Fortress Press

"S. Wesley Ariarajah has been an ecumenical and interfaith witness in the movements of our time–a witness both in the sense of shaping those movements through the contribution of his own testimony and in the sense of carefully and insightfully reporting their dynamics. Moving Beyond the Impasse collects a string of essays, each a pearl of such witness. One is a masterful first-person history of the World Council of Churches' response to religious plurality. Another is a succinct and telling exploration of the nature of scripture in various religious traditions, and the way this knowledge may inform Christian approaches to the Bible. Yet another recovers the largely-lost history of the contribution of Asian participants in the 1910 Edinburgh mission conference. Anyone interested in the points where ecumenical and interfaith dialogue intersect will be grateful to have ready access to these sources, indispensable for their scholarship as well as for their pioneering constructive formulations." 

"These essays, written since the turn of the new century, nevertheless give us valuable historical perspective on the (wider) ecumenism over the last 100 years by a senior statesman in the field. Yet such 'looking back' also provides us perspective for next steps, for Christian mission, for theological education, and for the encounter between religions in a pluralistic globe. In a time when Left versus Right is increasingly obsolete, perhaps a new catholicity can emerge, and for such a time and task as this, the wisdom of ecumenists like Wesley Ariarajah will prove enduring."