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Creating a climate for change - The greatest untapped natural resource for addressing the world’s most pressing problems is the energy of religiously committed people. This volume gathers the expertise of activists, theologians and faith-based organizations to inspire and encourage churches and church people everywhere in grassroots work and advocacy for climate justice.

Often perceived as conservative and rigid, the churches have sometimes been barriers to people’s claiming their sexuality. Yet, in their response to the crisis posed by AIDS and HIV, Christian churches have also often challenged harmful cultural practices and surmounted that stereotype. Focusing on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), especially in African settings, this volume seeks to identify and cultivate the positive, indeed liberating, role that the churches must play.

Exploring hybridity, embracing hospitality— While we tend to think of religions as distinct, univocal, even competing traditions, the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is widespread, both historically and today. Alive to a variety of traditions and regions, this volume explores the reality of religious hybridity—whether because of cultural inheritance, family circumstances, or explicit choice— its confounding of traditional categories in theology and the study of religion, and its meaning for Christian theology. Even as it complexifies the idea of religious identity, the authors show, it enriches our understanding of ultimate reality and the whole range of practices by which humans relate to it.

“This volume focuses, for the most part, on figures who have been known for their contributions to global ecumenism; but such global leadership is clearly rooted in their response to a context marked by religious plurality, caste oppression, endemic poverty, and the struggle to build a post-colonial nation…. I found the book compelling.”—Michael Kinnamon

A short history of the premier institute for ecumenical studies, fully updated for Bossey’s 70th anniversary. Updated Edition.

Lodged in an 18th-century château overlooking Lac Léman and the Alps, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland, is the premier site for ecumenical encounter and study.

Begun even before the inauguration of the World Council of Churches, during 70 years Bossey has drawn thousands of women and men from all over the world and every Christian confession and culture for seminars, conferences, and, since 1952, for its graduate school of ecumenical studies.  Its communal life and learning have changed the lives of many people and made it a true laboratory for new forms of ecumenical life.

This brief yet lively history of Bossey, penned by Hans-Ruedi Weber and updated by Robert K. Welsh, delves into the roots and evolution of Bossey and its programmes,  its place in the whole ecumenical movement,  and the people who have invested creative energy into its growth and flourishing.  The Story of Bossey reveals not only a life-changing venue for Christian encounter but a lens on the rapidly changing landscape of the larger church, the ecumenical movement, and indeed the world.

Perhaps more than ever, in our globalized context we meet persons of other faiths and religious traditions. When empathetic, such meetings can be revealing about their lives and commitments. Yet how do they change our own identity and illuminate our own faith?

In light of interreligious encounter, who do we say that we are?

This brief work, distilled from lengthy and broad theological consultation facilitated by the World Council of Churches, suggests ways in which our faith is deepened and exciting new vistas opened on traditional Christian faith commitments through interreligious dialogue and engagement.

Our sincere engagements with the other can lead to a growing grasp of our own faith identity and, indeed, more profound encounter with the mystery of God.