Founded by Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus in 1994, Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) has fostered a fruitful conversation on the meaning of the gospel in today's world. Over the course of twenty years, ECT has issued nine statements addressing contemporary topics. This one-volume guide, the first collection of the ECT statements, explores the key accomplishments of this groundbreaking, ongoing dialogue. Introductions and notes provide context and discuss history and future prospects. The book also includes prefaces by J. I. Packer and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a foreword by George Weigel, and an epilogue by R. R. Reno and Kevin J. Vanhoozer.

As Christians, we belong to not only a diverse global Christian family but also a diverse human family. Todd Johnson, a noted expert on global Christianity and world missions trends, and Cindy Wu show how divisions within these families work against our desire to bring about positive change in the world. They provide an overview of global Christian identity, exploring how we can be faithful to our own tradition while engaging Christians across denominations and be better informed as we work with people of other religions. The book utilizes the latest research data on global Christianity and world religions and includes tables, graphs, charts, and end-of-chapter discussion questions.

Among the issues that continue to divide the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church--the two largest Christian bodies in the world, together comprising well over a billion faithful--the question of the papacy is widely acknowledged to be the most significant stumbling block to their unification. For nearly forty years, commentators, theologians, and hierarchs, from popes and patriarchs to ordinary believers of both churches, have acknowledged the problems posed by the papacy.

In "Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: " Ut Unum Sint "and the Prospects of East-West Unity," Adam A. J. DeVille offers the first comprehensive examination of the papacy from an Orthodox perspective that also seeks to find a way beyond this impasse, toward full Orthodox-Catholic unity. He first surveys the major postwar Orthodox and Catholic theological perspectives on the Roman papacy and on patriarchates, enumerating Orthodox problems with the papacy and reviewing how Orthodox patriarchates function and are structured. In response to Pope John Paul II's 1995 request for a dialogue on Christian unity, set forth in the encyclical letter "Ut Unum Sint, " DeVille proposes a new model for the exercise of papal primacy. DeVille suggests the establishment of a permanent ecumenical synod consisting of all the patriarchal heads of Churches under a papal presidency, and discusses how the pope qua pope would function in a reunited Church of both East and West, in full communion. His analysis, involving the most detailed plan for Orthodox-Catholic unity yet offered by an Orthodox theologian, could not be more timely.

"In "Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: "Ut Unum Sint" and the Prospects of East-West Unity"," " not only does Adam A. J. DeVille give a historical and theological background to the thorny problem of the papacy in ecumenical dialogue; he also outlines what a reintegrated Church would look like by suggesting a way the papacy could function. Taking what both Orthodox and Catholic ecumenists have said, he paints a practical portrait of a unified Church. This is a novel and important contribution. --David Fagerberg, University of Notre Dame

"John Paul II's remarkable encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" gives occasion for a comprehensive review and analysis of the steady, though often sputtering movement toward Orthodox and Roman Catholic rapprochement in our day. DeVille identifies the major voices, the churches involved, and assesses in particular the place and role of the Papacy in this process. "Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy"" "does a great service in promoting the ecumenical conversation, and will be an edifying resource to all that are interested in it." --Vigen Guroian, University of Virginia

"Adam A. J. DeVille looks not only at the history of ecumenism from the Catholic side since Vatican II but also at more than a dozen of the leading Orthodox theologians internationally and their perspectives on the role and status of the bishop of Rome. Not since "The Primacy of Peter: Essays in Ecclesiology and the Early Church," a collection of post Vatican II Orthodox views published over twenty years ago, has there been such an extensive and focused presentation of Orthodox points of view." --Michael Plekon, Baruch College

Since the time of bloody persecutions right up to the post-modern age, each historical period posed its particular challenge to Christianity. Psychologically, Christians' vitality in overcoming these challenges came primarily from what is perhaps the deepest mystery of faith itself-the believers' union with God. The postmodern positivist questions this mystery, and rejects the possibility of communication with a non-sensorial and therefore "non-existing" God. Agnostics proclaim, "One man's religion, is another's delusion." Therefore, the modern challenge for Christians is to explain how God, despite being invisible, is experientially present in the life of believers. Although the experience of living in a relationship with an invisible God is a profound one for Christians, it seems nonsensical to those who emphasize the primacy of sensory experience. Paul Ungar's extensive scholarly training equips him remarkably well to explore where, when, how, and through which psychological functions communication with the spiritual God factually occur. Ungar's The Mystery of Christian Faith: A Tangible Union with the Invisible God is an apologetic work on the borderline of theology, psychology and philosophy. It is written for Christian intellectuals regardless of their denominational background and rationally demonstrates what Francois Mauriac's hauntingly poetic expression, "Nothing is more alien than living in a Godless world, and nothing is closer to humans than God."

At a time when Anglican and Evangelical seem to be increasingly polarised rather than part of the same tradition, an Evangelical Anglican takes a fresh look at the historical and contemporary expressions of each to assess their distinctive standpoints, to show how much common ground they share and to examine what this means for the church today. Practitioners who consider themselves on one or the other side of the debate, as well as those who would ally themselves with both traditions, will welcome this new appraisal with its insight into meeting points and mutual goals. This is a vital contribution for all who are concerned to arrest the perception, whatever the reality, of the Anglican church's inexorable decline.

Ecumenical consciousness has not always been part of the Catholic experience. Frederick M. Bliss, S.M. traces how the concern for ecumenism came about_from uneasy tension to confidence in the true grace of catholicity. This new edition follows significant developments in dialogues with the Catholic Church up to 2006 and suggests likely trends of continuing change. It studies the forces that had an impact on the Second Vatican Council, forces that continue to steer the church into relationships with other Christian communities, other religions, and the world.

Cardinal Waler Kasper is a distinguished theologian who has been a colleague of Cardinal Ratzinger, Karl Rahner and Hans Kung at the Universtities of Munster and Tubingen. Kasper now heads the Vatican's Ponitifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, with the specific task of fostering relations between the Catholic Church and the other Christian Churches and Eccesiastical communities. By any reckoning, Kasper is a key leader in the eccumenical movement today. In this new book, he outlines his vision for the unity of Christian Churches. A man with an open mind, Kasper covers one of the major responsibilities of the contemporary Catholic Church. His perspective of the uniqueness of the Catholic Church and its magisterium is presented here as a modern inquiry into the nature of truth. His views are enlightened and engaging, and reflect the important role of dialogue as understood by the Catholic Church, which must also listen to other traditions and learn from them. But Kasper also realises that the cause of unity is exceptionally difficult at the present time.Dialogue is often challenged by developments between and within Christian communions and obstructed by historical tensions. This book will command quite exceptional interest. Many will read it in the hope that the thought of this renowned, open-minded Church leader may give hope to people of all traditions that they may learn to understand Jesus's injucntion - 'that they may be one'.

This book presents the text of the Declaration, which had been drafted after a thorough process of interreligious and international consultation by Hans Kung, with a commentary explaining how it came to take its present form and what it sets out to do. Dr. Karl-Josef Kuschel, Hans Kung's Tubingen colleague, describes the historical background to the Parliament and gives an account of its proceedings.

Die in diesem Werk veroeffentlichten Abhandlungen von Hubert Cieslik S.J. (1914-1998) geben neue Einblicke in die vielen kaum bekannte und dramatische Fruhgeschichte des Christentums in Japan. Die Herausgeber versammelten Beitrage des Autors, die bisher nur im Erstdruck, weit verstreut in internationalen Fachzeitschriften, erschienen sind. Der in Schlesien geborene Autor lebte seit 1934 bis zu seinem Tode in Japan und widmete sich von fruh an der Erforschung des "Christlichen Jahrhunderts", d.h. der Geschichte der Christenverfolgung in Japan.

Aggiornamento, Verheutigung des Glaubens im Sinn des Konzilpapstes Johannes XXIII.: Das ist das Grundmotiv, das die Aufsatze und Vortrage durchzieht. Ziel ist die schwierige Transferarbeit der wissenschaftlichen Dogmatik, die traditionellen Glaubensformulierungen in den heutigen soziokulturellen Lebenskontext zu ubersetzen. Konkret wird in den einzelnen Beitragen auf je spezifische Weise versucht, die Relevanz des Glaubens fur das Leben der Menschen in der Welt von heute deutlich zu machen.

Divided into 3 parts, this handbook provides a wide-ranging survey and analysis of the Christian Church. The first section addresses the scriptural foundations of ecclesiology; the second section outlines the historical and confessional aspects of the topic; and the final part discusses a variety of contemporary and topical themes in ecclesiology. Compiled and written by leading scholars in the field, the T&T Clark Handbook of Ecclesiology covers a range of key topics in the context of their development and importance in each stream of historic Christianity and the confessional traditions. The contributors cover traditional matters such as creedal notes, but also tackle questions of ordination, orders of ministry, and sacraments. This handbook is extensive enough to provide a true overview of the field, but the essays are also concise enough to be read as reference selections.

"Contesting Ecumenical Theology" is a major contribution to the study of the Church. It provides clear and authoritative orientation for the student, while probing deep into a range of key issues in ecclesiology and ecumenical dialogue from a critical standpoint that will stimulate discussion among scholars and ecumenists. It reclaims some old orthodoxies, while challenging some new ones, and points to a deeper and more personal engagement with the major traditions of the Christian Church as the way to fuller unity and more effective mission. "Contesting Ecumenical Theology" argues that the values of difference and diversity and the priority of mission and evangelisation must shape our picture of unity. It transcends old arguments about 'establishment', by showing that all churches are compelled to develop a constructive relationship to the modern state, wherever possible, if they are to be effective in mission. The central ecumenical notion of 'reception' is re-interpreted, not as the faithful unquestioningly receiving the teaching of church authorities, but as the process whereby the whole Church discerns the truth of new developments. The mantra 'baptism is complete sacramental initiation' is challenged, and the place of confirmation is secured within a total process of initiation. The ministry of the episcopate is affirmed, but only by being related to the gospel on which the Church is founded. The nature of communion is examined and the imperative of maintaining it against divisive tendencies is affirmed. 'The hermeneutics of unity' shows that we are shaped by each other through the conflict or rivalry of traditions: 'We are what we are because you are what you are'.

In this book, Brother David Steindl-Rast, who has been a monk for more than 50 years, argues that every sensual experience--whether the joy of walking barefoot or the fragrance of the season--should be recognized as a spiritual one.