Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: we are all the people of a new beginning -- Christian universalism of hope -- Hope in search of understanding -- Hope for man and the universe -- The challenge of our hope : history and eschatology, an east European view -- A faith friendly to non-believers -- Universal salvation : questions on soteriological universalism -- Christian universalism : its ethical and spiritual implications -- Universalism of salvation : St. Isaac the Syrian -- Western mystics and the hope of universal salvation : Julian of Norwich and Thomas Merton -- Identity and ecumenical openness -- The mystery of unity amidst divisions -- Towards a paschal Christianology -- Ecumenism and the kenotic dimension of ecclesiology -- Identity and openness : dilemmas of Polish identity today -- The cost of unity : Catholic-Orthodox dialogue -- Between trust and mistrust : ecumenical relations and theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church -- The cost of unity : the papal primacy in recent Orthodox reflection -- The Florentine union : reception and rejection -- Ecumenical lessons from the past : soteriological exclusivism at the basis of uniatism -- Orthodoxy and the union of Brest : the ecumenical significance of the memorial of Metropolitan Peter (Mohyla) to Pope Urban VIII (1644-1645) -- Outliving the schism -- Reconciliation and a theology of sister churches -- Epilogue : Thinking about the Church with hope : the example of Waclaw Hryniewicz / by Maciej Bielawski.