Kirchengemeinschaft als produktiver Streit

The Leuenberg Agreement marks a milestone in the 20th century ecumenical movement: It declares church communion among churches of different confessions based on their common understanding of the Gospel. Behr traces the agreement's history of development and its interpretation by different theologians. He concludes that the agreement calls the assenting churches to continue to be churches with their own doctrinal interests. The common understanding of the Gospel demands for ongoing theological dispute about the respective doctrinal positions. Church communion is not established by evening out the differences between the churches and their particular theologies, but it is implemented by each church introducing their confessional interests to the community.