This book offers fresh insights into the contemporary state of Ecumenism. Following the election of Pope Francis, there has been a significant thaw in ecumenical relations, and there are grounds for thinking that this will continue into the future. The twelve chapters, written both by experienced ecumenical theologians as well as younger scholars, that have been gathered together in this collection, offer one of the first detailed assessments of the impact of Francis¿ papacy on ecumenical dialogue. Drawing on ecumenical methodology, as well as many practical examples and illustrations, the authors discuss the developments in culture and missiology as these affect the practice of ecumenism, particularly in response to theologies of hope as well as inter-religious dialogue and pluralism. What emerges is a clear sense of hope for the future in a rapidly changing world and even a sense of optimism that real ecumenical progress might be made.

Mark D. Chapman is Vice-Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon and Professor of the History of Modern Theology at the University of Oxford. He is a Church of England priest serving three small rural parishes and Canon Theology of Truro Cathedral. He has written widely on the history of the church and its theology, and also serves as Vice-Chair of the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network. Among his recent books are Theology at War and Peace: English Theology and Germany in the First World War (2017) and The Fantasy of Reunion: Anglicans, Catholics and Ecumenism, 1833-1882  (2014).

1. Mark Chapman, Introduction: Hope in the Ecumenical Future.- 2. Mary Doak, The Unity (and Disunity) of Our Hope.- 3. Thomas Hughson SJ, The Holy Spirit And Ecumenism:  From Hope to Charity.- 4. Sandra Mazzolini, Together Towards Life: Christian Hope and Its Witness: Some Theological Aspects and Missiological Implications.- 5. Craig Phillips, The Reign of God and the Church: Giorgio Agamben's Messianic Critique of the Church.- 6. Jakob Egeris Thorsen, The Ecumenism of Mission: Impulses from the Aparecida Document (CELAM V) and Evangelii Gaudium.- 7. Gerard Mannion, Pope Francis and Hope in the Ecumenical Future: A Papacy of Encounter.- 8. Christopher Hill, Hope versus Optimism: the Hidden Rocks in Anglican Roman Catholic Dialogue.- 9. Marguerite Kappelhoff, The Marks of the Church: A Paradigm for the Twenty-First-Century Church.- 10. Patricia Madigan OP, Hope in Dark Times: Australian Churches Covenanting Together 1994-2014.- 11. Chukwumamkpam Vincent Ifeme, From the Inner Being of God to Inter-Faith Dialogue.- 12. Richard Penaskovic, A Pluralist Before Her Time: Simone Weil On The World Religions.