The North American Academy of Ecumenists is gathering this September at Princeton Theological Seminary, widely regarded as one of the major twenty-first-century centers for the study of World Christianity: investigation and interpretation of the diversity of Christian communities worldwide, both in their historical development and in their contemporary forms. But PTS also bears an underappreciated legacy as ground zero for a pioneering, interdisciplinary framework for inductive, collaborative research into the dynamics of Christian division and the pathways of conflict transformation: Ecumenics.
This one-hour workshop, hosted as part of the 2026 NAAE gathering but open to the public and especially encouraged for graduate students, will put the NAAE’s Vice President (Prof. Raimundo Barreto) and Immediate Past President (Dr. Aaron Hollander), specialists in World Christianity and Ecumenics respectively, into conversation with one another and with participants on the mutual inclusivity of these fields. Taking each other’s recent monographs (Base Ecumenism and Saint George Liberator) as case studies, Barreto and Hollander will first explore the importance of activating methods and perspectives of World Christianity within spaces of ecumenical inquiry (like the NAAE itself) and the importance of revitalizing an interdisciplinary Ecumenics framework as a means of extending the reach and impact of studies in World Christianity. Then, they will open a discussion about workshop participants’ own experiences or interests in these fields of inquiry, considering what new possibilities might be stimulated by a more reflexive and strategic alignment between World Christianity and Ecumenics.
This event will have a hybrid format: in-person NAAE participants will join Barreto and Hollander on site at Princeton Theological Seminary; online conference participants and other attendees from the general public will receive a link to join via Zoom.
This program is free and open to the public, but online participants must REGISTER at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-christianity-and-ecumenical-method-tickets-1997047215982?aff=oddtdtcreator
Attendees of the 2026 North American Academy of Ecumenists conference will have access to this workshop already, and do not need to register for it separately. Visit the NAAE’s website for the conference schedule & registration: https://www.ecumenists.org/calendar/2026-naae-annual-conference
Bibliography
- Barreto, Raimundo C. Base Ecumenism: Latin American Contributions to Ecumenical Praxis and Theology. Fortress, 2025.
- Barreto, Raimundo C. “How World Christianity Saved the Ecumenical Movement.” Protestantismo em Revista 46, no. 2 (2020): 222-242.
- Hollander, Aaron T. “Fundamental Ecumenics Revisited: A Near-Forgotten Intellectual Framework as a Toolkit for the Mid-Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 56, no. 2 (2021): 161-199.
- Hollander, Aaron T. Saint George Liberator: Hagiography as Resistance in the Modern Mediterranean. Fordham University Press, 2026.
About the Facilitators
Raimundo C. Barreto, associate professor of World Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary, holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from Seminário Teológico Batista do Norte do Brasil, an MDiv degree from McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, and a PhD in religion and society from Princeton Theological Seminary. Before teaching at Princeton, he taught in his native Brazil and was the director of the Division on Freedom and Justice at the Baptist World Alliance. Barreto is the author of Protesting Poverty: Protestants, Social Ethics, and the Poor in Brazil (Baylor University Press, 2023) and Base Ecumenism: A Latin American Contribution to Ecumenical Praxis and Theology (Augsburg Fortress, 2025). He is working on a new book titled Christians in the City of São Paulo: The Shaping of World Christianity in a Brazilian Megacity (Bloomsbury). He is also the co-editor of the Journal of World Christianity, the general editor of the World Christianity and Public Religion Series published by Fortress Press (2017–24), and a convener of the World Christianity Conference. He has published dozens of journal articles and book chapters, and has served on boards and committees of various organizations, including the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI), Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC), Baptist World Alliance (BWA), Aliança de Batistas do Brasil, American Baptist Churches (ABCUSA), the Alliance of Baptists, the National Council of Churches USA, and the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Dr. Aaron T. Hollander is Executive Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, Editor of Ecumenical Trends, and Adjunct Faculty in Theology at Fordham University. He is a scholar of theology and culture with his PhD from the University of Chicago. He serves on the steering committee of the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network, the board of the North American Academy of Ecumenists, and the summer faculty of the Centro Pro Unione in Rome. His research focuses on the lived dynamics of ecumenical and interreligious conflict, the aesthetic texture and political power of holiness, and the circulation of theological understanding beyond explicitly religious settings. His first book, Saint George Liberator: Hagiography as Resistance in the Modern Mediterranean (Fordham UP, 2026), is a historical-ethnographic study of Orthodox Christian hagiography amidst cultural and political domination. His second book, an edited volume entitled Saints in Divided Societies, is forthcoming in 2027.