The Bishop Vinton R. Anderson Ecumenical Institute, housed at Payne Theological Seminary, promotes the exploration of ecumenical religious thought, study, and practice in an Afrocentric theological setting. The Institute’s programs include an annual ecumenical lecture, Seminary ecumenical consciousness and awareness building through courses that emphasize ecumenical thought, a post-graduate ecumenical fellowship in Bossey, Switzerland, and graduate and post graduate domestic ecumenical exchanges.
The Anderson Ecumenical Institute at Payne Theological Seminary fosters ecumenical cooperation among students at Payne and urges ecumenical cooperation among Christians and the interfaith community, emphasizing inclusivity and respect for diversity. The Institute promotes programs of education, advocacy and service that address critically important social needs and offers opportunity for the Church to witness through common faith expressions developed from the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Bishop Anderson, elected to the episcopacy in 1972, was a distinguished pastor, writer, ecumenist, liturgist and leader in African Methodism and throughout the world. An elected and consecrated African Methodist Episcopal Bishop, Anderson was actively involved in ecumenical affairs, serving as President of the World Council of Churches from 1991-1998, leading over 560 million members and 330 denominations in interfaith dialogue and collaboration. During his distinguished two decade tenure as Chairman of the Board at Payne, Bishop Anderson was committed to renovating the Mitchell-Anderson Building and at the forefront of the effort to build the Bishop Reverdy Cassius Ransom Memorial Library. His witness for ecumenism in theological education led to the founding of The Bishop Vinton R. Anderson Ecumenical Institute at Payne in 2011. The Institute promotes programs of education, advocacy, and service that address critically important social needs and offers opportunity for the Church to witness through common faith expressions developed from the ministry of Jesus Christ. Bishop Anderson migrated from Bermuda where he was born in Somerset, on July 11, 1927 to the United States in 1947 at twenty years old to attend Wilberforce University where he went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts with Honors. Anderson strengthened his religious knowledge as he gained his Masters of Divinity from Payne Theological Seminary in 1952.
Symposium on mass incarceration, prison reform and re-entry.
Develop a unified Christian voice as part of the curriculum, campus, and community life.
The institute promotes cooperation in the interfaith community during annual lectures.
Payne Theological Seminary coordinates an annual ecumenical lecture that features a prominent ecumenical expert. This lecture provides insights in the current ecumenical vision and the challenges that the ecumenical movement faces. It offers a clear and balanced view of the ecumenical landscape in relation to the relevant and pertinent issues and demands that are faced by the body of Christ. It offers students an important opportunity for formation through the development of their awareness and competencies in engaging the ecumenical issues of the day that they encounter in their lives and work.
Ecumenical learning and formation, academic study and personal exchange.
The faculty of Payne Theological Seminary selects an alumnus of the seminary to study at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey in Switzerland for ecumenical learning and formation, academic study and personal exchange.
The Bossey fellowship is an opportunity for the candidate to explore the historical, ethical, missiological, hermeneutical and theological tenets of the ecumenical enterprise and to shape and clarify their own thinking and self-understanding in these areas.
The Bossey fellowship offers broad exposure to various traditions within the Christian faith, thus emphasizing the reality of diversity while at the same time encouraging a balanced appreciation of one’s own identity.