at age 24, started to do doctoral work in history at the Sorbonne, and finished his dissertation ( on French­American relations) by 1958, one of the few Adventists at the time to receive a doctorate. lt should be noted here that he did not engage in theological studies; this may also partly explain why he produced only little theological reflection as such; one could argue that his -theology largely remained hidden in activity.

After a two-year teaching stint in the USA, the denominational lead­ership asked him to move to the church's Northern European/West African regional administration and head its department of educa­tion. lt is from this position that his ecumenical career started: when Vatican II began, Beach, with his fluency in several languages, was the natural choice for the journalist observer that the denominational paper Review and Herald looked for. Yet even more important than his regular reports from Rome (which were written from a somewhat apologetic perspecti ve) Hl was the fact that there he also met Lukas Vis-

8 On Beach's lite and activities in general, see his autobiographical account Ambas­sador Jor Liberty: B11ildi11g Bridges of Faith, Friendship, and Freedom, Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 2012. For shorter notes on his life, see Roy Adams, "Bert B. Beach: Adventist Statesman", in: J\dvelllisl Review, November 8. 2001, pp. 8-12, and Gary Land, Hi:itorica/ Dic1io11ary of Seve1t1lt-Day Adventism, Lanham: Scarecrow, 2005, p. 38 (s. v. "Beach, Bert Beverly").

9 Later Walter Beach was elected to the denomination's global administrative body, where he served as general secretary from 1954 to 197().

10 Bert B. Beach, Vatican II: Bridging the Abyss, Washington, D. C.: Review and Her­ald, 1968.

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eher and other leading individuals of the Protestant world and of the Ecumenical Movement.

lt is from these encounters that Beach's focus of activity became essentially ecumenical for the rest of his life. lt is he who organized, together with Vischer, a series of conversations between representa­tives of the WCC and the SDA Church between 1965 and 1972 -a novel experience for the hitherto largely anti-ecumenical denomina­tion.11 While Adventists did not aim at becoming WCC members, he was invited to represent his church at the annual conference of sec­retaries of Christian World Communions from 1968 onward and then served as secretary of this annual conference for thirty-two years. Even his other activities as a church employee continued having a definite ecumenical bent: from 1980 until his retirement in 2005 he functioned as the general secretary of the denomination' s Council on lnter-Church Relations; at the same time he headed organizations that represented platforms for broad interchurch alliances - the International Commis­sion for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (ICPA) and the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). 12

2. Contributions to Adventist ecumenical practice

Beach's slide into interchurch activity is a fitting metaphor for the way in which his denomination began to engage in dialogues and other activities that might be called "ecumenical." This does not mean, how­ever, that he changed the Adventist DNA or transformed his church into an advocate of church reunions. In fact, the very term "ecu­menism" still has a bad sound in most Adventists' ears (as it does among many Evangelicals, classical Pentecostals and, presumably,

11 Cf. thc rcport So Much in Common: Documents of lntere.vt in the Conversations Between tlte World Council of Chuffhes and the Seventh-Day Adventist Clmrch, Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1973, and Bert B. Beach, "The World Coun­cil of Churches / Seventh-Day Adventist Conversations and their Significance", in: Ecumenical Review 22 (1970/2), pp. 163-167.

12 Both were initiated by Seventh-Day Adventists and traditionally receive leadership from Adventist church otficials, but include extensive representation from other churchcs and rcligious traditions.

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even Orthodox). 13 This is one reason why Beach also tried to avoid it for SDA activities and mostly used the more neutral-sounding "inter­church relations" instead. While I would argue that this semantic preference has a Jot to do with fears (of"contamination"), tradition and the human desire to simplify a reality into a dualistic scheme, Beach's choice of terminology also had a clear advantage: it put activities into a !arger context that was not so much fraught with real or perceived ideology, and it lifted the matter to a relational level.

Bert Beach's achievements in terms of Adventist ecumenical viz. interchurch relations practice may be divided into three realms: (a) raising awareness and providing education; (b) establishing and running the first Adventist organizational entity charged with ecumeni­cal matters, the Council on Inter-Church Relations; and (c) organizing official dialogues.

(a) His significance for what might be called basic ecumenical edu­cation of Adventists can hardly be overestimated. Being the first Adventist to publish any book on interchurch affairs 14 and for decades the Adventist Mr. lnterchurch Relations even in terms of literary out­put, 15 he clearly shaped the thinking of a whole generation on dialogue with other Christian traditions. In his writings, Beach succeeded in merging a conservative Adventist theological perspective with insights derived from experience in the Christian world of his time: while eval­uating certain trends in mainstream ecumenism in a critical manner, he

13 lt is characteristk for this state of affairs that in an interview with a former top executive of the denomination, Friedensau, November 11, 2014 1 name intentionally withheldl, he asserted that Adventists do "not engage in ecumenism" - according to this vicw, thcy only havc interchurdz relations.

14 Bert B. Beach, Ecumenism-Boon or Bane?, Washington, D. C.: Review aml Herald, 1974. The book was also translated into Dutch, Finnish, and German. In spite of its rathcr sccptical stancc vis-a-vis the World Council of Churchcs. its importancc in demonstrating engagement with churches and movements outside the Adventist denomination is crucial.

15 Beach wrote about 200 popular articles in church magazines; many of these deals with religious liberty and ecumenical issues. Most of these articles may be found through the Sevefllh-Day Adventist Periodical Index (URL: http://www. andrcws.cdu/library/ASDAUsdapiindcx.html). Signilicant scctions on ccumcnical matters are also found in Walter R. Beach and Bert B. Beach, Pa11emfor Progress: The Role and F1111ction ofC/111rch Organization, Washington, D. C.: Review and Her­ald, 1985, and Bert B. Beach and John Graz, 101 Que.vtions Adventists Ask, Nampa: Pacitic Press, 2000, pp. 6-28, 91-109, and 111-127.

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would always treat the representatives of other Christian traditions and their convictions with respect, aiming at a fair representation of their views an<l activities even where many A<lventists tended to have suspi­cions because of their expectation of future persecutions of a faithful Christian minority. In short, Beach was a bridge builder.

(b) The establishment of the SDA Council on lnter-Church Rela­tions (CIR) in 1980 translated his earlier commitment to ecumenical relationships into an institutionalized shape. The advantage of this entity, which he initiated and then ran for 25 years, was that Beach·s activities did not suffer from the informal setup in which his counter­part in the Pentecostal tradition, David du Plessis, had to work. Beach would be supported by the denomination's top leadership; thus accusa­tions that his ministry betraye<l the church's heritage (which were heard intermittently) 10 could be handled in a professional and official man­ner. Beach's manner of engaging in ecumenical matters in the midst of tension may be considered, therefore, a prototype of institutionalized conflict resolution before conflicts would actually become crises.

Of course the main aims of the CIR were not activities of dealing with intra-Adventist disputes but more constructive ones: cultivat­ing relationships with representatives from other churches, initiat­ing "cooperative ventures . . . with other churches or religious orga­nizations." coordinating theological work about ecumenism, advising denominational leadership "regarding 'ecumenical' questions and rela­tions with other churches, interdenominational organizations, or reli­gious bodies," and, finally, authorizing and realizing theological dia­logues.17 Hence Beach's pioneering ministry assumed the whole brea<lth of what was possible with his denominational background,

J(, One such issue was the fact that Beach presented a medallion to Pope Paul VI in 1977 when visiting the Vatican with other leaders of Christian World Communions. Mcmbcrs with an anli-ccumcnical and anti-Catholic agcnda condcmncd this as com­promising; a communique clarified the context: "Circumstances of Papal Visit" (eil.

May 1, 2015), URL: https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/adventist­heritage/circumstances-papal-visit.

17 "Council on Interchurch Relations: Terms of Reference", General Conference Committee Minutes, December 18, 1980, pp. 451-452, Archives of the General Con­terence of Seventh-Day Adventists, Silver Spring, USA. Published also in Höschele, lllterclmrch and /11/erjaith Relatiom, pp. 50-51.

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and the CIR even became the nucleus for interfaith conversations in the early 21 st century. l 8

(c) With regard to theological dialogues, Bert Beach was also the chief innovator in the Adventist denomination worldwide. After the experience of co-organizing conversations between SDA theologians an<l WCC delegations in the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s, he was instrumental in preparing and carrying through bilateral dia­logues with several smaller denominations in the 1980s 19 and with the Lutheran World Federation in the l 990s,20 followed by conversations with several other major churches since the turn of the century. 21 One of the strategies that Beach used in organizing these dialogues was to set up delegations of rather conservative theologians so that these activ­ities may be acceptable to as many potential critics as possible.22

One important aspect of these meetings has been the absence of aiming at theological convergence. Thus, different from many other dialogues, the Adventist engagement with other traditions has been much more open-ended, which also implies that the relational content (with a focus on "Christian fellowship")23 was much more important than attempts to express consensus on as many items as possible. Evi­<lently Beach's warmth and the personal touch he was able to give to such encounters ensured that the absence of the more formal objective of dogmatic agreement was not feit very keenly: bridge building might

18 Already in 1990, the name changed to "Council on Interchurch/Faith Relations"; several smaller name changes followed, but only after the year 2000 did significant interfaith dialogue activities begin.

19 These were the Church of God (7th Day), the Salvation Army, and the Assemblies of Yahweh. For more details and an overview of Adventist dialogue activities, see Ste­fan Höschele, "Adventistische interkontessionelle Dialoge", in: Spes Christiana 21 (2010), pp. 139-154.

20 Cf. Lutherans and Advellli.l'ts in Conversation: Report and Papers Presented 1994-1998, Silver Spring: General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists; Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 2000.

21 Conversation partners were the World Alliance of Reformed Churche~ (2001 ), the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (2001-2003), the Salvation Army (2004-2008) and the Preshyterian Church in the USA (2006-2011 ). Dialogue meetings were also held with representatives from the World Evangelical Alliance (2006-2007). Beach organized the first three of these and was also involved in the others. For more details, see Hüschele, "Adventistische interkonfossionelle Dialoge".

22 Interview Bert Beach. Silver Spring, USA, June 1.. 2008. 23 For reterences and a discussion of dialogue aims, see Höschele, "Adventistische

interkonfessionelle Dialoge". 143-147.

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be successful even without far-reaching formulae of accord. Neverthe­less, the theological dialogues can be evaluated altogether as successful in improving mutual pen.:eptions, exploring areas of cooperation, and in involving leading Adventist theologians in fruitful interchange with colleagues from other traditions - all being matters that cannot be taken for granted in the Adventist context. 24 In other words, Beach was able to introduce a whole denomination to practices with which its leaders had been unfamiliar.

3. Contributions to ecumenism at )arge

Beyond influences in his immediate context, his contributions to ecu­menism at large must be considered as weil. In addition to introducing Adventists25 to the ecumenical cosmos, there are three realms in which his contributions invite a discussion: (a) religious liberty, (b) Christian World Communions, and, indirectly (c) the Global Christian Forum.

(a) Beach began his ecumenical career at a moment when the ear­lier WCC interest in religious liberty had just decreased. Its Secretariat on Religious Liberty, founded after the New Delhi assembly in 1961 and continuing a Commission on Religious Liberty, ceased operations in 1967. This was evidently a disappointment for Adventists,26 who had advocated and lobbied for more liberal religious liberty legisla­tion since the 19th century, first centring upon Sabbath observance but then expanding their activities to more general issues. Beach would later serve as the General Secretary of the International Reli­gious Liberty Association from 1980 to 1995, an organization that is Adventist-sponsored but represents a platform for religious liberty

24 For an example of reflections on this situation, see Denis Fortin, "Coming out of Babylon and Christian Unity: Continuity and Disi:ontinuity in the Adventist Discourse about Other Christians", paper read at the annual meeting of the Adventist Sodety for Religious Studies ("Gates and Walls: Inclusivity and Exclusivity and the People ofGod"), San Frandsco, November 17-19, 2011 (dt. March 16, 2012), URL: http://www.lasierra.edu/tileadmi n/documents/re I i gion/School_ of_Re Li gion_20 l l -l 2 / AS RS _2011 /0 I _Forti n- l. pdf.

25 The denomination had only 1.5 million members in the mid- l 960s but today has an adult membership of almost 20 million.

26 Interview Beach.

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advocates of diverse Christian and non-Christian backgrounds.27 lt is this kind of cooperative ecumenism that Beach advocated in a particu­lar way. While a focus on religious liberty had faded somewhat from the spotlight in major ecumenical organizations (at least in Beach's perspective), he continued emphasizing its importance as a basis of all constructive interchurch relationships and as a key to human rights.

(b) The major development in ecumenism to which Beach con­tributed relates to an entity little known even by many ecumenists: the annual Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions (CSCWC). These meetings ofrepresentatives of global denominational bodies, called "World Confessional Families" until the 1970s,28 have taken place since 1957. They evolved from initiatives of the then World Presbyterian Alliance president and pioneer scholar of ecumenics John A. Mackay as weil as Willem Visser't Hooft in the late 1950s, became a regular event in the l 960s,29 and Beach was first invited in 1968. From 1970 to 2002, he served as this association's secretary and thus soon became the personification of continuity in this annual confer­ence.

While the CSCWC has remained an annual three-day meeting and never turned into a more established, institutional-type entity, its importance for "behind the scenes" ecumenism should not be underes­timated. lt is here that representatives of initially 7 global bodies met, whose number rose to 15 in the mid-1970s and reached 23 by 2009, representing about 90 % of all Christians worldwide. 30 One can argue, therefore, that it was one of the most denominationally inclusive and wide-ranging Christian assemblies for several decades .

The fact that Bert Beach became the main organizer of an organiza­tion that existed without a permanent office - and thus, he actually was

27 lt was founded in 1893, sponsors !arge international congresscs on religious libcrty and issues publications on the same theme: cf. its website (URL: www.irla.org).

28 Alternative terms were "World Confessional Groups" and "World Confessional Bod­ics''.

29 For its early history, see Edmond Perrer. "Twenty Years: The Conference of World Confessional Families (1957-1977)", paper presented at the Conference of World Confcssional Families, May 16-18, 1977. Rome.

311 David B. Barrett - Todd M. Johnson - Peter F. Crossing, "Christian World Com­munions: Five Overviews of Global Christianity, AD 1800-2025", in: /11tematio11al B1tlleti11 o/Mi.l'sio11ary Research 33 (2009/1 ), pp. 25-32.

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the CSCWC office for 32 years - implies that this was a sphere where bis Adventist conception of ecumenism could flourish . lt is a view of interchurch relationships in whic.:h organic union is not the primary aim but spiritual unity is presupposed; where opportunities for cooperative ventures are ventilated and where the right of the Other to be and to remain different is taken seriously to the utmost. Seen in this light, it is probably more than a coincidence that bis two successors have also been Adventists.31

The ecumenical role of Christian World Communions (CWCs) is a theme that has been discussed time and again since the establish­ment of the WCC,32 and critical voices have repeatedly expressed the concern that these organizations might function as vehicles of a new denominationalism. The CSCWC approach to denominations, how­ever, is a pragmatic one: their existence is taken for granted, and it is their ecumenical potential that is highlighted in these meetings. More­over, in a way each of the Christian World Communions represents a kind of ecumenism in itself, for the internal diversity and global nature of these bodies reflects much of the varieties in Christianity at !arge. At the same time, the CWCs serve as vehicles for interchurch relations in manners that the regionally or nationally limited member churches of the WCC and the WCC itself cannot fully replicate. For Beach, with his Adventist vision of a global church (with some analo-

3! These are John Graz, 2002-2014, French/Swiss, and Ganoune Diop, 2014ff. Sene­galese.

32 Selected literature from different decades: Paul C. Empie, "Dilemmas of World Confessional Grnups with Respect to Engagement in Mission and Unity", in: /11ter-11atio11al Revie11· of Mis.1·io11 55 (1966), pp. 158-170; Lukas Vischer, "Stellung und Aufgabe 'konfessioneller Familien' in der ökumenischen Bewegung", in: Lukas Vis­cher, Ök11me11i.w-he Skizi:.en, Frankfun a. M.: Lembeck, 1972, pp. 194-215; Günther Gassmann. "Die Bedeutung der bilateralen Konfessionsgespräche und ihr EinHuss auf die Rolle der konkssionellen Wdtbünde innerhalb der ökumenischen Bewegung", in: Darste//111111 und Grenze11 der sichtbaren Einheit der Kirche, Erlangen: Martin­Luther-Verlag, 1982, pp. 79-89; Konrad Raiser, "The Common Understanding of the Ecumenical Movement and the Relationship between Christian World Commu­nions and thc WCC", papcr presentcd 10 the CSCWC annual mceting, 26-28 October 1993. Geneva; and Richard V. Pierard, "The Christian World Communions: Denom­inational Ecumenism on a Global Scale", in: Anthony R. Cross (ed.), Ecwnenism a11d History: Studie.,· in Ho11011r of Joh11 H. Y. Briggs, Carlisle: Paternoster: 2002, pp. IOC.-119.

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gies to Roman Catholic ecclesiological thinking), ecumenism had to take this global nature of church organizations as a point of departure.

(c) This is also how Beach's third- but indirect-contribution to the ecumenical world came about. He considered the CSCWC work his genuine contribution to ecumenism. 33 In spite of some frictions with WCC ecumenism, he tried to build bridges with major WCC leaders -while, at the same time, helping develop the role of CWCs in the ecu­menical realm. 34 By the 1990s, the stagnation of growth in the WCC and the realization among its leadership that several major Christian groups would probably never join produced both a sense of crisis and the will to experiment with new approaches to ecumenical interaction.

lt is the CSCWC approach to ecumenical encounter that forms part of the background for a new initiative that was born in this period: the Global Christian Forum (GCF). While time does not permit to dis­cuss this initiative at length, it should suffice to mention that it is an attempt to bring together at )arger gatherings representatives of all the major Christian traditions - Catholic, Orthodox, Mainstream Protes­tant, Evangelical, Pentecostal-Charismatic, and Independents.35 With a non-institutional approach and a "forum" set-up where there is much open space for sharing, listening and focus on spiritual experience, the GCF is, in one sense, the logical result of many practices that the CSCWC had cultivated in the decades before.36 lt is not surprising,

33 Interview Beach. 34 One simple but important measure by Beach to emphasize the importance and inde­

pcndcnce of the CSCWC was to vary thc locations for thc annual mecting; whilc it took place almost t!xclusively in Geneva until the early 1970s - thus being practically under the tutelage of the WCC- he organized it in different places from the mid-1970s onward.

35 For further reHections, see Stefan Hiischele, "Das Global Christian Forum: 'Forum' als Paradigma für die Zukunft der Ökumene?", in: Srephen Lakkis - Stefan Höschclc - Stelli Schardien (eds.), Ökumene der Z11k11nji: Hermeneutische Per­spektiven 11nd die S11<:he nach Jde111ität (Beihefte zur Ökumenischen Rundschau 81 ), Frankfurt a. M.: Lembeck, 2008, pp. 117-133; an English translation is found online (URL: http://www.thh-friedensau.de/downloads/ 13321 ). A more recent discussion ofthe GCF is Huub Vogelaar. "Das Global Christian Forum -Ein realistischer Weg der Ökumene?", in: Thomas Bremer and Maria Wernsmann (eds.), Ökumene -überdacht: Reflexionen und Realitäten im Umbruch, Freiburg: Herder, 2014, pp. 317-333.

36 There is also a clear link between the two entities in terms of per$onnel, interest, finan­cial and gencral support, mutual rcporting, and rcprcscntation that is acknowlcdgcd

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therefore, that Beach personally participated in several of the first GCF meetings.

4. People, personal relationships, and the ecumenical sphere

How should the phenomenon of Bert Beverly Be ach be evaluated with regard to dynamics in ecumenism? And, more generally, what role do individuals and their relationships play in the ecumenical sphere? While most observers of interchurch encounter would agree that people do indeed play an important role, so far one looks in vain for a the­ory of individuals' contributions, especially in terms of their relational efforts.37 Such a theory cannot, of course, be derived from an indi­vidual's life, but it would be a worthwhile addition to the academic reflection on interchurch relations, as are a few other extant social sci­entific attempts to comprehend ecumenical phenomena - e.g. with the tools of systems theory,38 sociology of religion,39 inter-organizational relations studies,40 and general relational theory.41 A microsocio-

by the GCF; see 'The Global Christian Forum", Report document (cit. January 12, 2008), URL: http://www.globalchristianforum.org/document.

3? The study that comes closest to this question is probably Steven P. Guerriero, "Roman Catholic Ecumenists: An Interpretive Sociological Study ofTheir Life-World", Ph.D. diss., The Fielding Institute, l 997. This study focuses on individuals, but not leading huilders of the oikoumene.

38 Cf. Heinz-Günter Stobbe, "Einheit der Kirche, ökumenische Forschung und Sys­temtheorie", in: Bremer and Wernsmann (eds.), Ökumene - überdacht, pp. 37-73, and Maria Wernsmann, "Identität und Macht in der Ökumene: Die römisch­katholisch/orthodoxen Beziehungen in systemtheoretischer Perspektive", in: ibid„ 180-206.

39 Cf. for instance the implications for understanding ecumenical dynamics from the "religious economy" apprvach of rational choice theorists, e.g. Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion, Berkeley: Uni­versity of California Press, 2000, especially pp. l 93-217 (chapter 8, "A Theoretical Model of Religious Economies").

40 One of the few relevant studies is Mark Chaves anti John R. Sutton, "Organizational Consolidation in American Protestant Denominations, 1890-1990", in: Joumalfor the Scientific Study of Religion 43 (2004 ), pp. 51-66.

41 In a forthcoming study on Seventh-Day Adventist interchurch relations, 1 am trying to relate the Relational Models Theory of Alan Fiske to ecumenical relationships; cf. his book Structures of Social Life: The Four Elementary Forms of Human Relations, New York: Frcc Press, l 991.

BERT BEVERLY BEACH: BRIDGE BUILDER

logical perspective on eminent ecumenical actors would certainly be a theme for a major study of its own.

In the case of Bert Beach, crucial factors of his impact on both his denomination and specific strands of the ecumenical realm have evi­dently been a number of skills that he inherited and developed in the peculiar Situation in which he was placed, and which made him an instinctive bridge builder: an American growing up in Europe, fluency in four major languages, and organizational talent. But beyond that, Beach with his short stature also embodied the type of non-threatening personality that naturally connected individuals of diverse background, winning them with humour, love of people, and a curious mix of style and unconventionality.

Apart from such issues of personality, it is probably the combination of firm institutional embeddedness ( continued over a long period) and little stress on fine details of theological debate that made him the per­son to create relationships even where positions differed widely. While his own faith always remained rather traditionally Adventist, he could separate, in his ministry, the past, present and future - and he served people for a present in which memories of the past and expectations of a problematic future would not dictate the communication of today.42

Perhaps it is the fact that he is not a theologian,43 but a historian that helped in focusing on what he viewed as theological essentials: God, mission, scripture, and freedom.44

Certainly people are one among the much-quoted "non-theological factors," which have at times been viewed as a hindrance to bilat­eral dialogue and to the union of churches,45 even if the role of the

42 Cf. Beach and John Graz, 101 Questions Adventist.,· Ask, passim. 43 There are fow non-theologians whose ministry made a major impact on ecumenism;

Möller et al., Wegbereiter der Ökumene, only include Suzanne de Dietrich, who was an engineer by training (although she is often called a theologian as weil). The tremendously influential John Moll was also a lay person.

44 Cf. chapter 20 ("The Essence of Adventism") in the book authored together with his facher, Walter R. Beach, Pattern for Prowess: The Role a11d Function of Clwrch Organization, Washington, D. C.: Review and Hcrald, 1985.

45 For carly discussions on thcsc, sec Willard L. Spcrry (cd.), The Non-Theolo!iical Facto,, in the Making and Unmaking of Clwrch Union (Faith and Order Paper 3), New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937; aml C. H. Dodd - Gerald Cragg - Jacques Ellul, Social Factors in Church Divisions (Faith and Order Paper 10), Geneva: WCC, 1952.

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STEFAN HÖSCHELE. FRIEDENSAU

personal factor has not yet been given much attention in ecumen­ics as an academic discipline. This is somewhat curious given the fact that history consists not only of ideas and institutions (the older bifurcated approach to church history)46 but also of actors and the cul­tures in which they operate. What may be Iearned from the Beach story is, at the very least, that in<lividuals can make a lasting impact because the interaction between churches is, ultimately, a relational matter. Evidently churches cannot really interact until people choose to do so. Probably we should even no longer call these dynamics "non-theological": social interaction has a Jot to do with our faith; all communication is an expression of values we hold dear, and attitudes at the centre of what we call ecumenical - patience, loving one another in spite of <lisagreements, worshipping together with the Other - are at the very heart of the Christian faith .

Summary: This article describes and discusses the contributions of Bert B. Beach to the dialogue between the churches. While he is among the lesser-known contributors to the development of ecumenism, his bridge building activities of bringing together Christian World Com­munions an<l leading his denomination, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, to openness in terms of interchurch conversation, must be rec­ognized as pioneering.

Keywords: Bert Beach - Adventists - Ecumenism - Christian World Communions

46 James E. Bradley and Richard A. Muller, Clwrch Historv: A11 /11troductio11 to Re.l'earch, Reference Worb, a11d Metlwd.,·. Grand Rapids: Ec~dmans. 1995. p. 2.

180

TRAVELLERS, DWELLERSAND CITIZENS: AN ECUMENICAL JOURNEY OF FAITH TH ROUGH SPACE

Anne Marie Reijnen, Paris

1. SPACE reconsidered

Thesis 1. We should reconsider space and make as much room .f()r space in our theology as the time we give to time. to history and tradi­tion, to synchrony and diachrony.

Space appears mainly under five figures in the Scriptures and the his­tory of Christianity: the gar<len (xan Eden); the land (eretz); the desert; the city (called polis in Greek, urhs or civitas in Latin), and the entire inhabited world (oikumene). lndeed, two .,patial figures structure the theme of this volume of Communio Viatorum: exile and diaspora. Both depend for their symbolic meaning - that is, for their existential impor­tance - on the commonplace of a land, a city, a place of primordial helonging; maybe a holy land, or a holy city. These are notoriously explosive notions, subject as they are to ideological distortions; all too often they appear to warrant unholy uses. The love or longing for a par­ticular place gives rise to ugly stirrings: from patriotism to chauvinism to nationalism and xenophobia. Yet, as St Augustine sai<l, "ahusus non tollit uswn". The purpose of the following remarks, then, is to lay some stepping stones for a "theology of space" that integrales the self-critical moment but also some constructive elements.

As a preparation for delivering this short paper, I wanted to pay my respects to the spatial category by making a conscious journey, with body and mind, through the space that separates and connects two places, two cosmopolitan cities, Paris and Prague. I feit that if I were to understand anything about the nature of "Mitteleuropa", I needed to experience the distance in relative dis/comfort, for the 15 hours it requires by train to cross the physical spaces, crossing rivers and boundaries, villages, town and cities.

TRAVELLERS, DWELLERSAND CITIZENS:AN ECUMENICAL JOURNEY OF FAITH 181-192 {CV 2015/1: 181-1921