Communicating Faith Across Divides: The Role of Theological Language in Ecumenical Dialogue

Abstract

This article examines the role of theological language in ecumenical dialogue, arguing that Christian division is not only a doctrinal or institutional problem but also a problem of mutual intelligibility. Theological language functions both as a bearer of revelation and as a marker of confessional identity; therefore, concepts such as “justification”, “Church”, “tradition”, “sacrament”, and “communion” often carry historically shaped meanings that may sustain misunderstanding between Christian traditions. Drawing on the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur, the article presents theological language as a dynamic space of interpretation, encounter, and transformation rather than as a fixed system of definitions. It then analyses selected conciliar, bilateral, and study documents, including Unitatis redintegratio, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, and Synodality and Primacy in the Second Millennium and Today, as differently situated instances in which inherited confessional languages are clarified, recontextualized, or rendered mutually intelligible. Against this background, the article proposes the category of communio linguarum, understood as a communion of theological languages capable of mutually recognizing the same faith without reducing legitimate diversity. The model is tested through differentiated consensus, a shared rereading of contested sources, and the renewed reception of inherited formulations. Its implementation requires hermeneutical humility, semantic discernment, reciprocal translation, and ecclesial reception.