The Ecumenism Of Beauty

A landmark book on the role of visual arts, beauty and aesthetics in ecumenical exchange. For the 500th Commemoration Year of the Reformation. "This world in which we live needs beauty if it would not fall into despair. Beauty, like truth, puts joy in men's hearts and is a precious fruit able to resist the wear of time, able to unite one generation with another, helping them communicate in shared admiration" --Pope Paul VI at the end of Vatican II

In Receptive Ecumenism and the Renewal of the Ecumenical Movement, Antonia Pizzey offers a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the approach of Receptive Ecumenism, which is widely regarded as having the potential to revitalise contemporary ecumenism.

Juxtaposing "ecumenism" and "jihad", two words that many would consider strange and at odds with each other, Peter Kreeft argues that we need to change our current categories and alignments. We need to realize that we are at war and that the sides have changed radically: many of our former enemies (e.g. Muslims) are now our friends, and some of our former friends (e.g. humanists) are now our enemies. Documenting the spiritual and moral decay that has taken hold of modern society, Kreeft issues a wake-up call to all God-fearing Christian, Jews and Muslims to unite together in a "religious war" against the common enemy of godless secular humanism, materialism and immorality. Aware of the deep theological differences of these monotheistic faiths, Kreeft calls for a moratorium on our polemics against each other so that we can form an alliance to fight together to save western civilization. He cites numerous examples of today's Protestants, Jews, Catholics and Muslims working together to solve moral and spiritual problems. God is calling for this unity, Kreeft says, and if we respond, God will do something wonderful.

"If discipleship is a journey, this book belongs in the rucksack. . . Like the scriptures on which it is based, it deserves repeated reading." Stephen Cherry, Dean of Kings College, Cambridge This fresh and inspiring look at the meaning of discipleship covers the essentials of the christian life, including: faith, hope and love; forgiveness; holiness; social action; life in the Spirit. Written for the general reader by one of our greatest living theologians, this book will help you to see more clearly, love more dearly and follow more nearly the way of Jesus Christ.

"Bound to Be Free" explores the scriptural concepts of church ("ekklesia"), freedom ("eleutheria"), and truthful speech ("parrhesia"), showing not only that the proper meanings of three concepts interpenetrate one another but also that rending them asunder lies at the root of Christian division today. According to Reinhard Hutter, the crucial interrelationship of these three concepts has long been obscured by ongoing church division. Separated from each other, many Christians assume that freedom can be maintained and truthful speech preserved only at the cost of unity. Others assume that Christian unity can be attained only if freedom and truthful speech are narrowly circumscribed in their proper exercise. Christian division issues from the all too familiar individualistic accounts of church, freedom, and speech that have haunted modernity and clouded the proclamation of the gospel. This book shows that here, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is imperative that Christians attend to this crucial interrelationship and its source in the God of the gospel. Hutter discusses the meaning, role, and importance of each concept in turn, engaging along the way a wide range of classical and contemporary voices in theology, philosophy, and culture that reveal in different ways how church, freedom, and truthful speech support one another."Bound to Be Free" is a groundbreaking work that challenges common approaches to ecumenism and points a fruitful new course ahead.

The Ecumenical Work of the Icon is an invitation to the students and faculties of Catholic seminaries to be a part of the tradition of the icon through the lens of ecumenis. With a view of ecumenism as lived in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the visual theological language of the icon may be engaged more fully and respectfully, thus enriching the theological education and future ministry of those who learn and teach in a Catholic setting. In the third portion of the book, readers are offered multiple practical pedagogical examples of how to integrate teaching and learning about the icon into seminary courses and beyond, including writing assignments, oral presentations, and hands-on activities.