Tradition as Testimony - The Meanings of Witness in German Evangelical-Catholic Dialogues from the 1980s to the 2020s

This volume is the first comprehensive study of a topic that is essential for the understanding of German Evangelical-Catholic dialogues and contemporary ecumenism in general: the meaning of witness. The study reveals that these dialogues are characterised by a traditio-historical understanding of revelation, with witness being the key fundamental element for the groups'' understanding of the word of God, the scriptures, tradition, unity, and the like. The dialogue groups see the event of God''s self-attestation as the starting point for all human witness and gain access to it only through mediated human testimony. From this perspective, the ecclesial tradition is a historical signifying or mediating form of tradition, the unceasing actualization of God''s revelation in the Holy Spirit.