AN ECUMENICAL VISION FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE

The author explores the concept of sustainable peace which she regards as a major aspiration of the modernecumenical movement in the post World War 2 period. Many who promote official ecumenism consider justice and freedom as two of the constitutive elements of sustainable peace and a condition for human existence. As part of this discussion she views the tension between voluntarily chosen evangelical poverty and forced poverty that arise in ecumenical discussions as a major challenge to sustainable peace in the 21st century. She introduces the concept of informal ecumenism as the religious culture born out of the immigrants’ struggle to hold a balance between their religious identity and the secular identity of the nations in which they live.The characteristics that emerge out of the worship life of the immigrants are depicted as the spirit of informal ecumenism that can contribute to the renewal of Protestant ecumenism. She treats the Asian Diaspora communities as examples, and traces both the ambiguities and promises of immigrant life, and shows how their longing for sustainable peace contributes to their eventual evolution as “pilgrims of peace.”