Ecumenists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who promote or advocate for unity and cooperation among different Christian denominations
2. Theologians or activists focused on reconciling differences to foster a more inclusive Christian community
3. Members of movements seeking to bridge doctrinal divides and encourage shared practices among various branches of Christianity

Etymology: Ecumenists take their name from "ecumenism", which in turn comes from "oikoumenikos", the Greek adjective for the inhabited world. In the Greek sense, "oikoumene" referred to the whole inhabited earth as the ancient Greeks understood it, a meaning that gave the church term its sweeping reach: a movement meant to embrace all Christians, not one region or denomination. The word "ecumenism" was formed in English by adding "-ism" to "ecumene," the English form of that Greek root. The "-ist" ending on "ecumenists" follows the same pattern used for other movements and their adherents, such as "socialism" and "socialist." Together, the two suffixes turned a geographic term into a label for people who work toward unity among Christian churches. Because the root was Greek, the word's history runs through the church's vocabulary rather than everyday speech. Its meaning stayed tied to the idea of an inhabited world, which is why a term about the whole globe came to describe efforts to bring separated Christian bodies together.

Synonyms: unifiers, peacemakers