Ecumenical theology as an academic discipline

This article presents the reflective assessment of Father Yves-Marie Blanchard, outgoing director of the Institut supérieur d'études œcuméniques (ISEO) in Paris, on the occasion of a symposium on relations between the ecumenical movement and university theology. Adopting both an institutional and a prospective approach, the author formulates two main observations: on the one hand, the diversification of fields of study within ecumenical theology, which tends to move beyond its status as a sectoral specialty to become a transversal dimension of all theological disciplines; on the other hand, the gradual export of ISEO's multi-denominational pedagogical model to other university programs. The main contribution of the article lies in the thesis that all theology structurally contains an ecumenical dimension, a thesis illustrated by the creation of a tri-denominational doctoral school bringing together the Institut catholique, the Institut protestant de théologie, and the Institut Saint-Serge.