A New Window into Ecumenical Method: Book Launch for Josiah Baker’s A Visible Unity

In his 2024 monograph, A Visible Unity: Cecil Robeck and the Work of Ecumenism, Dr. Josiah Baker studies the efforts of believers towards reconciliation as something significant for how we understand the church itself. He demonstrates how ecumenical work informs and deepens ecclesiology, insofar as it involves the actions of Christians together in accordance with their shared but multifaceted views of the church; ecumenical methodology charts pathways for reconciliation between (and within) church communities while collaboratively clarifying those communities’ own self-understanding. Baker’s dynamic ecclesiology is developed through a close study of the distinguished Pentecostal ecumenist Cecil M. Robeck, whose activities and thought across decades of leadership reveal underappreciated insights into the history and methodological possibilities of the ecumenical movement. On Thursday, August 7, 2025, 2:30-4:00 pm Eastern, join author Josiah Baker and a panel of three distinguished readers—Rev. Dr. Sandra Beardsall (United Church of Canada), Dr. David de la Fuente (Roman Catholic), and Rev. Dr. Christopher A. Stevenson (Pentecostal)—for a webinar exploring the significance of Baker’s research and Robeck’s legacy for our contemporary moment. This webinar is co-sponsored by the North American Academy of Ecumenists and Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute. Zoom link to follow.

About the Panelists

Dr. Josiah (Joey) Baker is the Secretary of the North American Academy of Ecumenists and the Co-Leader of the Ecumenical Studies Interest Group of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Previously, he served as a presenter at the National Workshop on Christian Unity, as the Interim Chair of the Southern California Commission on Faith and Order, and as a Steward at the Karlsruhe Assembly of the World Council of Churches.

Rev. Dr. Sandra Beardsall is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. Originally from the Toronto area, she served rural congregations in Labrador and Ontario and spent twenty-four years as Professor of Church History and Ecumenics at St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon. In retirement Sandra remains engaged in ecumenical work locally, nationally, and internationally. She joined the NAAE in 1988.

Dr. Dave de la Fuente is a Catholic theologian and lay minister with the Office of Ignatian Spirituality (Jesuits USA East Province) and the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City. He completed his doctorate in systematic theology at Fordham University, specializing in pneumatology, ecclesiology, and theologies of racial justice. Dave remains active with several academic societies, including the American Academy of Religion and the Ecclesiological Investigations network.

Rev. Dr. Christopher A. Stephenson is the author of Types of Pentecostal Theology: Method, System, Spirit (OUP) and Profiles of Pentecostal Theology (Brill). He is the editor of An Amos Yong Reader: The Pentecostal Spirit (Cascade) and a co-editor of Pentecostal Theology and Ecumenical Theology: Interpretations and Intersections (Brill). His work focuses on the convergences of systematic, spiritual, and liturgical theology in ecumenical perspective. He has participated in bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogues at the national and international levels, including dialogues with the Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches, and the Mennonite Church (USA).