Jesu Kristi sinnelag : om konsensusmodellen i Kyrkornas Världsråd

Sammanfattning: This essay examines the using of consensus method for decision making within the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the process that led to the decision to adopt its usage. The main question of my essay is why the method was introduced to the WCC and what motives lay behind its introduction. Other questions are how the consensus method works; both in theory and in practice, and what the predecessors and prototypes for the method are. The consensus method belongs to a broad Christian tradition of spiritual discernment and spiritual decision making. The New Testament, in particular Acts, gives examples of decision making in the early church which show that discerning God's will was considered essential. However the most influential model for the consensus method have been the decision making process of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, and also the consensus model of the Uniting Church in Australia. The Quaker Business Meeting main focus is on the discernment of God's will through silence and listening and thus reaching unity or the sense of the meeting. There are also ways of dealing with dissenting voices in a respectful way. The Uniting Church model is more regulated and formal than the Quaker practice but the principles are basically the same. Other examples of Christian traditions of consensus and discernment are Jesuits, Anabaptists and The Theology of Sobornost within the Russian-Orthodox tradition. The work and process of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation has been crucial to the adoption of the consensus method within the WCC. Orthodox member churches have experienced long term dissatisfaction with theological developments of the WCC and a feeling of being a part of a constant minority. The consensus method was preferred by the Commission at an early stage in the process and was promoted by Orthodox members, but also by Quakers and members of the Uniting Church in Australia. Important parts of the theology of consensus are about building a community based on unity, The Body of Christ, that discerns God's will. Consensus is described by the WCC as something not to be understood as unanimity but as a seeking of the common mind of a meeting in a genuine, respectful and open dialogue, and thereby seeking to discern God's will without formal voting. Nevertheless, some issues will still be decided by formal voting. The consensus method has been under much debate and it is both strongly defended and strongly criticized by various denominations.