{"id":2773,"date":"2014-06-19T22:35:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T02:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/orthodoxyandheterodoxy\/?p=2773"},"modified":"2014-06-19T22:35:46","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T02:35:46","slug":"orthodoxy-heterodoxy-and-ecumenism-an-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/orthodoxyandheterodoxy\/2014\/06\/19\/orthodoxy-heterodoxy-and-ecumenism-an-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy and “Ecumenism”: An Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ecumenical-council\"<\/p>\n

R<\/span>ecent discussions on some posts on this weblog, as well as some I’ve seen elsewhere on social media, have spurred questions about what the official positions of this site are, what my own positions are, etc. I have even had a few instances where commenters quoted to me from Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy<\/i>, attempting to catch me in a contradiction with something I am posting now. Supposedly, I have turned my back on things I wrote earlier. Supposedly, this site has turned into a den of “ecumenism” (a word I’ll return to in a moment).<\/p>\n

So I thought it might be worth it to review and reflect on my own reasons for participating in theological discussions involving non-Orthodox doctrines and practices. And I’ll also note here that, even though I’ll be talking about this website in general, I’m only speaking here for myself. There actually is no “party line” for this website.<\/p>\n

That said, I have discriminated on certain grounds when inviting ongoing contributors and guest posts: I regard all the participants as being traditional, faithful Orthodox Christians, who are all convinced that the Orthodox Church is uniquely the Una Sancta<\/i> of the Creed, who are not interested in revisionist, “liberal” theology or morality, who regard the Ecumenical Councils and Scriptures as our highest dogmatic authority, and the Holy Fathers as our most authoritative exegetes, interpreters of dogma and teachers of doctrine. None of them think the canons are irrelevant, the Scriptures outdated, our morality unclear, etc. If I thought that any of them were the least bit sketchy in any of these things, I wouldn’t have invited them to contribute.<\/p>\n

I’m actually extremely pleased with the chorus of voices we’ve had here. We don’t always agree on everything, and that’s fine. The discussions we’ve had (both on this site and privately\u2014yes, we have a little “cabal” where we hash things out) have helped to sharpen our arguments and engage viewpoints we hadn’t considered or even disagreed with.<\/p>\n

All in all, this site really has become what I hoped it would be\u2014a kind of “extension” of the material in the Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy<\/i> podcast and book. Where there wasn’t space there to deal with a particular subject in detail, there is room here. Where there wasn’t space to work on a question of discerning issues of orthodoxy and heterodoxy within<\/i> the Orthodox Church, there is space here. This is a project I think is worth continuing, and while we generally operate on a more “popular” level here rather than with a densely academic approach, I believe there is a need for both the former and the latter.<\/p>\n

So that brings us to the question of “ecumenism,” a word that seems to mean a lot of different things. Let me tell you some meanings of that word which I reject\u2014that is, I reject the positions I’m about to list. (I don’t care whether they are the correct definition for the word.) Here are some things I don’t believe:<\/p>\n