Ecumenism - Christianity, Conclusion, Bibliography
oikoumenē world empire century
Ecumenism derives from the Greek adjective oikoumenikos (ecumenical) and the noun oikoumenē, the latter term employed since the time of Herodotus (5th century B.C.E.) to mean "the inhabited earth" or "the whole world." Oikoumenē then came to refer specifically to the realm of the Greco-Roman empire and its culture as distinguished from so-called barbarian lands and cultures. During the fourth century C.E., oikoumenē took on the combined political-religious meanings of "the one Christian empire" or "the unified Christian world."
Additional Topics
The word ecumenism itself became prevalent after the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Delegates from missionary organizations met to address the incongruity—and scandal, no less—of historically divided and competing Christian denominations preaching a message of peace and harmony among non-Christian peoples. The World Council of Churches, the primary organizat…
The ecumenical movement does not proceed without opposition. One source of rejection stems from the fact that the contemporary globalization process is not celebrated by all. Religious fundamentalists tend to be suspicious of dialogue and cooperation across boundaries; their preference is to live within closed sets of codes and beliefs. In some eastern religions contact with the "other�…
Bretton-Granatoor, Gary M., and Andrea L. Weiss, eds. Shalom/ Salaam: A Resource for Jewish-Muslim Dialogue. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1993. Duffy, Stephen J. "Mission and Dialogue in a Pluralistic Global City." Ecumenical Trends 25 (April 1996): 10–12. Esposito, John L., Darrell J. Fasching, and Todd Lewis. World Religions Today. New York: Oxford Unive…
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments