Customer Reviews

You Are Peter: An Orthodox Reflection on the Exercise of Papal Primacy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oliver Clement, the author of "The Roots of Christian Mysticism" has produced a small, yet fine work on the place of the papacy in reconciling the Christian division between Catholics, Orthodox, and to a lesser extent, Protestants.

The first half of the book is more of a foundation with a quick lesson in history, mostly from an Orthodox perspective; however, the facts in these instances are undeniable by even unbiased historians. He writes about the different Popes, councils, and the relationship between the Western and Eastern states. He does not deny a papal primacy, but shows what that primacy meant in the early church.

He then proceeds to inform the reader of the Gregorian era and its devastating effects on Christian untiy. The reformation is also mentioned and so is the first and second Vatican Councils. He shows that since the second council, there are encouraging signs toward reconciliation and that the papacy does play a role in this process.

He ends with advice both to the Catholic Church and to the Orthodox Church. He shows the potential pitfalls and upsides in the issue at hand. This is a nice small book, written for the laymen, clergy, and scholar alike.

In this book, Oliver Clement shows how Catholic and Orthodox views regarding the papacy can be reconciled so that communion may be restored. Quotations from various Church Fathers of the first millenium regarding the papacy are often used by polemicists on both sides to argue that their opponents have deviated from the Apostolic faith. He shows how this seemingly conflicting patristic evidence can be reconciled by showing how the _behavior_ of the united first millenium church contextualizes and explains what the various Church Fathers were trying to say.

As a Roman Catholic, I greatly appreciated how Clement shows a possible way in which the concept of infallible papal definitions can be understood and expressed so that it could also be acceptable to the Orthodox. Overall, the outline of a reunion proposal in Chapter 12 seems both reasonable and realistic (at least theologically).

The historical content of the book is concise and informative. He shows the divergence between the Catholic and Orthodox positions on papal primacy to be a gradual process, even during the contentious second millenium. His description (in Chapter 9) of how "a certain amnesia in the Orthodox tradition" about the primacy of the Bishop of Rome developed was especially interesting. His line of argument that Popes Paul VI and John Paul II have done much of what Orthodox Christians of the early second millenium demanded of the papacy commands much reflection.

It will be interesting to see if the corresponding hierarchies of the Catholic and Orthodox churches will ever be able to follow through on Clement's proposals. In any event, I highly recommend this book to all Catholic and Orthodox Christians who are interested in this topic. If more and more well-informed believers in both communions come to see reunion as desirable and possible, pray for reunion, and make this known to their priests and bishops, then the Holy Spirit may well work a miracle for us.

One of France's leading Eastern Orthodox theologians, Clément is no stranger to ecumenical dialogue. Like Bishop Kallistos Ware, his charitable style, combined with a personal humility, makes him one of the more likeable characters on the ecumenical scene in Western Europe.

This work, aimed at bringing mutual understanding between the Orthodox and Romans, is something of a brief refresher on the subject, aiming to help all parties involved to move forward from confessional foxholes to a more realistic, historical and viable doctrine pf papal authority. Affirming the validity of papal authority in the ancient tradition, he avoids the common pitfall of turning Rome into just another bishopric that happened to be a capitol city. In his view, the Papacy did and should continue to play a role of authority on doctrinal matters as the locus of authority and union. At the same time, how that authority should be exercised must change to recognize the autonomy of local jurisdictions. It cannot be an authority of force. He calls for the papacy to reexamine its relatively recent teaching on universal and immediate jurisdiction, something that he believes neither theology nor history supports. At the same time, he argues that Orthodox need to chill out a bit on their own Romaphobia and accept the legitimate, properly exercised, role of the papacy.

Other books of interest may include: The Primacy of Peter: Essays in Ecclesiology and the Early Church, Power and the Papacy: The People and Politics Behind the Doctrine of Infallibility, Being As Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series , No 4), Eucharist, Bishop, Church: The Unity of the Church in the Divine Eucharist and the Bishop During the First Three Centuries and After Nine Hundred Years: The Background of the Schism Between the Eastern and Western Churches

The concrete parts of the book (where the author reports historical events and quotes other people) are very helpful and very readable. However when the author launches into the abstracts (as he does in the first and last chapters) I had great difficulty trying to figure out what he was saying. It was as if someone else took over the writing and strung together a bunch English words in a way that made no sense. All in all an excellent book which gives hope for unification of the Church. I highly recommend it for the concrete parts, which make up most of the book. Just don't be too hard on yourself if your eyes glaze over during the first and last chapters.