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“This field of studies pays specific attention to the ways in which various local expressions of Christianity have shaped themselves in critical and creative tension and interaction with local religious and cultural realities,” writes editor Dr Stephen G. Brown in the opening editorial.
This issue of the journal includes a selection of the plenary presentations at an international online conference, “teaching ecumenism in the context of World Christianity,” organized in June 2021 by the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey and related programmatic areas of the WCC.
The conference gathered scholars of ecumenism and World Christianity to discuss key methodological and theological issues in the teaching and learning process.
In an opening article, the Rev. Dr Simone Sinn, academic dean at the Ecumenical Institute, recalls how concern for education and formation has always accompanied the modern ecumenical movement in its vocation of overcoming division between churches across different traditions and cultural contexts, and the walls that separate humanity.
“A thriving discourse on World Christianity can bring freshness and a healthy challenge to ecumenism,” she writes. “In turn, ecumenism – as a movement that strives to overcome division and to foster koinonia, mutual accountability, and recognition – can stimulate the discourse around World Christianity beyond academic confines.”
Articles deal with World Christianity and global justice; teaching Pentecostalism in World Christianity; catholicity and conciliarity as issues for churches today; World Christianity as a challenge to whiteness in theological education; the teaching of ecumenism in a confessionally diverse setting; being Roman Catholic in a worldwide context; the need for a new ecumenism in a discriminatively divided world; the relationship between World Christianity and ecumenicity; and whether ecumenism is possible in the context of World Christianity.
“We hope this issue of The Ecumenical Review will provide food for thought for educators and students,” says Sinn. “The themes and approaches set out here show that neither ecumenical studies nor World Christianity can remain on the fringes of theological education. They need to be at the heart of theological studies as they help to provide the foundation and horizon for the next generation of academics and religious leaders.”
The Ecumenical Review is published quarterly by Wiley on behalf of the WCC.
Open Access articles for free download:
Christophe Chalamet: Catholicity and Conciliarity as Challenges for Christian Churches Today
