ABSTRACT
In his book The Nature of Doctrine, we learn that George Lindbeck has been engaged in ecumenical discussions for 25 years. Like others, he is disappointed, even ashamed, of the slow progress which has been made. Lindbeck says that the ecumenical audience is a confused audience. He says that they lack the concepts which are central to their situation. Philosophy of religion is faced with the task of bringing out the grammatical differences between them should they become confused in someone's mind. Central in ecumenical discussion is talk of faithfulness or unfaithfulness to doctrine. But according to Lindbeck, the audience does not know what it means to be faithful or unfaithful to a doctrine. Lindbeck also speaks of philosophical theories. There is one difficulty with doing so: there are no theories in philosophy and, hence, nothing to be tested. Lindbeck's ecumenical audience is said to be confused in a way which obscures from it the reconciliation it is seeking.
