Introduction

Abstract

Many people within the churches will be all too familiar with the effects of the ecumenical winter that descended on the churches in the 1980s and has affected nearly all the mainline denominations, which have often become increasingly self-absorbed. While some might have been tempted to give up altogether and retreat, others have seen the strained relations across the different Christian denominations—and more widely the different faiths—as heightening the imperative for ecumenism to be reenergized. Indeed, what now seems crucial to many Christians is an expansion of ecumenism in the face of the many tensions and divisions both between the particular denominations and faith communities and also within the particular Christian traditions. New forms of dialogue, as well as a reinvigoration of the old—which is the main focus of this collection—seem central for the renewing the ecumenical and interfaith movements.