Benedict XVI. Credo for Today: What Christians Believe. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009.
The pope draws upon the commonalities of Christian faith in explicating how Christians live in faith, hope and love through the doctrines articulated in the classic creeds, interpreted for today.

Kelly, Joseph F. The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: A History. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009.
“This book deals with the 21 councils considered ecumenical by the Roman Catholic Church…The first 8 councils were held before the eleventh-century schism between the Western, Latin Christians and the Eastern, Greek Christians…The next 10 councils, all Western Latin-speaking councils, occurred before the Protestant Reformation. To be sure, Protestants do not consider these councils to be in any way authoritative, but they do form part of the common history of Western Christians in the pre-Reformation period…This book is meant to be ecumenical, but not like a council.” (Introduction, p. 1)

Lubich, Chiara. Living Dialogue: Steps on the Way to Communion among Christians. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2009.
An inspiring collection of essays and meditations on an ecumenism focused on love, renewal, self-emptying, and prayer, from the founder of the Focolare Movement.

New books of Note in Ecumenism October 5, 2009

Catholic Church. Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission. You are Witnesses of these Things (Lk 24: 48): Resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Throughout the Year. Vatican City: Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Geneva: Faith and Order, World Council of Churches, 2009.

Imbler, John M., ed. A Passion for Christian Unity: Essays in Honor of William Tabbernee. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2009.
This festschrift, a collection of essays written by the faculty of Phillips Theological Seminary ( Enid , OK ) in honor of the eighteen-year presidency of William Tabbernee, provides a Campbell-Stone perspective on ecumenical and interreligious relations.

Mannion, Gerard, ed. Comparative Ecclesiology: Critical Investigations. Ecclesiological Investigations 3. London; New York: T & T Clark, 2008. 
This collection of constructive essays from the 2007 American Academy of Religion Ecclesiological Investigations section engages the thought of Roger Haight on comparative, constructive and ecumenical ecclesiology.

Radano, John A. Lutheran & Catholic Reconciliation on Justification. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
“A chronology of the Holy See’s contributions, 1961-1999, to a new relationship between Lutherans and Catholics and to steps leading to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.”

New books of Note in Ecumenism July 31, 2009

Grosshans, Hans-Peter, ed. One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: Some Lutheran and Ecumenical Perspectives. LWF Studies, 2009. Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2009. The published proceedings of a June 2008 conference at Bossey Ecumenical Institute includes ecumenical (Lutheran, Reformed, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Baptist) and global (Europe, Myanmar , Ethiopia , Malaysia and Southeast Asia , Brazil , North America ) perspectives on the ecclesiology of the marks of the church for today.

O’Grady, John and Peter Scherle, eds. Ecumenics from the Rim: Explorations in Honour of John D’Arcy May. Theology, Ethics and Interreligious Relations: Studies in Ecumenics Series, vol. 1. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishers, 2008.
This 500-page festschrift for the director of the Irish School of Ecumenics includes 57 essays. Its three main sections – Christian theology, interreligious relations and peace studies – reflect the honoree’s commitment to the interplay of church, culture, and society and their relationship to and relevance for the ecumenical endeavor.

Wood, Susan K. One Baptism: Ecumenical Dimensions of the Doctrine of Baptism. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009. 
A Roman Catholic ecumenist and scholar explores the history, theology and ecclesiology of the sacrament of baptism ecumenically and proposes that “concepts of incorporation and communion, rather than membership, are more fruitful concepts with which to think about affiliation with the church through baptism, [because] communion allows for various degrees and intensities of affiliation” (p. 207). Wood sees the continuum approach as more ecumenically fruitful than the in/out concept of membership and believes that approach to provide grounds for “a partial ecumenical resolution of the membership in the visible/invisible church problem.”

New books of Note in Ecumenism May 29, 2009

Herbert, T.D. Kenosis and Priesthood: Towards a Protestant Re-Evaluation of the Ordained Ministry. Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2008.
This British Anglican dissertation from Manchester University seeks a way forward in the ecumenical impasse on ministry by reinterpreting priesthood as a missionary endeavor focused on God’s salvific act and an exercise in story, gift and response.

Rusch, William G., ed. The Pontificate of Benedict XVI: Its Premises and Promises. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
On the fourth anniversary of Benedict XVI’s elevation to pope, ecumenists from the Baptist, Pentecostal, Greek Orthodox, Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic traditions address the question “How will the life experiences and theological reflections of Joseph Ratzinger influence the pontificate of Benedict XVI?”

Stanley, Brian. The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
On the eve of the centenary of the World Missionary Conference, this volume provides both an historical account of the conference and the movement that precipitated it and also an analysis of its ongoing legacy for the twenty-first century in culture and mission and in ecumenism.

Whitehead, Kenneth D. The New Ecumenism: How the Catholic Church after Vatican II Took Over the Leadership of the World Ecumenical Movement. Staten Island, NY: St. Paul’s, 2009.
An overview of the Catholic Church’s contributions to the ecumenical movement, from Vatican II to the 21 st century.

Wiley, Charles A. et al, eds. Theology in Service of the Church: Essays in Honor of Joseph D. Small 3 rd. Louisville: Geneva Press, 2009.
This festschrift for the Director of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Office of Theology, Worship, and Education provides a series of Reformed essays focused on theology, liturgy, and ecumenical/interfaith engagement.

New books of Note in Ecumenism January 31, 2009

Murray, Paul D., ed. Receptive Ecumenism and the Call to Catholic Learning: Exploring a Way for Contemporary Ecumenism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
This 534-page tome is a rich and impressive collection of essays from the 2006 international “Receptive Ecumenism and Catholic Learning” conference, held in Durham , England in honor of Cardinal Walter Kasper. “Receptive ecumenism” is a fresh approach to ecumenism in which each tradition seeks to address the question: “What can we learn, or receive, with integrity from our various others in order to facilitate our own growth together into deepened communion in Christ and the Spirit?” (p. ix-x). This collection addresses that question from a Roman Catholic perspective, in five parts: I: “Vision and Principles;” II: “Receptive Ecumenical Learning through Catholic Dialogue;” III: “Receptive Ecumenism and Catholic Church Order;” IV: The Pragmatics of Receptive Ecumenical Learning;” and V: “Retrospect and Prospect.” It should be noted that WTC professor, the Rev. Dr . Paul McPartlan from Catholic University , has contributed an excellent essay entitled “Catholic Learning and Orthodoxy – The Promise and Challenge of Eucharistic Ecclesiology.” This book makes a tremendous contribution to the field; it is arguably the most important book published on ecumenism in recent years.

New books of Note in Ecumenism, November 30, 2008

Hunsinger, George. The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let Us Keep the Feast. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
A Reformed theologian proposes that ecumenical convergence on the Eucharist can be achieved for the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist traditions through a principle of ongoing reformation (ecclesia reformata et simper reformanda secundum verbum dei). He bases the proposal on a theology of real presence, reappropriation of the concept of eucharistic sacrifice, and Protestant acceptance of episcopal ordination and the primacy of the bishop of Rome .

Koskela, Douglas M. Ecclesiality and Ecumenism: Yves Congar and the Road to Unity. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2008.
A Wesleyan finds fresh ecumenical promise in aspects of Congar’s ecclesiology, especially 1) the essential oneness of the church of Christ, 2) the active ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit that leads the church to indefectibility, and 3) “the fundamental identity of the church as a communion of persons sharing in the life of the triune God” (p. 164).

New books of Note in Ecumenism October 2008

Braaten, Carl E. That All May Believe: A Theology of the Gospel and the Mission of the Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
A prominent Lutheran theologian seeks to advance and invigorate an ecumenism that offers a comprehensive vision of the church that is evangelical, catholic, and orthodox. Addresses authority, dogmatics, resurrection, apocalyptic, missions, and pluralism.

Enns, Fernando. The PeaceChurch and the Ecumenical Community: Ecclesiology and the Ethics of Nonviolence. Kitchener, Ontario: Pandora Press; Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications, 2007.
The author, the German Mennonite theologian who authored the World Council of Churches’ proposal to observe 2001-2010 as the Decade to Overcome Violence, hereby presents his tradition’s place in comparative ecclesiology, summarizes the state of the various dialogues in which Mennonites are involved, and engages the ethical questions around peace-making and non-violence that the Historic Peace Churches have brought to the ecumenical dialogue. He concludes with a proposal for deepening the dialogue through a koinonia ecclesiology that is grounded in Trinitarian theology.

Faith and Witness Commission of the Canadian Council of Churches, ed. Liturgies for Christian Unity: The First Hundred Years, 1908-2008. Toronto: Novalis, 2008.
A rich anthology containing a century’s worth of materials for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, organized chronologically by decade, from the Canadian Council of Churches, representing 21 denominations of the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches. Includes prayers, liturgies, confessions, suggested hymns, artwork, children’s activities and a helpful subject index.

Murphy, Francesca Aran and Christopher Asprey, eds. Ecumenism Today: The UniversalChurch in the 21 st Century. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub., 2008.
A collection of essays covering both “theological ecumenism” (Part I) and “ecumenical theology” (Part III), taking the confessional commitments of the churches seriously while seeking to forward the search for visible unity. The essayists represent the Reformed Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions and address topics such as schism, authority, papal primacy, Eucharist, and persecution of Christians.

New books of Note in Ecumenism July 2008

 Enns, Fernando. The PeaceChurch and the Ecumenical Community: Ecclesiology and the Ethics of Nonviolence. Kitchener: Pandora Press; Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications, 2007.

The theological foundation of the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) explicated in terms of ecclesiology and ethics. A summary of the historic peace churches’ involvement in the World Council of Churches and bilateral dialogue with Baptists, Reformed, Lutherans, and Roman Catholicism is also provided.

Husbands, Mark and Jeffrey P. Greenman, eds. Ancient Faith for the Church’s Future. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008.

A collection of essays from the 2007 Wheaton Theology Conference in which evangelical and Roman Catholic authors explore “the viability and promise of an evangelical engagement” with patristic theology and 20 th century Roman Catholic ressourcement theology.

New books of Note in Ecumenism May 30, 2008

Fuchs, Lorelei F. Koinonia and the Quest for an Ecumenical Ecclesiology: From Foundations through Dialogue to Symbolic Competence for Communionality. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

This published doctoral dissertation is an excellent 400+ page comprehensive treatment of how the term koinonia has been used in ecumenical dialogues, both bilateral and multilateral. Sr. Fuchs writes: “Come what may, the future direction of the ecumenical movement must indicate that interchurch relations make a difference to intrachurch lived reality. This requires both the capacity to ecumenate and the will to ecume. Communionality calls forth dialogue and doxology which elicit within individual Christians and the particular churches their foundational ecumenical identity and mission. Christians and churches can do this because their unity, their koinonia, finds its source in the triune God” (p. 443).

Perry, Tim, ed. The Legacy of John Paul II: An Evangelical Assessment. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2007.

A collection of fourteen essays from various evangelical theologians reflecting upon the teachings and ecumenical significance of various encyclicals from John Paul II’s papacy.

New books of Note in Ecumenism April 2008

Denaux, Adelbert and Nicholas Sagovsky, eds. Studying Mary: The Virgin Mary in Anglican and Roman Catholic Theology and Devotion: The ARCIC Working Papers. London: T & T Clark, 2007.

Reath, Mary. Rome and Canterbury: The Elusive Search for Unity. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.

A governor of the Anglican Centre in Rome addresses historical ecumenical relations between Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, its current difficulties, and future possibilities. The eight appendices provide a useful compilation of ARCIC documents, agreed statements on morals, timeline, and comparative charts.

Robbins, Anna M., ed. Ecumenical and Eclectic: The Unity of the Church in the Contemporary World: Essays in Honour of Alan P.F. Sell. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2007.

A broad collection of fifteen essays from an array of leading ecumenical scholars on ecumenism past and future in Europe and the U.S. , presented as a festschrift for a leading Reformed ecumenist. The essays “explore the foundations of unity, its historical context and some of the challenges of ecumenism today.”

Wright, David F. Infant Baptism in Historical Perspective: Collected Studies. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2007.

This collection of 27 essays analyzes the history of infant baptism, infant dedication, and second baptisms through the history of the church, including early church councils, the medieval period, Reformation debates, and modern disputes, and addresses the present and future in the context of ecumenical conversations, such as Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry.