Volume 1 of the Leuenberg Documents series, The Church of Jesus Christ, newly edited by Mario Fischer and Thomas-Andreas Põder, has recently been published in its 6th edition by Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Leipzig. The volume is available open access on the publisher’s website.
„The Church of Jesus Christ. The Contribution of the Reformation towards Ecumenical Dialogue on Church Unity“ is regarded as the most widely received doctrinal text of the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). It was adopted by the General Assembly in 1994. It was the first time that the churches of the Reformation developed the basic insights into the church and its mission contained in the Leuenberg Agreement and fundamentally defined their understanding of „unity in reconciled diversity“. On the basis of God’s action in Christ as the foundation of the church and its mission as witness to salvation, it reflects on the concrete shape of the church and its mission in the world.
The text has given important stimuli for the realisation and deepening of church communion in the CPCE and for ecumenical dialogue. It has found a kind of continuation in the outcome of the 2018 doctrinal conversation „Church Communion“.
The English translation has been slightly revised for this new edition.
Open-access download: https://www.eva-leipzig.de/de/fischer-poder-die-kirche-jesu-christi-the-church-of-jesus-christ