Base Ecumenism

In this book, Raimundo Barreto examines ecumenical initiatives that have emerged from the people--from "the bases"--in conversation with interchurch ecumenical work. Revisiting grassroots developments in Latin America, such as the Church and Society movement of the 1950s and the Base Christian Communities of the 1970s, this book expands the concept of base ecumenism by engaging independent and Pentecostal communities in a religiously pluralistic Latin America. Barreto compares base ecumenism with similar initiatives in the history of the modern ecumenical movement, arguing that base ecumenism contributes fresh and renewing insights to this era of world Christianity. Paying special attention to the Popular Reading of the Bible movement, Barreto highlights the agency of women, racially minoritized groups, and young people.

Raimundo C. Barreto is associate professor of World Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the editor of the Fortress Press series World Christianity and Public Religion. His most recent book is Protesting Poverty: Protestants, Social Ethics, and the Poor in Brazil (Baylor University Press, 2023).