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No less than two decades were needed for the composition of the ecumenical convergence document The Church: Towards a Common Vision (TCTCV) which was published by the World Council of Churches in 2013. The document was intended to reflect a common vision of churches and ecumenical stakeholders on a myriad of ecclesiological themes. The book investigates whether the convergence document TCTCV delivers on its promises. The book focuses on the formation and the reception of TCTCV along with the two draft versions, The Nature and Purpose of the Church (1998) and The Nature and Mission of the Church (2005) and uncovers whether the responses by the churches to TCTCV hold an affirmation of the convergences registered in the document. Furthermore, it seeks to establish whether the responses point towards a "common vision" concerning various ecclesiological themes that are still contested by the churches today. The book also explores whether the responses to TCTCV reveal an advancement in the conversation surrounding several debated issues, and examines to what extent the churches are willing to creatively engage with the ecclesial other.

The idea of the Church as the instrument of unity had existed before Second Vatican Council; but the Council made the search for unity explicitly an imperative. From the Second Vatican Council emerged a more emphatic vision of the mission of the Church to the world in which ecumenism is no longer an option but an imperative. From the time of the Council onward, every Christian should positively respond to God's question to Cain: "Where is your brother?" (Gen. 4: 9). The ecumenical imperative is primarily the responsibility of pastoral workers. The book surveys in epochs the historical changes that has occurred in the Church up to Vatican II; reviews reception along the ages of the Church pointing to the uniqueness of Vatican II; and gives through biblical exegesis of 'conversion' a fresh understanding that will help pastoral workers to be ever conscious and ready to serve as Church's instrument of unity wherever they are. This book re-awakens the spirit of the Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), offering it to be properly received by all who pray with Christ for unity (Jn 17:21). It proposes pastoral suggestions on the practice of Ecumenism.

First published in 1996 this book examines the search for unity in the Church.

God and Humanity in Auschwitz synthesizes the findings of research developed over the last thirty years on the rise of anti-Semitism in our civilization. Donald J. Dietrich sees the Holocaust as a case study of how prejudice has been theologically enculturated. He suggests how it may be controlled by reducing aggressive energy before it becomes overwhelming. Dietrich studies the recent responses of Christian theologians to the Holocaust and the Jewish theological response to questions concerning God's covenant with Israel, which were provoked by Auschwitz. Social science has dealt with the psychosocial dynamics that have supported genocide and helps explain how ordinary persons can produce extraordinary evil. Dietrich shows how this research, combined with theological analyses, can help reconfigure theology itself. Such an approach may serve to help dissolve anti-Semitism, to aid in constructing such positive values as respect for human dignity, and to point the way to restricting future outbreaks of genocide. God and Humanity in Auschwitz surveys which religious factors created a climate that permitted the Holocaust. It also illuminates what social science has to tell us about developing a strategy that, when institutionally implemented, can channel our energies away from sanctioned murder toward a more compassionate society. The book has proven to be an essential resource for theologians, sociologists, historians, and political theorists.

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Exploring one of the most controversial figures in recent evangelical theology, this book thoroughly examines core features of Stanley J. Grenz's Trinitarian vision.

Leif-Hagen Seibert carries out a three-step praxeological analysis of empirical data from field studies in the research project “The ethos of religious peace builders” that allows for novel assessments of societal conjuncture (field theory), subjective meaning (habitus analysis), and the mutual ‘rules of engagement’ of religious practice (the religious nomos). Over the course of this three-step argument, the sociological concept of religious credibility – i.e. the determinants of religious legitimacy – gains more and more contours and facilitates the reevaluation of risks and chances in a peace process where religion is a vector for both peace and division.

In the past century the ecumenical movement has made extraordinary efforts in healing the wounds of division in the body of Christ—the church. However, in their formal preparation for ministry, many clergy learn little or nothing about the achievements, methods, or implications of ecumenism. This failure to adequately educate and inspire successive generations of Christian leaders about the quest for the church’s visible unity risks not only an irretrievable loss of ecumenical memory, but also a return to a time in which ignorance, fear, mistrust, suspicion, stereotypes, caricatures, recrimination, anathematization—even persecution—characterized the relations between divided churches. Drawing on decades of reflection on ecumenical reception and formation, and using the Anglican Church of Canada as a model, this book presents an approach to teaching the practical and theological aspects of ecumenism in a way that is both holistic and pragmatic and offers the potential to raise up a new generation of church leaders who are also agents of reconciliation and Christian unity.