Links + Resources
Ecumenical Organizations
The following list of national and international organizations are widely known for their ecumenical outreach initiatives. Their are many wonderful local organizations working within your local and regional communities.
» Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research
[http://www.iecr.org/]
» World Council of Churches
[http://www.wcc-coe.org/]
» National Council of Churches USA
[http://ncccusa.org/]
» The Canadian Council of Churches USA
[http://www.ccc-cce.ca/]
» U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops – Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
[http://www.usccb.org/seia/index.htm]
» Council on Christian Unity
[http://www.disciples.org/ccu/]
Background, Essays, and Relevant Content
» West on Heschel's Impact on Racism (RA, 6:10)
[http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=TAVIS&showDate=14-Jan-2004&segNum=3&mediaPref=RM]
Cornel West pays homage to Abraham Joshua Heschel, former professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Heschel had a major impact on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s thinking on non-violence, race, and human rights. West discusses the friendship and alliance between Heschel and King with NPR's Tavis Smiley.
» The World Missionary Conference
[http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=471]
Published in the July 7, 1910 issue of The Christian Century, this article by editor Charles Clayton Morrison gives a first-hand account of the conference events that led to the modern ecumenical movement.
» Civil Rights Timeline
[http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html]
Provides a concise overview of milestones in this movmement.
» "After the Flood"
[http://thisamericanlife.org/ra/296.ram]
This episode of the public radio program This American Life (September 9, 2005) conveys personal and surprising stories from survivors in New Orleans who would otherwise go unheard. In the third segment, listen to an 18-year-old African-American girl who lives in the Lafitte Housing projects of New Orleans react to conservative comments and her way of dealing with the storm's aftermath.
» "Black Theology vs. Feminist Theology"
[http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=433]
The struggle for equal rights for African Americans and women has been compared and contrasted through many different social and political lenses. Rosemary Reuther's essay (originally published in Christianity and Crisis in 1974) explores what she considers to be the two most important expressions of liberation theology to emerge from the American experience in the late 1960s.
» "Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry"
[http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/bem1.html]
Published by the World Council of Churches, this booklet provides insight into how the sacred ritual of baptism can be at once divisive and still shared by all Christians.
Related Speaking of Faith Programs
These recommended programs from our archives tie in to content mentioned during the program. These programs build upon ideas voiced or act as taking off points for further exploration of ideas:
» "The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer"
[http://speakingoffaith.org/programs/bonhoeffer/index.shtml]
Krista and director Martin Doblmeier explore this 20th-century German theologian whose life spanned the rise and fall of Hitler's Germany. His resistance of Nazi ideology, while much of the German church succumbed, offers a model of personal morality and conscience in the most troubled and immoral of times.
» "Seeing Poverty After Katrina"
[http://speakingoffaith.org/programs/seeingpoverty/index.shtml]
For another perspective on analyzing and redressing poverty in America, listen to Dr. David Hilfiker tell the story of how poverty and racial isolation came to be in cities across America. And, he describes his practical experience in inner-city Washington D.C. living with the questions many Americans came to ask in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
» "Truth and Reconciliation"
[http://speakingoffaith.org/programs/truth/index.shtml]
Building on Hoyt's reference to working according to God's time, kairotic time, listen to Charles Villa-Vicencio discuss his experiences working on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and how kairos played a role in the dismemberment of Apartheid.
» "Joe Carter and the Legacy of the African-American Spiritual"
[http://speakingoffaith.org/programs/joecarter/index.shtml]
Bishop Hoyt says that slaves had to have humor and hope in order to endure the hard times. The genre of the Black Spiritual was one way of expressing the idea of better days. Listen to Joe Carter sing and explain the subtexts of the rich and fascinating history of these songes — replete with hidden meanings and lament.
