The Anatomy of Unity
Pope John Paul II told a group of pilgrims from Eastern Europe on August 15, 1991—after the collapse of communism—that the church in Europe could now “breathe freely with both of her lungs.” This image was repeated in his 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint, in which he wrote, “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!”, and on other occasions, indicating his ardent desire to see an end to the division between East and West.
As an Orthodox Christian, I’ve occasionally said, “It’s a nice metaphor, but I prefer to say that the Church needs to think and act with both the right and the left brain! One can breathe with only one lung, but how well can one think with just half a brain?” Of course, neither Catholics nor Orthodox would like to say they have only half a brain!
Does either metaphor survive scrutiny? The two-lungs image does not admit to any crucial or complementary differences between East and West, while the right-brain/left-brain image perhaps does too much. The two hemispheres of the human brain are thought to be quite different. According to neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist (author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World), the left brain is detail-oriented, while the right brain is whole-oriented. (Previously, the brain was considered to be divided into logical and creative halves.)
It would be foolish to suggest that all right-braininess resides, say, in the Eastern churches and all left-braininess is found in the West. But could some aspects of “detail vs. whole” (or logic vs. creativity) generally characterize Western vs. Eastern theology? Perhaps, but investigating such an idea might not be very irenic.
The unity Christ prayed for will come when, please God, the whole Church breathes together, inspired by the one Holy Spirit and thinking with the Mind of Christ.
James M. Kushiner is the Director of Publications for The Fellowship of St. James and the former Executive Editor of Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on ecumenism from the online archives
31.4—July/August 2018
Labels & the Ecumenism of Discipleship by James M. Kushiner
more from the online archives
33.4—July/August 2020
Our Views on the President Are Not Crucial by S. M. Hutchens
30.6—Nov/Dec 2017
on C. S. Lewis, Brideshead Revisited & the Middle Things by Ben Reinhard
29.3—May/June 2016
Our Choice Is Obedience or Jesus as Anti-Christ by Anthony Esolen
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
