J. W. Maris, ‘The Reformed Tradition in Europe’ (6 March 2007)
Reformed Churches and the unity of the church in a European context
Lecture given at the European Conference of the ICRC
Soest (NL) March 6, 2007
Dr. Johannes W. Maris
A historical perspective on Europe, on being Reformed, and on Church Unity
In order to deal with the different aspects of my subject a clarification seems necessary of the terminology involved. First of all we may not escape the necessity of a historical perspective. When using words like ‘reformed’ and ‘reformed churches’, as well as the indication ‘Europe’, it is impossible to just look around in the 21st century and consider what we see or want to see and experience. We must realize, therefore, that the word ‘reformed’ is related to the 16th century Reforma-tion, and that also in that century the unity of the church was an important topic in ecclesiasti-cal and theological discussion. Even in mentioning the European continent a similar historical context must be taken into account.