Receptive Ecumenism for a Synodal Church

This book shows how Receptive Ecumenism can help the Catholic Church practice synodality more effectively through concrete, reciprocal learning across Christian traditions. Applying an established method of ecclesial “receiving,” it brings Catholic theologians and church leaders into sustained dialogue with Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Quaker, and United Reformed voices. It offers both accessible introductions to how different communities structure participation, authority, and mission, and constructive proposals for synodal development within and between churches.Part One provides clear, comparably framed overviews of synodality (and its functional equivalents) across seven traditions. The remaining sections move beyond description to identify practical sites of ecclesial learning and reform: deliberative lay involvement, accountable authority, synodal habits of scriptural interpretation, and the experience and leadership of women. Partner traditions likewise reflect on their own needs and possibilities for renewal, demonstrating that receptive learning is not a one-way Catholic project but a shared ecclesial discipline.Distinctively, this book is not merely comparative. It models a mode of theological engagement that is practical, context-sensitive, and committed to “dynamic integrity” within each tradition. Wider perspectives from international ecumenical work, alongside reflections from Vatican participants closely involved in the contemporary synodal process, reinforce its central claim: the path of synodality “is and must be ecumenical,” just as the ecumenical path is genuinely synodal.