What is Ecumenism?: A Metaphysical Vision

According to Antoine Arjakovsky, the contemporary crisis of the ecumenical movement is linked to a narrow, secularized, strictly inter-denominational conception of ecclesial life. But when understood as an experience of divine humanity, the life of the Church can neither be limited to an institutional conception nor be hermetically separated from the life of the world. Drawing on the religious philosophy of Nikolai Berdyaev, Sergei Bulgakov, Leo Shestov, Pope Francis, John Milbank, Emmanuel Levinas, Abdennour Bidar, Ken Wilber, as well as his own ecumenical commitment spanning over 40 years, Arjakovsky proposes a metaphysical rethinking of the foundations of ecumenical faith-reason in order to hold together the poles of identity and otherness. He explores the different meanings of ecumenism and opens the way to a further meaning that, by reconciling reason and belief, enables the encounter of all cultures, disciplines, and religious traditions-a project he describes as a new spiritual and transdisciplinary epistemology, at once personalist, sophiological, ternary, and eschatological. The book concludes by contrasting metaphysical reflection with the different possible forms of commitment and vocation in favor of a truer, more beautiful, more peaceful, more just world. To escape the modern conception whereby we only believe what we see, the author proposes a meta-modern vision of the life of the spirit, where we must believe in order to see. From this perspective, peace is understood as both a gift and a responsibility, as a presence and an art of living. The professions of diplomat or bridge-builder then become everyone's business.

About the Author :
Antoine Arjakovsky founded the Institute of Ecumenical Studies in Lviv at the Ukrainian Catholic University in 2004. He directed this institute for ten years and was involved in the international ecumenical movement, particularly the Conference of European Churches and the Faith and Order Commission within the World Council of Churches. He also founded the Ecumenical Social Weeks and the Christian Academic Society in Ukraine. Author of some twenty books on philosophy, theology, political science, and history, he directed for five years the Association of Christian Philosophers in France. He is currently a research director at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris and administrator of the Platform for European Memory and Conscience, based in Prague.

Review :
"Antoine Arjakovsky's unique experience with practical ecumenical engagement in various cultural and geographical contexts, particularly those of Eastern Christianity, shines through in his book."-YURY P. AVVAKUMOV, University of Notre Dame "Antoine Arjakovsky's stimulating interdisciplinary reflection invites readers to reconsider the movement towards unity in light of a true 'ecumenical metaphysics'-ecumenism as the unity of all in all, and not merely as the unity of Christians."-HYACINTHE DESTIVELLE OP, OEcumenicum, Angelicum, Rome "In this seminal essay on ecumenical metaphysics, Arjakovsky provides a masterful review of decades of literature, theological reflections, historical narratives, philosophy, and much more, to share the foundation of a 'new understanding of reality, of a new epistemology, both trans-disciplinary and trans-confessional but also trans-religious and trans-convictional.'"-AZZA KARAM, President and CEO, Lead Intergrity "Arjakovsky moves across history and disciplines to develop an ecumenical metaphysics as a sapiential compass both personal and universal, participatory and collaborative, to help us think through the challenging problems of our age."-LISA RADAKOVICH HOLSBERG, Fordham University "What is Ecumenism? can serve as a starting point for fruitful dialogue about how to bridge the divides between people, nations, and religions."-ZDZISLAW SZMAŃDA OP, Saint Thomas Aquinas Institute, Kyiv