and Ratzinger in thinking that the act of recognition must be essen-
tially spiritual and ecclesial.^294 Harding Meyer, who presents the most
thorough Lutheran theological analysis, considers that recognition
cannot pertain to already received truths; instead, recognition
assumes such otherness of the other that can be considered legitimate.
He refers to Fries in this regard.^295 Like Catholics, Meyer thinks that
recognition must be a spiritual act. He further comments that in the
‘as’qualification the partner is almost always recognized‘as’some-
thing and that this means differentiation.^296
Gerard Kelly offers the most extensive English study of ecumenical
recognition. Somewhat surprisingly, he considers that‘two ways of
understanding recognition have been identified and described. We
have referred to them as Catholic and Protestant. For the latter, the
emphasis is placed on recognition of diversity; for the former, on
recognition of communion.’^297 In my view, German Catholics like
Kasper and Fries plead for the recognition of diversity in a manner
that does not differ much from the Protestants. Kelly has a point,
however, in considering that‘the Catholic approach to recognition is
more clearly theological than the Protestant approach’, which in his
view often remains legal.^298 This was indeed the case in the early
phases of the ecumenical movement.
As Kelly works predominantly with English sources, his own
concept of recognition is close to the idea of epistemic insight based
on known features. Such epistemic primacy is not, however, directly
applicable to the German termAnerkennung, which emphasizes the
performative act of attachment to the other and different partner.
Kelly’s two ways of understanding recognition may therefore indicate
a linguistic rather than a confessional difference. As Fries and others
point out, both of these ways are essential constituents of the concept
of recognition.
Many new ecumenical agreements nevertheless frequently employ
the concepts of recognition and acknowledgement after 1980. For
instance, the agreement between British Anglican and Nordic
Lutheran churches, the Porvoo Common Statement, constitutes a
(^294) Gauly 1980, 97–8, 106–7. I treat Fries, Pfnür, Kasper, and Ratzinger as sources
of the ecumenical process, Gauly, Meyer, and Kelly as fellow scholars.
(^295) Meyer 1998, 134 (orig. 1980). (^296) Meyer 1998, 132.
(^297) Kelly 1996, 27. (^298) Kelly 1996, 28.
180 Recognition and Religion