Overview

By all accounts, the modern ecumenical movement is not moving much these days. Despite dramatic breakthroughs in the past few decades, the quest for a visibly united church--in which there is common confession of the apostolic faith, full Eucharistic communion, and mutual recognition of members and ministers--now meets with indifference by many, impatience by some, and outright hostility by others. In part, this is because the movement has not given enough attention to grassroots ecumenical engagement. This book is written to convince ordinary Christians, especially young Christian adults, that they too have a stake in the future of the ecumenical movement as its most indispensable participants. Ecumenism Means You, Too draws on the music of Irish rock band U2 to cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. Whether one is a U2 fan or not, and whether one thinks the ecumenical movement is a good thing or a bad thing for the church, everyone who reads this book will learn something about the Christian theological framework apart from which neither the modern ecumenical movement nor the meaning of U2's music can be understood. The book includes an annotated bibliography of resources for ecumenical engagement and a glossary of key ecumenical terms for readers who want to learn more about the Christian practice of seeking the unity of the church.

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9781498212083

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Reviews

""". . . at once profound and straightforward, deeply reflected yet highly accessible, theologically rich yet directly practical . . . a source of wisdom to be absorbed into the life-blood of each of our widely differing communities for their mutual enrichment . . . a superbly inviting and practical manifestation of what has come to be referred to as Receptive Ecumenism."" --Paul D. Murray Durham University, UK ""Whether you are passionate about, disappointed by, or indifferent to the church: if you love God, you need this book. Harmon shows you why mutual tolerance is not the unity that Jesus desired for his Body, and he gives you the tools to start knitting back together the broken pieces of the church-so the world might believe. This little book should be the marching orders for every Christian!"" --Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France ""Few books on the ecumenical movement are as readable, and I would wager none has as appealing a soundtrack. Harmon invites us to strive for the hope of fuller visible unity with sisters and brothers in Christ, not by ignoring denominational differences, but by acknowledging what divides us while refusing to settle for division. The 'Ten Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church' list alone is worth the price of the book."" --Beth Maynard co-editor of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog"

. . . at once profound and straightforward, deeply reflected yet highly accessible, theologically rich yet directly practical . . . a source of wisdom to be absorbed into the life-blood of each of our widely differing communities for their mutual enrichment . . . a superbly inviting and practical manifestation of what has come to be referred to as Receptive Ecumenism. --Paul D. Murray Durham University, UK Whether you are passionate about, disappointed by, or indifferent to the church: if you love God, you need this book. Harmon shows you why mutual tolerance is not the unity that Jesus desired for his Body, and he gives you the tools to start knitting back together the broken pieces of the church-so the world might believe. This little book should be the marching orders for every Christian! --Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France Few books on the ecumenical movement are as readable, and I would wager none has as appealing a soundtrack. Harmon invites us to strive for the hope of fuller visible unity with sisters and brothers in Christ, not by ignoring denominational differences, but by acknowledging what divides us while refusing to settle for division. The 'Ten Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church' list alone is worth the price of the book. --Beth Maynard co-editor of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog

Author Information

A Baptist ecumenical theologian, Steven R. Harmon is the author of Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future: Story, Tradition, and the Recovery of Community (Baylor University Press, 2016), Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity (Cascade Books, 2010), Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision (Paternoster/Wipf & Stock, 2006), and Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), along with numerous chapters contributed to other books, journal articles, reviews, and general readership publications. He has represented the Baptist World Alliance in international ecumenical dialogues with the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, in pre-conversations with representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, and as a member of the plenary Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. Dr. Harmon is Visiting Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, USA and previously served on the faculties of Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama (2008-2010) and Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina (1998-2008), as Visiting Professor at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina (2007), and as Adjunct Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina (2012).

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