Outside ecumenical circles I doubt many would ever have heard of ‘receptive-ecumenism’. According to the website ‘Churches Together in England’ it is not: ‘asking what other Church traditions need to learn from us’ but it is saying: ‘…we ask what our tradition needs to learn from them – what we can receive which is of God.’
Using this understanding, Karin Johannesson inserts the reader into the world of the Carmelite tradition with ease and, as can be expected, that of Martin Luther. But considering the negative press Teresa of Avila mistakenly gave the ‘Lutheran sect’, it is a wonder any person from the Lutheran tradition today, let alone a bishop, would even bother to research Carmel’s tradition further! I am delighted to see that Bishop Karin has done so and introduces why she wants to bring the Carmelite tradition into conversation with her Evangelical Lutheran tradition:
Having grace, faith, and Jesus in focus, I want to highlight the opportunities to counter the secularisation from within with the help of the Carmelites – but without abandoning the doctrine of justification which Luther believed we must preserve in order to remain the Church.
This ‘secularisation from within’ is indicative of working from an interior life reaching outwards to the world. Who is specifically being addressed? – her own Church members as much as Swedish society in general. Purposely dedicating three chapters to three Carmelites – Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), John of the Cross (1542-1591) and Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) – Johannesson manages to blend their insights with what she considers important to Luther’s teaching. The reader is introduced to these Carmelites via a pattern: a) a mountaineering life event; b) a purview of Luther’s struggles; c) an excellent biography on each Carmelite; and finally d) commonalities perceived between Luther and each Carmelite. It’s a pattern that the author weaves together, as delicately as she can, ideas and teachings specific to Luther – from justification by works to justification by faith; righteousness as reinterpreted as holiness and more – with those considered specific to Carmel: the Little Way; contemplation; the dark night and more!
Special mention ought to be made of Johannesson’s use of the term ‘consubstantiation’ and its connection to the mystery of the Incarnation. She creatively relates this to Christ dwelling within one as she provides a guided tour of Teresa’s dwellings found in The Interior Castle. It’s a term that will appear again when referencing John of the Cross and ‘union of Christ’. At home, too, in providing an interpretation of the Little Way of Thérèse, we are seamlessly guided by the author into what secularism’s telling influence on Swedish culture needs. The reader need not fear getting lost in technical terms and concepts. So, whether you have historical knowledge, or not, of the Reformation; an awareness of Carmel, or not; technical language, or not – you are bound to find the guiding hand of the author reassuring and a good navigator.
Through the lens of what is called a ‘reformatory discovery’ (conversion) we travel through the sixteenth century strongly accompanied with insights of Thérèse as a modern interpreter of her brother and sister in Carmel and, dare I say it, Martin Luther? There is no flinching as to Luther’s take on Indulgences and Pilgrimages, the catalyst for his ‘reformatory discovery’. However, the reader will find along the way a side to Luther that isn’t considered mainstream in certain circles of Lutheran studies. A side the author prefers to pay more attention to. Luther has been understood as quite negative regarding the Fall and humanity’s subsequent disorientation and incapacity to sustain life with God. Johannesson attempts to dig deeper into the possibility that humanity can actually be part of a ‘collaboration with God’ (gleaned from Luther’s own work The Bondage of the Will). This prises open enough of a space from which the author seeks to explore afresh the opportunity to retrieve a forgotten side to Luther. She considers Luther’s ‘impure love’, that seeks to benefit the self more than God, as worth digging into. Johannesson sets down a challenging path, believed to perhaps push certain boundaries from within her own believing community, yet delicately and fruitfully.
Patience and time are needed to absorb the interrelatedness presented in the book. It is not a quick read and the concepts need to be wrestled with to gain clarity of vision in the connections being made. While having a sense of Church history would be advantageous to the reader, it is not necessary. The author keeps the reader’s attention and interest by delicately filling the reader in. For the non-Lutheran it will spark an interest in desiring to look further into the man; for anyone interested in a spirituality of interiority it will spark an interest in Carmel.
Throughout this book it is easy to see why the Carmelite tradition speaks to Bishop Johannesson, who discovers many parallels with Luther’s seldom considered struggle with ‘How can I love God and neighbour?’ as opposed to the often-emphasised central theology, ‘How can I be saved?’ If ‘narcissism’ is considered the fruit of secularisation, then love is the fruit of union with Christ and the answer to secularism’s negative effects in and out of Church circles. Luther’s wrestle with ‘love’ drew Johannesson to the heart of Carmel’s tradition – that is, a spirituality of interiority as it unfolds in its outreach towards others who are able (according to the author) to address the Lutheran fear of ‘turning inwards’.
Karin Johannesson, I believe, understands that the position taken in the book may be provocative within her Church circles, but she speaks with a determination that what is offered can help her Church deliberations regarding an agreed and needed ‘New Reformation’. This book will cause the need for deep reflection, too, from those readers outside her own tradition and within the tradition of Carmel. As said by a Carmelite brother in Sweden: ‘Thérèse’s ecumenical significance is probably much greater than we have realised so far…’; and as the reader will discover, it can be said of the other two Doctors of the Church, too! Bishop Karin has unearthed in practical terms the method of a ‘receptive-ecumenism’ that has helped this Carmelite see another side to Luther’s ways I hadn’t known. I enjoyed the read!
