Catholic Charismatics and Ecumenical Translation after Vatican II

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In this essay, I argue that post-conciliar Catholic ecumenical discourse responds to anxieties about unity and identity in ecumenical encounter by turning to translation metaphors. Such metaphors, I suggest, fail to give an account of dialogue-across-difference that preserves the identity of both participants, but they do accurately describe the trans-formative effect such dialogue has on one's own tradition. Thus, while translation metaphors may not work to describe the ecumenical vision of Vatican II, they may be useful in describing the ecumenical reality of the 1960s charismatic renewal. Moreover, I suggest that such an understanding of translation offers us a space to think creatively about that renewal's theological significance.