Patrick Comerford
The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, where I have taken courses in Cambridge on-and-off over many years, announced the details this week of its two-day residential conference in Cambridge later this year, ‘Rebooting Ecumenism – New Paradigms for the 21st Century’.
The conference is organised by the IOCS in collaboration with the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola University, Chicago. It takes place over two days at West Court in Jesus College, Cambridge, on Friday and Saturday 5 and 6 December 2025, from 9 am to 6:30 pm each day, with facilities for Zoom participation too.
To date, the confirmed speakers are:
• the Right Revd Dr Rowan Williams, Lord Williams of Oystermouth and former Archbishop of Canterbury;
• the Revd Professor Andrew Louth, Durham University;
• Professor Paul Murray, Durham University;
• Sister Dr Vassa Larin, host of the popular show Coffee with Sister Vassa, who teaches Liturgical Studies at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna, Austria;
• Professor John Milbank, University of Nottingham;
• Professor Peter Bouteneff, Saint Vladimir’s Theological Seminary, New York;
• the Revd Professor Cyril Hovorun, Huffington Institute, Loyola University, Chicago;
• Dr Razvan Porumb, Director of Research and Vice-Principal, IOCS, Cambridge.
The conference aims to explore potential new paradigms, or revisit old models, in order to ensure a more fruitful and dynamic ecumenical dialogue for today and for the future. It attempts to make a contribution to bringing ecumenism back to the fore of all theological discourse, an ecumenism, however, that is tailored for our modern reality in the digital era of accelerated globalisation.
With this in mind, the conference seeks to explore novel models of perceiving or conceiving ecumenism, from historical to contemporary paradigms, from theological to ecclesiological or pastoral designs, and from spirituality to methodology.
The conference organisers say that in the face of today’s growing conflicts and divisions, there is a call once again to make ecumenism a priority for all Christian denominations worldwide, just like churches and theologians around the world did after World War II, as they embraced the idea of ecumenism with drive and enthusiasm in the genuine spirit of post-war humility and repentance.
Just as in those fraught times, they say, ‘unity and the ethos of true Christianity appear today as existential, post-traumatic necessities, and theology needs to treat them once again as priorities.’
They say that the original impetus of the ‘golden age’ of ecumenism of the 20th century sadly lost its strength and the ecumenical movement found itself in an impasse by the end of the century. ‘It is increasingly clear, however, that our current times compel us to rediscover our essential ecumenical drive.’
The conference in Cambridge in December includes five talks each day, with coffee breaks and a longer lunch. The talks at this event are expected to be about 30 minutes in length each, followed by discussions involving onsite and online participants.
A detailed programme of the conference is expected to be announced later.
The fees are £175 for onsite participation, including tea and coffee, and £85 for online participation. There are discounts for students.
