Ecumenical Dialogue on the Hope of Eternal Life

Dr. Michael Root's seminar on "The Hope of Eternal Life: Common Statement -- U.S. Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue" at the 2012 National Workshop on Christian Unity.

The Lutheran-Catholic dialogue completed Round XI with agreements that contribute to the ongoing ecumenical journey. The common statement "The Hope of Eternal Life" offers fresh insights into some issues that proved contentious in the debates of the sixteenth century.

Among issues explored in this dialogue were continuity in communion of saints, prayer for and about the dead, the meaning of death, purgation, an interim state between death and the final general judgment, and the promise of resurrection.

Dr. Root is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America.