Egalitarian Ecumenism

Jubilee: the ecumenical relevance of a biblical theme for the church today.

INTRODUCTION

This essay will examine the ecumenical relevance of the jubilee. This biblical theme has its roots in the socio-political situation of Moses and the people of Israel more than three thousand years ago. We are in a very different situation now—making the direct relevance of the jubilee obscure. Given this observation the relevance of the jubilee today will be found in discovering its essence. This must be done by distinguishing its ecclesiastical and ecumenical relevance from its social and political relevance.

My emphasis here will be on what this essence, which I interpret to be egalitarianism, means for the church and ecumenical bodies. While the church can find unity in working on social issues, and often in opposition to other institutions, such as the state and multilateral bodies, it betrays the message of the jubilee if it does not also look closely at itself to discover where inequality exists within its own structures. I pose a direct challenge to the church in the way it, and ecumenical bodies, organise, and conclude that the time has come for new beginnings in the church and ecumenism.

JUBILEE AS A BIBLICAL THEME

The subject of jubilee is a central biblical theme that is usually sourced to the jubilee prescriptions found in Leviticus 25. However the foundation of these laws extend back to chapter 2 of Genesis and the spirit of the jubilee is found in the words of Christ.

The background to Jubilee is first encountered in the story of creation:

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. [Gen 2: 1-3] [1]

The resting of God on the seventh day provides the background for the Jewish Sabbath tradition. The fourth commandment, to "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy", makes resting part of the Covenant between God and humankind [Ex 20:8-11]. The meaning of the Sabbath laws are further elaborated on by God later in Exodus:

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. Six days your shall do your work, but on the seventh you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your homeborn slave and the resident alien may be refreshed. [Ex 23: 10-12]

The importance of the Sabbath regulations becomes apparent when these are the first specific commandments that Moses informs all the Israelites of [Ex 35:1-3]. The Sabbath relates directly to the jubilee in two direct ways. First, the year of jubilee is calculated by counting off seven Sabbath years [Lev 25:8-10]. Secondly, the jubilee prescriptions of Leviticus 25:8-55 are also found in the Sabbath laws. These include debt release [Deut 15:1], slavery [Ex 21:2; Deut 15:12-18], the land being fallow [Lev 25: 3-7] and when the jubilee is to be announced [Lev 16:29-31].

There has been much discussion on whether the jubilee was ever an historical reality. It has been suggested that perhaps this was merely an ideal that was written down. This debate should not be allowed to detract from the importance of the jubilee. The Ten Commandments have rarely been upheld consistently, but, like the jubilee, they continue to inspire hope and provide an ideal to aim for.

The text of Isaiah 61 is usually interpreted as a jubilee text, with the "year of the LORD's favour" understood to mean the jubilee year. When Christ reads this text in Luke 4:16-19 he is taken to be proclaiming the jubilee. Christ fulfills this task in several ways. The specific areas where the jubilee provisions enter the teachings and sayings of Jesus are open to interpretation, both in whether or not it is a jubilee text and whether or not Jesus actually said these words. Yet I believe it is clear that Jesus used the specific provisions and the essence of jubilee throughout his teaching. Some examples follow.[2]

The fallow year, for instance, enters Christ's teachings when he tells his disciples not to worry about what to eat [Lk 12:22-32]. Just as the Jews were not to worry about what to eat at the time of the land's rest and the period immediately following this, so we also are to have faith in God.[3]

The Lord's prayer is another place where the jubilee appears in the New Testament. In it we are told to pray "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" [Mt 6:12]. John Yoder points out that the verb used in the prayer is aphiemi, the same verb that was used in the jubilee and Sabbath prescriptions in the Old Testament.[4] Sharon Ringe summarises her examination of these texts by commenting that,

While it is therefore not appropriate to call the Lord's prayer a Jubilee prayer in the strict sense of being able to trace each of its petitions to specific Jubilee texts, it is a Jubilee prayer in that it expresses, in a highly condensed and symbolic liturgical form, images in common with the Jubilee traditions of Hebrew Scriptures[5]

In the Old Testament we see the jubilee as a once-in-every-fifty-year event, prescribed in some detail by law. It was only to apply in a specific location and not everyone was included—special cases being made of the Levites and aliens. Christ alters the jubilee and makes it for everyone for all times. We are told to forgive our debts every time we practice what we pray in the Lord's prayer. It is clear that the jubilee is very much part of the Christian tradition. When we seek the relevance of the jubilee it is debatable what we mean by this term. Is it the specific law or its general thrust? I believe we must discover its essence and then apply this to the issues facing us in the twenty-first century.

THE MEANING OF THE JUBILEE TODAY

For several commentators the contemporary meaning of the jubilee is found in its application to today's issues.[6] On the face of it jubilee provisions would seem to apply to many modern situations in a direct fashion. The most obvious are debt, slavery, the return of land, uprooted peoples, and the environment. I will now briefly examine these issues.

Third world debt is doubtless an important issue of our time. Who can ignore the suffering that it continues to cause the world's poorest people? Sub-Saharan Africa, the location of the World Council of Churches' eighth assembly, is probably the most indebted region of the world. Twenty-eight of the countries on the World Bank's list of severely indebted low-income countries are African.[7] The reasons for this crisis are complex as Love Chile writes:

The causes of Africa's debt crisis are found primarily in the structure of the international economy and the inequity of terms of exchange against Africa, set against the exploitative nature of the extractive colonial economy inherited at independence.[8]

In his essay 'Five Areas for Jubilee Today', Paul Spray considers international debt to be the "most obvious candidate" for the jubilee.[9] The application of the Jubilee to this crisis can be seen in the debt relief campaign Jubilee 2000. This worldwide campaign has the objective of a one-off cancellation of unpayable debt owed by the world's poorest countries.[10]

Slavery, another issue tackled by the original jubilee, still remains in many forms today. For example, the human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International campaigns on issues of child labour, bonded labour, forced prostitution, abused migrant workers, the early and forced marriage of women and children, and the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. Another example is Filipino migrant workers who leave the Philippines and their families to work overseas to earn the money their families need to survive. This example may be criticised by some who will argue that this is voluntary, and that slavery, by definition, has a compulsory component to it. However, my example shows another way that our context has changed since biblical times. Nowadays people can be forced by circumstance into making decisions where the alternatives are between starvation, and employment on someone else's terms.

The return of land to the dispossessed is another possible application of the jubilee. This is extremely relevant to the church in Aotearoa New Zealand, a country where the indigenous people were dispossessed through the colonisation process. Maori are now seeking redress for these wrongs in the face of opposition of many who consider that righting these wrongs will only make matters worse. The church supports the return of this land and by doing so is proclaiming the jubilee.

The jubilee also decreed the return of people to their property and families [Lev 25:10]. Today the world has large numbers of uprooted people and refugees. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for the welfare of no less than 22 million people. The total number of victims of forced displacement could total as many as 50 million.[11] In his book The Drumbeat of Life: Jubilee in an African Context, Sebastian Bakare makes the case for a jubilee for uprooted people. He notes that "Africa has more refugees than any other continent. International observers says [sic] that there are probably about 5 million people in Africa who have been forced to flee their own countries for a variety of reasons".[12] Successful return requires that returnees can expect security in their old country. This is possible only when peace is restored, access to basic services is guaranteed, and the economy is productive—all things that can be supported by the churches and the ecumenical movement.

The environment has been suggested as an object of the jubilee by Hans Ucko. He writes, "More than ever we have come to realise that the land needs to be given rest from us. We have to hold ourselves back from the land, lest it die and we die with it". [13] As he points out, environmental destruction has reached unprecedented levels in the twentieth century and threatens our very survival. The global economy's demand for growth means that our world is under constant pressure to produce more and more. The result of these forces have been well documented and include the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, acid rain, deforestation, widespread pollution, and the extinction of many species. Something urgent needs to be done to change forever our relationship to the Earth and the jubilee can perhaps offer a fresh start.

It is appealing to see these cases as for the direct application of the jubilee. Indeed if the jubilee inspires people to take action on the above issues this is only a good thing. However I believe this is overly simplistic and is a case of creating relevance where perhaps there is strictly isn't any. Sharon Ringe wrote of jubilee imagery that "If there is a danger to the perception of such immediate connections, it is that these images risk being translated in a literal fashion, to coincide with political and social programs recognized as urgent for the contemporary society".[14] Furthermore, because some parts of the world are free from slavery, crippling debt, and refugees, which the third world has, theologians and western liberals can make the above connections between the jubilee and social issues without threatening their own interests. While the above issues deserve the urgent attention of all Christians, and the jubilee may provide the inspiration for doing so, it should be recognised that many secular organisations share a passion for these issues and so they are not solely biblically inspired. Christians must not be sanctimonious in action on these issues. The application of the Jubilee to these issues is the socio-political relevance of the jubilee—not its ecumenical relevance.

The socio-political relevance of the jubilee can often unite churches in social action. Churches can come together and unite briefly, or longer-term, in opposition to some wrong that is occurring in local, national or international life. While these communities of opposition provide opportunities for common work and sharing between churches, they are temporary and alliances can easily dissolve once the battles are won or lost, or friends from different churches leave and move on. This is not to negate the value of opposing policies that generate inequality and poverty. In fact this can help make the churches relevant to the dispossessed and poor, people the church should be serving in their daily life.

If the above cases do not address the relevance of the jubilee to today's church then what does it mean? I believe that the jubilee has ecumenical relevance in its focus on new beginnings and equality. Thee concept of new beginnings is clearly seen throughout the jubilee texts, as in the land and slavery provisions. In the Lord's prayer we ask for our debts to be forgiven while we forgive the debts of others; people can start again after being freed from debt. Forgiveness enables wrongs to set aside and relationships to start afresh. The parable of the prodigal son has been interpreted to mean that we can all have a new beginning with God. Several figures were also given a new start by Jesus: Lazarus being the most famous example. Being 'reborn' has become a common metaphor for these new beginnings and in particular the new life that can be found in Christ.

Do the churches and the ecumenical movement need a new beginning? In some countries, where people leave the church for good each week, the answer is yes. Some churches need to become more relevant to the people in their societies. Many people are alienated by a church that fails to be as inclusive as the society in which it exists—meaning that some, such as homosexuals, find more hate than love within the church. The final section of this essay will examine how the church can make a new start in the other essential characteristic of the jubilee: equality.

In essence the jubilee is about preserving the organic structures of society and in preventing inequality, the scourge of communities and 'community'. It is about new beginnings that enable community to be rediscovered and families to be reunited. The jubilee and Sabbath traditions recognised that inequalities between people would arise from time to time. This was not accepted as the natural order of things but was dealt with by having periodic redistribution of wealth. This redistribution was the aim of the jubilee. The jubilee laws recognise that as time passes inequalities naturally occur. Inequalities can become entrenched in our legal, political, economic and social structures and eventually the operation of these ways of living become normative and acceptable to people. Given regular redistribution, the jubilee and Sabbath laws were a reminder that the rich should not get too comfortable, for their wealth was temporary, the poor could have hope that one day in the future their fortunes would be reversed.

In seeking the ecclesiastical and ecumenical relevance of the Jubilee I must stress that and inequality is indivisible. If one becomes poor it affects one's participation in the social, political and other realms. Those ancient Jews who were sold into slavery due to economic conditions became more than just economically poor, although their poverty put them in this position. Their social relations, families and participation in society were all adversely affected. Similarly, the jubilee is not about economic equality to the exclusion of spiritual equality. That it could be depends on a pluralistic perception of human nature and has been in large part the cause of a compartmentalised/disunited understanding of humanity. This is seen particularly in relation to sexuality—where the material body is viewed as sinful and is a potential destroyer of the spirit. Theology that does not address the whole person, and the whole of their life, falls short of the needs of us all. I therefore believe that we need to have a holistic understanding of human nature and also of equality.

Jesus himself showed a great concern for the material, spiritual and social aspects of human existence. Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan has argued that Jesus was interested in radical egalitarianism. His justification is Jesus' focus on open commensality. Jesus openly ate with everyone, the oppressor and the oppressed. The table of Christ was open to all, and in making it so he broke down many of the rigid Jewish purity laws. We see this in various parables used by Christ and his own actions. Jesus earned a reputation for feasting and drinking [Mt 11:18-19 and Lk 7:33-34]. Many of his parables are about meals or include them in ways that show how meals can be used to overcome barriers between people. Examples include the parable of the wedding Banquet [Mt 22:1-13] and the prodigal son where a feast celebrates the return of the lost son [Lk 15:11-32]. The implications of these teachings and actions of Jesus are summarised by Crossan in these words:

Open commensality is the symbol and embodiment of radical egalitarianism, of an absolute equality of people that denies the validity of any discrimination between them and negates the necessity of any hierarchy among them.[15]

If Crossan is right that Jesus is deeply concerned about equality, it suggests that Jesus' extensive use of jubilee themes are part of this concern.

Others have argued that 'equality of opportunity' is what is important.[16] In theory this guarantees all peoples an equal chance in life and an opportunity to reach their potential. It has been argued that as 'equality of outcome' is impossible we should only concern ourselves with equality of opportunity. Under closer examination however equal opportunity has many problems and actually works to justify inequality. Philosopher John Baker writes:

The biggest problem is that principles of equal opportunity help to make systems of inequality seem reasonable and acceptable ... The implication is that as long as the competition for advantage is fair, advantage itself is beyond criticism.[17]

Baker goes on to say that equality of opportunity works to undermine community, an important criticism for my argument. This undermining occurs because people are encouraged under such a system of rewards to "concentrate on their own individual prospects".[18] These "prospects" should not be confined to merely to property but the whole of the person and their position in society and even the church. In politics, Aristotle believed that equality of outcome was a necessary condition for a sound state. In a state of inequality there "arises a city, not of freemen, but of masters and slaves, the one despising the other, the other envying; and nothing can be more fatal to friendship and good fellowship in states than this".[19] The jubilee prescriptions also provide for the primacy of equality of outcome. If equality of opportunity was the aim of the Levitical laws why have more than a single redistribution? Regular redistribution, that the jubilee demands, clearly indicates that inequality is unacceptable, even if it occurs through the fault of those who become poor.

Several people, but far too few, have recognised that the Jubilee is about inequalities. Timothy Gorringe, for example, has written that the solution to inequality was "Jubilee legislation".[20] In another work he comments that the jubilee and Sabbatical laws could promise, according to the Deuteronomists, the elimination of poverty [Deut 15:4].[21] Another commentator, Brian Griffiths wrote "The jubilee laws ... were designed to prevent the development of a cycle of permanent deprivation".[22] Bob Holman makes some observations himself, but these, like themes just cited, focus on economic equality and say little about other kinds of inequality. The next section will look at this question and seek to discover what relevance the Jubilee will have for the churches. In political economy, the jubilee may have relevance for the church as Gorringe has pointed out. He wrote that international inequality

is a specifically church issue, since Christians in the North grow richer at the expense of those in the South … Rectifying this situation should be the concern of the so-called ecumenical movement.[23]

I now leave economics, at least as far as it is considered a separate discipline, and consider the wider implications of equality for the churches.

EQUALITY AND ECUMENISM

If the essence of the jubilee is about an asserting equality, as I have argued, what does this mean for ecumenism? It goes far beyond working for social justice. Yet I also do not think that the church should be obsessed with the "navel-gazing" that frustrates so many inside and outside the church. Some people assert that the church can set aside these issues, such as queer ordination, and get on with the "real" issues. They believe that we must be faithful to Christ's message of social justice. They stand in opposition to those who think that the church must focus on individual ethics and uphold Christian morality, as they understand it. Both groups can be fundamentalist when they claim that their understanding is the truest interpretation of the bible.

But need there be a dichotomy here? The church can work for equality of outcome through modeling it in its own structures and ways of working. I believe that Christianity requires that we think as much about how we do things as what we want to do. This means that discussions on ends and means become irrelevant—for ends and means become inseparable. Examples from the Christian tradition are pacifism and consensus decision-making. Central to pacifism is the idea that to build a peaceful society one must remain peaceful. War cannot build peace because by it very nature it is violent and destructive. As had been observed there is no way to peace: peace is the way. Likewise with consensus decision-making. If we seek a participatory, inclusive and equal society we cannot outvote the minority and exclude the part of God that is in them. The ethic here is those who seek some end must not use means contrary in spirit to that end. It also becomes the case that in working for some end we must incorporate that end in our means. The relevance of this to ecumenism is seen in the recognition that theological dialogue and reflection, and social action by themselves will not lead to church unity.[24] If the church is to seek an equal, just and peaceful society what are the barriers to this in the church that stop it from being a model for society?

Equality must be an underlying value for indigenous and national churches, and ecumenical bodies. Not only does inequality divide the church from society; it sets Christian against Christian. Inequalities between churches must also be addressed if unity is to occur. Obviously we cannot expect some churches to reduce in size or wealth so that others can catch up, but we can share resources more equitably. More important however is having power relationships based on equality, regardless of the churches and their makeup. This is an issue in the World Council of Churches where "representation on WCC governing bodies must give 'due regard' to size".[25] This not only forms a barrier to Roman Catholic membership, but is also a model of inequality between different churches.

We must therefore be wary that the organisations and practices we create or support do not assist in the creation or maintenance of inequality. One instructive and ancient example of such an institution is the prosbul, a legal formula established in response to the Sabbatical and jubilee laws. The prosbul was a mechanism whereby debts could be placed in the courts just prior to the seventh year of release and could then be collected after the year had passed. This was possible as the Torah regulations applied only to individuals, not to the court. This was initiated because when the time for release came near credit dried up because people knew that they had little chance of collecting their debts and would therefore lose their capital. A warning is given in Deuteronomy 15:2 that one's heart should not be cold to those in need of credit even though one may lose one's capital.

While good for the continuation of a supply of credit, the prosbul effectively renders the year of release meaningless to those in most need. In the context of Leviticus lending was to the needy who borrowed money at high rates of interest. The effect of the prosbul was therefore to preserve the inequitable relationship of debtor/creditor. So, rather than the time of the release being a time for new beginnings it became a time of protecting the rich against divine justice. The human institution of the prosbul thwarted the demand of God for justice. Yoder, in his analysis of the prosbul, writes, "Jesus was decidedly an adversary of the prosboul".[26]

The lesson for the churches and our present world is that we need to look closely at how structures preserve inequalities or thwart the justice provisions of our tradition. The following are some examples of areas where the churches and ecumenical bodies may be preventing equality and ecumenical advances. The church has been a perpetrator of inequality in several ways. Distinctions are made between lay and ordained, men and women, baptised and non-baptised, heterosexual and queer, and old and young. The ordination of homosexuals is an issue that threatens to split two mainline churches in Aotearoa New Zealand. Some argue that the failure of the Roman Catholic Church to ordain women, or even married men, is a barrier to church unity. The laity can feel frustrated by their not being allowed to administer various sacraments, this being a closed shop for ordinees. A possible model for ecumenism is that when unity occurs it will not matter to anyone which church, if any, one belongs to. This is not the case currently because for many it does matter. Some people will not join churches for they do not agree with its doctrine on ordination, homosexuality and other issues. Others have left the church altogether because they find these rules comprise their beliefs. Solutions for these problems are not easy to find. We have been brought up in traditions that provide us with comfort and security, just as the Jews of Jesus' time were obeying the law and hierarchies as were known to them.

The church has failed and is failing to uphold the egalitarian vision of the jubilee. Fortunately the jubilee also offers new beginnings for all. It was about the chance to begin again or to use Christ's language, to be "reborn". Forgiveness allows us to put the past behind us and to begin new relationships, with our neighbour and with God. The jubilee offers us a chance to forgive those who have hurt us and slandered us and to enter into dialogue with them to find a constructive way forward. The church needs to repent and seek forgiveness for the harm it has caused and seek forgiveness. It must follow this up with seeking egalitarian ways of the being the body of Christ so that all are welcome at the communal meal God has prepared for us.

CONCLUSION

In this essay I have shown that the jubilee is indeed a biblical theme that is relevant not only for Jews but also for Christians. While it is true that the jubilee prescriptions originate in the Talmud, the theme is very much part of the New Testament and feature in the words and teachings of Christ. The jubilee teachings of the Old Testament must be made relevant for Christians today by looking at their place in the teachings of Christ and ought to be consistent with his other teaching.

It is no simple matter to apply the jubilee in the twenty-first century. There are many humanitarian concerns that require our urgent attention. Specific actions on some of these such as the debt crisis, slavery, uprooted people, the environment and indigenous people and their land can be inspired by the jubilee tradition. Apart from working together with other Christians from other traditions on these issues in a jubilee way, this has little ecumenical relevance. I have argued that the ecumenical relevance of the jubilee becomes clear when we understand it to be a challenge to inequality of any sort. In practice equality of outcome, and its corollary the preservation of community, must be taken seriously by the church.

I have attempted to show that the jubilee was a response to inequality that threatened the make up of ancient Jewish society. The provisions are a quite specific solution to the situation then. The relevance of the jubilee today is in finding our own solution to the inequalities in our own communities. One of these communities is the church and the worldwide ecumenical movement. If we are serious in challenging inequality we need, as churches, to take the lead and act against inequality in our own structures and actions. This is the ecumenical relevance of the jubilee today.

Endnotes

1. All biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
2. Here I draw heavily on John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus: Behold the man! Our Victorious Lamb, 2nd Ed, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1994 [1972), and Sharon H. Ringe, Jesus, Liberation and the Biblical Jubilee: Images for Ethics and Christology, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985). See their works for a fuller account of the jubilee theme.
3. See Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, p. 60-61.
4. Ibid., p. 62.
5. Sharon Ringe, Jesus, Liberation, 84.
6. For examples consult Hans Ucko, ed., The Jubilee Challenge Utopia or Possibility? Jewish and Christian Insights, (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1997).
7. Africa Recovery (May 1996), p. 7. Cited in Love M. Chile, 'Africa's Debt Crisis: A Critical Reflection on the Nature, the Causes and the Extent of the Crisis,' in Forums on Third World Debt, (Christchurch: Debt Action Network, 1997), p. 2.
8. Ibid., p. 3.
9. Paul Spray, 'Five Areas for Jubilee Today,' in Hans Ucko, ed., The Jubilee Challenge, p. 135.
10. Ingrid Hanson, ed., The Debt Cutter's Handbook, (London: Jubilee 2000, 1996), p. 4.
11. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, The State of the World's Refugees 1997-98: A Humanitarian Agenda, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 2.
12. Sebastian Bakare, The Drumbeat of Life: Jubilee in an African Context, (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1997), p. 21.
13. Hans Ucko, 'The Jubilee as a Challenge', in Ucko, ed., The Jubilee Challenge p. 9.
14. Sharon H. Ringe, Jesus, Liberation, p. 14.
15. Crossan, Jesus, p. 71.
16. See for example Mar Osthathios, Theology of a Classless Society, (London and Guildford: Lutterworth Press, 1979), pp. 14, 18, 57 and 130; and Paul Spray, 'Five Areas for the Jubilee Today,' in Ucko, ed., The Jubilee Challenge p. 135.
17. John Baker, Arguing for Equality, (London and New York: Verso, 1987), p. 46.
18. Ibid.
19. Aristotle, Politics, trans, Benjamin Jowett, Great Books of the Western World, vol 9, (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1989), p. 495.
20. Timothy Gorringe, cited in Bob Holman Towards Equality: A Christian Manifesto, (London: SPCK, 1997), p. 7.
21. Timothy J. Gorringe, Capital and the Kingdom: Theological Ethics and Economic Order, (London: SPCK, 1994), p. 117.
22. Cited in Holman, Towards Equality, p. 7.
23. Gorringe, Capital and the Kingdom, p. 141.
24. Günther Gassmann, 'Unity,' in Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, ed., Nicholas Lossky et al, (Geneva: WCC Publications; London: Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), p. 1041.
25. Marlin Vanelderen, 'WCC, membership of,' in Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, Lossky, p. 1099.
26. Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, p. 65. Italics in original.