Receptive Ecumenism as Transformative Ecclesial Learning

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 I demonstrates how Receptive Ecumenism itself is capable of being received with integrity into very different ecclesiologies and ecclesial traditions. In Part II, 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 III examines the potential and challenges for Receptive Ecumenism in different international settings. Part IV draws on Scripture, hermeneutics, and pneumatology to offer critical reflection on how Receptive Ecumenism itself implements transformative ecclesial learning. Addressing the seventieth 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.

Paul D. Murray is Professor of Systematic Theology at Durham University where he was the founding Director of the Centre for Catholic Studies (2007-2023). He has served on the editorial boards of Concilium International and Theological Studies, is a former President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, a former member of the third phase of work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III), on which he continues as consultor, and an ecumenical canon of Durham Cathedral. In addition to three books, he has contributed numerous essays to leading journals and scholarly collections. His holds an M.Litt (Durham) and a PhD (Cambridge). Gregory A. Ryan (PhD, Durham) researches, teaches, and publishes on Receptive Ecumenism, contemporary Catholic ecclesiology, and hermeneutics. He is based at the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, developing formation programmes for lay and ordained ministry in the North of England. Paul Lakeland is the Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Professor Emiritus of Catholic Studies and was founding Director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, Connecticut, where he worked since 1981, with roles including chairperson of the Religious Studies Department and director of the Honors Program. In addition to his PhD from Vanderbilt University, he holds degrees in philosophy, divinity, and English. He is the author of ten books, and editor of two more, in the fields of Catholic ecclesiology, cultural theory, and religion and literature. In 2020 he received the Hellwig Award for outstanding contributions to Catholic intellectual life.