24 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION the field of identification, acknowledgement, understanding, etcetera, of ‘the other’, to which the terms recognition and reception refer. Additional insights are presented by Veronika Hoffmann, who draws attention to the fact that something is always recognized as something. Following Thomas Bedorf, she argues that it is impossible to appreciate something or someone fully in the construction x recognizes y as z. The perception x has of y, as expressed in z is always limited in several regards and focusses on one particular aspect. Thus, acknowledging the relativeness of recognition in general, Hoffmann reconsiders the ways of recognition applicable to ecumenical relations. Her distinction of three levels is of particular interest. The first level, according to Hoffmann, is that of recognition of certain facts, values, viewpoints, etcetera, for example, recognizing Baptism in another tradition to be true or valid. The second level is that of formal recognition of persons and institutions, for example, acknowledging another Christian community as being a ‘church’. The third, finally, is the level of interpersonal recognition. Dwelling especially on the argument that the relationship between God and human beings can best be regarded in terms of this last level of interpersonal recognition, Hoffmann concludes that this level should be the most important when considering recognition in ecumenical relations. She notes, however, that, in general, the ecumenical dialogues and contacts focus on recognition on the first and second levels. Therefore, Hoffmann advocates for a reconsidering of strategy in favor of recognition on the interpersonal level.52 It seems to me that this analysis sheds light on the dynamics related to the question of admission and non-admission to Eucharistic communion. The debates seem to concentrate on historical facts and theological definitions, while people at a grass-roots level often complain about the feeling that they are not recognized as persons and as Christians. In other words, their understanding of the situation is informed by the dynamics of the interpersonal level. The ecumenical dialogues take place in several dimensions. Gabriel Monet notes that the consensus ecumenism is not only fixated on the formal level as described by Hoffman - and that it is, consequently, addressed by church leaders and prominent theologians – but also predominantly takes place in the 52 Veronika Hoffmann, “Vielfältige Anerkennungsprozesse Und Die Frage Nach Ihrer Theologischen Basis,” in Just Do It?! Recognition and Reception in Ecumenical Relations/ Anerkennung und Rezeption im ökumenischen Miteinander, ed. Dagmar Heller and Minna Hietamäki, Beihefte zur ökumenischen Rundschau (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2018).
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