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This text (Faith and Order Paper No. 182) explores the complex but often creative field of hermeneutics - the interpretation of texts, symbols, and rites - and its role in the search for visible church unity. It invites us to reflect on how we approach and evaluate one another's language and symbols, as a contribution to mutual understanding among Christians and churches.

Received by the Central Committee and commended to churches for study and action, it is a summary of the most recent debates on common witness and proselytism. Contains the references to the earlier studies on common witness

The Vocation of the Laity in Church and World: Towards an Inclusive Community on Different Levels" - a response by by Elizabeth Tapia to the paper "Formation of the Laos".

Bible study on 1 Peter 2:9 led by John Fotopoulos at the May 1997 consultation on the theme: "Towards a Common Understanding of the Theological Concepts of Laity/Laos: The People of God."

Bible study on 1 Peter 3:14-15 led by John Fotopoulos at the May 1997 consultation on the theme: "Towards a Common Understanding of the Theological Concepts of Laity/Laos: The People of God."

The following study paper has been drawn up by an international group of experts meeting at Bad Boll near Stuttgart, Germany, from March 23th to 27th 1997. The consultation was organized as a joint initiative of the World Council of Churches and the Evangelical Academy Bad Boll near Stuttgart, Germany.

Issued jointly by Mr Jean Fischer, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, the Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Dr Milan Opocenski, general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser of the World Council of Churches.

World Council of Churches / Middle East Council of Churches Consultation

Aleppo, Syria

March 5 - 10, 1997

This text is the fruit of the joint study programme on Ecclesiology and Ethics conducted by Faith and Order and the WCC's Justice, Peace and Creation team. The results of meetings in Rønde, Denmark; Jerusalem, Israel; and Johannesburg, South Africa, they explore how the churches are called to be a community of ethical reflection - and engagement - in today's world.

In 1979 the WCC produced a document entitled "Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths" which sought to identify and discuss the major practical and theological issues in interfaith relations. While it addressed some of the overall aspects, it recognized the need for more specific "guidelines" or ecumenical considerations on Christian relations with each of the major faith communities in the world. This document results from the attempt to follow this up in the area of Christian-Muslim relations. It draws on the experience gained from the considerable work carried out over the years. All the meetings between Christians and Muslims organized by the sub-unit on Dialogue during the past twenty years have been documented in the WCC publication "Meeting in Faith". These meetings, however, are only a small part of a much richer history of relations and numerous dialogue encounters in many places. The document that follows is itself based on five regional meetings between Christians and Muslims organized in different parts of the world. These meetings helped to identify some of the important issues which Christians and Muslims need to reflect on and continue to consider together in the years ahead. Many qualified persons in the field of Christian-Muslim relations were consulted in the process.

This text is a chapter in Conciliar Fellowship (Geneva: WCC 1992), by Aram Keshishian, now H.H. Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia. Grounded firmly in his knowledge of and experience with the WCC, and its Faith and Order Commission, Catholicos Aram unfolds his vision of conciliarity in terms of where the ecumenical movement is today, and where it ought ultimately to be headed.

This statement is signed by:
- His Beatitude Diodoros I Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
- His Beafitude Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch
- His Beatitude Yeghishe Derderian, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch
- Very Rev. Father Carlo Cecchitelli, of m, Custos of the Holy Land
- His Exc. Amba Basilios, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop
- His Exc. Mar Dionysios Behnam Jijawi, Syrian Orthodox Archbishop
- His Exc. Msgr Lutfi Laham, Greek Melkite Catholic Patriarcal Vicar
- Right Rev. Samir Kafity, Bishop of the Episcopalian Church
- Right Rev. Naim Nasr, Bishop ot the Evangelical Lutheran Church

Poor and oppressed people, who are at the margins of the world's concern, should be at the centre of Christian service, insisted the 300 participants in the 1986 global ecumenical consultation on interchurch aid in Larnaca, Cyprus. Diakonia, they said, is "liberating and transforming, suffering and empowering". Christian service cannot be separated from the struggle for justice and peace; therefore, advocacy, solidarity and sharing of skills are as essential to diakonia as the giving of money.

In 1975 the Consultation on the Church and the Jewish People (CCJP) voted to begin the process that has borne fruit in these Ecumenical Considerations on Jewish-Christian dialogue. The first step was to request preparatory papers from the various regions with experience in Jewish-Christian dialogue. When the Central Committee adopted "Guidelines on Dialogue" in 1979, work on developing specific suggestions for Jewish-Christian dialogue began and, after a period of drafting and revisions, a draft was presented for comments to the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), the CCJP's primary Jewish dialogue partner. After discussion in the DFI Working Group in 1980, a revised draft was circulated among interested persons in the churches and comments solicited. Many and substantial comments and suggestions were received.

When it met in London Colney, England, in June 1981, the CCJP adopted its final revisions and submitted them to the DFI Working Group, which adopted them at its meeting in Bali, Indonesia, 2 January 1982, having made its own revisions at a few points. On the advice of the February 1982 WCC Executive Committee, various concerned member churches and various members of the CCJP were further consulted in order to revise and re-order the text. The result, "Ecumenical Considerations on Jewish-Christian Dialogue", was "received and commended to the churches for study and action" by the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches at Geneva on 16 July 1982.

CHAPTER 5, Human Rights, Responsibilities and HIV/AIDS