North American Academy of Ecumenists
2026 Annual Conference
The Common Good in our Common Home:
World Christianity, Earth Community, and the Realm of God
SCHEDULE
Friday, September 25:
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM — Conference Registration
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM — Session 1
Session 1a: Ecumenism as Practice
“United, though Distinguished:” James Hervey’s Aesthetics of Ecumenism in the
Age of Enlightenment (Adam Edward Carnehl)
The Gift of Disagreement as an Intrinsic Feature of Creaturely Existence (Liza Anderson)
Local Christian Pilgrimage as an Ecumenical Spiritual Practice: Reflections on Pilgrimage PEI -The Way of St. John (Dr. Elizabeth Millar)
Session 1b: Ecumenism and Ethics
Ecumenism at a Crossroads: Reimagining the Oecumenica for the Common Good in a Fragmented World (Jon-William L. Patterson)
Ethics-in-Action for Sustainable Development: Bringing Ecumenists Together Today (Martha Beck)
Everyday Schism: Church Unity, Confessional Identity, and the Forgetfulness of Instrumentality (Pavlo Smytsnyuk).
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM — Local Initiatives discussion with Interfaith RISE
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM — Presidential Address & Banquet Dinner
Saturday, September 26:
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM — Pastries and Coffee
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM — Session 2
Session 2a: Ecotheology and Ecumenism
Ecotheology from the Margins: What Ecumenical Theology Can Learn from Black American New Religious Movements’ Ecotheology of Liberation (Gerard Jameson)
Trustees of the Balance: Qur'anic Khalifa and Mizan as Resources for Ecumenical Ecotheology (Dr. Kenan Çetinkaya)
Common Home, Common Humanity: An Ecumenical and Ecotheological Reading of the Book of Ecclesiastes (Corrine Smith)
Session 2b: Caring for our Common Home Together
The Notion of Buen Vivir for the Care of our Common Home (Carolina Alderete)
“Stewards of the Earth: An African Womanist Call to Eco-Justice” (Rev. Dr. Prudence Sirri Neba)
Poisoned Waters, Fractured Communion: Environmental Racism and the Healing of the Oecumenica (Monica Schaap Pierce)
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM — Session 3
Session 3b: Case Studies on Ecumenical Initiatives 1
“We Also Worship in This Space”: Applying Ritual Systems and Receptive Ecumenism to a Visual Ethnography of Two Ecumenical Shared Ministries in Rural Canada (Mykayla Turner)
“A Politics of Ecumenism: Argentine Protestantism Printing and Interdenominational Cooperation in the 1880-1930’s” (Stephen DiTrolio)
Presence as Bridge: Chaplaincy, Crisis, and the Possibility of Evangelical and Ecumenical Unity (Reverend Shaina Rose Ciaccio)
Session 3b: Decolonial and Ecumenical Initiatives to Transnational Ecumenism 1
Decolonizing African Migrant Christianity: Lessons for Engagement and Ecumenism (E. Okelloh Ogera)
Adoniram Judson Beyond Denomination: Mission, Transformation, and Ecumenism in World Christianity (Sut Hting Mung Awn)
Decolonizing Theological Education in Puerto Rico: Ecumenical Protestantism and the Seminario Evangélico in the 1960s (Nehemiah Lebrón-Gómez)
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM — Lunch on own
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM — Session 4
Session 4a: Case Studies on Ecumenical Initiatives 2
Evolving Paradigms of American Ecumenical Institutional Cooperation: Engaging Lessons from Pluralist Jewish Community Organizations" (Soren Michael Hessler)
Ecclesial Recognition without Institutional Union: The Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church (Abel Joshua Abey)
Sonic Territoriality, Pedetic Oikoumene, and Pluriversal Consociation in Peninsular South India (Samuel Ramapuram)
Session 4b: Decolonial and Ecumenical Initiatives to Transnational Ecumenism 2
Surviving or Thriving: Navigating Unity Challenges Among African Christian Immigrants (Abraham Ndungu)
Doing Ecumenism Interculturally: Interculturality as the Ideal Setting for Ecumenism (Paper: Dr. Nicolas Panotto, Dr. Ulrike Sallandt)
Gentrification and Diversity: A Pastoral and Decolonial Model for the Defense of the Common Good in Puerto Rico (Luis J. Santiago Torres)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM — Session 5
Session 5a: Philosophical Approaches to Ecumenical Theology
Communion in a Fragmented World: Miroslav Volf and Christian Unity (Joseph Adedeji)
Phenomenological Listening as a Foundation for Ecumenical Encounter (Simon Lepage-Fournier)
Tending Our Roots for Signs of an Ecumenical Spring: Towards an Ecumenical Ecclesiology (Kirsten Guidero and Hank Jeannel)
Session 5b: Ecotheology as a Source for Ecumenical Theory
Faith on the Move: Climate Migration and the Fractured Christian Oecumenica (Tiffany Hunsinger)
"John Rausch and the Ecumenical Character of Creation Care" (Christopher McMahon)
Creaturely Solidarities: Ecotheological Resources for Ecumenical Relationship-Building (Jessica Stilwell)
5:45 PM - 6:45 PM — World Christianity and Ecumenical Method: A conversation with Raimundo Barretto and Aaron Hollander
Dinner - on own / groups in town. It may be possible to participate in Chef fest at the PTS Farminary $40 (optional)
Sunday, September 27:
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Pastries and Coffee and Business Meeting
11:00 AM
Sunday Chapel Service
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION & Annual Membership
North American Academy of Ecumenists
2026 Annual Meeting
September 25–27, 2026
Princeton, New Jersey
In-Person and Online
Note: After you have finished selecting your items, click the Cart in the upper right corner of your screen to check out and complete your transaction.
2027 Membership includes Virtual Annual Conference Registration
The cost to join NAAE and receive your subscription to the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is $110.00 ($55.00 for students).
NAAE membership provides a subscription to the Journal of Ecumenical Studies in which conference presentations are published. Membership also helps support the expenses of the essay contest and providing the conference at the end of September. The membership period and Journal of Ecumenical Studies subscription is a calendar year beginning in January. Each annual volume includes four separate issues, one per season, with NAAE papers appearing in either the Summer or Fall issue; roughly a year after presentation.
Postage is included for U.S. residents. Residents of Canada and Mexico pay $12.50 for shipping and residents of other countries pay $15.00. Please select the option which applies to you.
Note: After you have finished selecting your items, click the Cart in the upper right corner of your screen to check out and complete your transaction.