A History of the Desire for Christan Unity - Ecumenism in the Churches, 19th-21st Century

Paths towards communion
ALBERTO MELLONI, LUCA FERRACCI
A History of the Desire for Christian Unity
Brill, Leiden, 2025

Paper € 199.00
ISBN: 9789004448513

History of the Desire for Christian Unity is a multi-volume reference work on the history of ecumenism. The ecumenical movement is understood as a twentieth-century movement of European origin with a global reach. This reference work is a reconstruction of the arc of time in which the Christian churches transitioned from a position of hostility to one of dialogue, and from separation to forms of communion. Scholars across the continents and disciplines explore a history of individuals and groups, generations and assemblies, documents and programs, theologies and practices, all firmly placed within the framework of a desire for unity.

The second volume focuses on the transition from the pioneering phase of the ecumenical movement, affected by the two world wars, to the properly ecclesial phase, entrusted to dialogues, experiences and projects of communion that guided the desire for Christian unity through a season full of promise.

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Alberto Melloni (Ph.D. 1989), is Secretary of Fondazione per le scienze religiose (FSCIRE). Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, is Professor of History of Christianity, Founder of the European Academy of Religion and Unesco Chairholder, he serves as Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission.

Luca Ferracci (Ph.D. 2017) obtained his PhD in Religious Studies from the Giuseppe Alberigo European School for Advanced Religious Studies and since 2017 he has been research fellow at FSCIRE. A scholar of contemporary Christianity, he is a member of the editorial board of the Bologna Studies in Religious History series, published in the Brill catalog.