Receptive Ecumenism asks not what other churches can learn from us, but 'what can we learn and receive with integrity from our ecclesial others?' Since the publication of Receptive Ecumenism and the Call to Catholic Learning: Exploring a Way for Contemporary Ecumenism (OUP, 2008), this fresh ecumenical strategy has been adopted, critiqued, and developed in different Christian traditions, and in local, national, and international settings, including the most recent bilateral dialogue of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III). The thirty-eight chapters in this new volume, by academics, church leaders, and ecumenical practitioners who have adopted and adapted Receptive Ecumenism in various ecclesial and cultural contexts, show how Receptive Ecumenism has grown and matured. Part One demonstrates how Receptive Ecumenism itself is capable of being received with integrity into very different ecclesiologies and ecclesial traditions. In Part Two, this approach to transformative ecumenical learning is applied to some recurrent ecclesial problems, such as the understanding and practice of ministry, revealing new insights and practical opportunities. Part Three examines the potential and challenges for Receptive Ecumenism in different international settings. Part Four draws on scripture, hermeneutics, and pneumatology to offer critical reflection on how Receptive Ecumenism itself implements transformative ecclesial learning. Addressing the 70th Anniversary of the World Council of Churches, Archbishop Justin Welby, said that 'One of the most important of recent ecumenical developments has been the concept of "Receptive Ecumenism"'. This volume provides an indispensable point of reference for understanding and applying that concept in the life of the Christian churches today.

In recent bilateral ecumenical dialogue the aim of the dialogue has been to reach some form of doctrinal consensus. The three major chapters of the book discuss the variety of forms of doctrinal consensus found in ecumenical dialogues among Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. In general, the dialogue documents argue for agreement/consensus based on commonality or compatibility. Each of the three dialogue processes has specific characteristics and formulates its argument in a unique way. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue has a particular interest in hermeneutical questions and proposes various forms of 'differentiated' or perspectival forms of consensus. The Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue emphasises the correctness of interpretations. The documents consciously look towards a 'common future', not the separated past. "Ecclesiological Investigations" brings together quality research and inspiring debates in ecclesiology worldwide from a network of international scholars, research centres and projects in the field.

This is a rich collection of fifteen articles by European, North American and Asian theologians who are concerned with the concept, life, unity and future of the church. It offers a wealth of broad perspectives on ecclesiology by scholars from Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox backgrounds. The first section, Perspectives on Ecumenical Ecclesiology, comprises reflections on postmodern ecclesiologies as well as on the development and problems concerning ecumenical methods and models of unity. The second section, Communion Ecclesiology and Otherness, provides some pertinent deliberations on how an ecclesiology of communion can integrate otherness. In particular, Zizioulas communion ecclesiology is critically examined, the possibility for a retrieval of Eucharistic theology between Catholics and Orthodox is put forward, and Tillards communion ecclesiology is appraised as offering resources for innerdenominational otherness. The final section, Ecclesiology in Global Contexts, considers critically the possibility of evangelical ecclesiology as an answer to ethnic impaired Christian community. The role of the (Catholic) Church and its values in Europe and vis-a-vis the European Constitution is examined. The Church of Nigerias Constitutional Revision (2005) and its ecclesial- ecumenical implications comes into focus, and three notable concepts of unity, as developed by three Indian scholars, S.K. George, John Sadiq and Karem David, are evaluated. Finally, the Japanese diaspora in the States is appraised as a place where a particular Japanese Christian vision could emerge through the internationalist ecclesiology developed by Japanese Christian missionaries.

This book presents the first comprehensive account of the changing ecumenical relationships between Britain and Serbia. While the impetus for the collection is the commemoration of the Serbian seminarians who settled in and around Oxford towards the end of the First World War, the scope is much broader, including detailed accounts of the relationships between the Church of England and Serbia and its Orthodox Church from the middle of the nineteenth century until World War II. It includes studies of leading thinkers from the period, especially the charismatic Nikolaj Velimirovic. The contributors use many unpublished resources that reveal the centrality of the churches in promoting the Serbian cause through the course of the First World War and in its aftermath.

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aThe authors describe the complex congregation in exceedingly careful detail, including a number of archival photographs that bring the narrative to life. Unlike so many congregational histories, difficult periods of tension and conflict are presented alongside feel-good rehearsals of the glory days....The authors and the congregation should be commended for this unique contribution to the field of congregational studies. The research is comprehensive.a
--"Sociology of Religion""There is much to commend it, and my students will be glad to find such a readable book on their syllabi."--"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion"

"This is an excellent scholarly resource on liberal Protestant church history and is recommended for all congregational libraries."--"Church and Synagogue Libraries"

"A critical history, not a jingoistic celebration....scholarly volume."
--"Spirit"

It was from the pulpit of the Riverside Church that Martin Luther King, Jr., first publicly voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War, that Nelson Mandela addressed U.S. church leaders after his release from prison, and that speakers as diverse as Cesar Chavez, Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu, Fidel Castro, and Reinhold Niebuhr lectured church and nation about issues of the day. The greatest of American preachers have served as senior minister, including Harry Emerson Fosdick, Robert J. McCracken, Ernest T. Campbell, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., and James A. Forbes, Jr., and at one time the "New York Times" printed reports of each Sunday's sermon in its Monday morning edition.

For seven decades the church has served as the premier model ofProtestant liberalism in the United States. Its history represents the movement from white Protestant hegemony to a multiracial and multiethnic church that has been at the vanguard of social justice advocacy, liberation theologies, gay and lesbian ministries, peace studies, ethnic and racial dialogue, and Jewish-Christian relations.

A collaborative effort by a stellar team of scholars, The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York offers a critical history of this unique institution on Manhattan's Upper West Side, including its cultural impact on New York City and beyond, its outstanding preachers, and its architecture, and assesses the shifting fortunes of religious progressivism in the twentieth century.

An in-depth study of nouvelle theologie and the ressourcement movement. Hans Boersma argues that a return to mystery was the movement's deepest motivation. He sets out the context for the early development of the movement prior to Vatican II and provides detailed analysis of its characteristic elements and thinkers.