The Global Church Era · 1938/1940-present · France, Scotland
Ecumenical Community Traditions - Taize & Iona
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About This Movement
Two communities, founded two years apart, that set out to be modern heirs of the old monastic ones. George MacLeod founded the Iona Community in 1938 and set it to rebuilding the abbey on Columba's own island — a work that took until 1965 — on the conviction that worship and labour and politics belong together. Roger Schutz began the community at Taizé in France in 1940; its Rule was written in 1954, and from the 1970s young people began arriving in large numbers, with a Council of Youth in 1974 and European meetings held annually from 1978. Both are ecumenical by design, with members from many churches and none of the usual boundaries between them. Brother Roger was murdered on 16 August 2005, and the community continued under Brother Alois and then, from 2023, Brother Matthew.
Sources
- Taize: the Rule of Taize (1954; later eds. as The Sources of Taize); Brother Roger's writings; founding record (1940); succession records - Roger d. 2005 to Alois, Alois to Matthew 2023 (primary) — Two founder-to-successor transitions, documented in the community's own dated announcements.
- Iona: George MacLeod, Only One Way Left (1956); the Community's Rule and membership records (1938-); Coracle; Wild Goose worship material (John Bell) (primary) — The community's own rule, publications, and sung theology.
- Practice records: Taize youth meetings (Council of Youth 1974; European meetings 1978-), Letters from Taize; Iona Abbey rebuilding records (1938-65) (primary) — Documented in the communities' own institutional records.
- Kathryn Spink, A Universal Heart (1986; rev. 2005); Ron Ferguson, Chasing the Wild Goose (1988) and George MacLeod (1990) (secondary) — Spink's biography was written with the community's authorized access - worth keeping in mind as a positioning factor.
- CHC vol. 9 (Part I ecumenical-movement coverage) (reference)