Who we are
The North American Academy of Ecumenists is a community of ecumenical scholars and activists from a wide variety of Christian traditions across North America. We promote scholarship, church life, and pastoral practice in the service of Christian Unity and bring together ecumenists, theologians, liturgists, graduate students, church officials, clergy, religious and laity actively pursuing Christian unity. Membership benefits include a subscription to the prestigious Journal of Ecumenical Studies.
Dr. Aaron T. Hollander
President
Aaron Hollander is Associate Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute (NYC), Editor of Ecumenical Trends, Adjunct Faculty in Theology at Fordham University, and Affiliated Faculty at the Centro Pro Unione (Rome).
With degrees from Swarthmore College, Trinity College Dublin, and the University of Chicago (PhD 2018), he is an ecumenical theologian and scholar of interreligious relations, specializing in Orthodox Christian hagiography, lived religion, and political theology. He is active in the Episcopal Church and cherishes his interreligious heritage (Jewish and Christian).
Dr. Jakob Rinderknecht
Vice President
Jakob Karl Rinderknecht is the Director of the Honors Program and an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, TX). He studies how embodiment and culture shape the Catholic Church in its internal and external relationships.
Recent works include Mapping the Differentiated Consensus of the Joint Declaration, (Palgrave, 2016, winner of the Harding Meyer Prize in Ecumenism) and a critical translation of Karl Rahner’s An Ecumenical Priesthood: The Spirit of God and the Structure of the Church (Fortress, 2022). His current work argues that the field of ecumenism must attend to the intra-ecclesial wounds that Christians have inflicted on each other by participating in colonialism, enslavement, and the ecclesial structures of abuse and exclusion.
Dr. Liza Anderson
Past President
Liza Anderson is a historical theologian specializing in the ecumenical history of Christian spirituality, monasticism, and liturgy.
She received her BA from Swarthmore College with highest honors, MPhil in ecumenical studies from Trinity College Dublin, MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, and PhD from Yale University. Her work has been supported by Fulbright, Mitchell, and Javits Scholarships, and by fellowships from the Louisville Institute, the Episcopal Church Foundation, the American Academy of Religion, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is active in denominational governance within the Episcopal Church, and is currently based at the Collegeville Institute in Minnesota.
Dr. Joey Baker
Secretary
Joey Baker is the Administrative Assistant of the Southern California Christian Forum. He studies ecumenical methodology, with secondary interests in world Christianity and Pentecostal hymnody.
He received his PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary. He was an invited contributor to the Stewards Programme of the Karlsruhe Assembly of the World Council of Churches and currently serves as the Interim Chair of the Southern California Commission on Faith and Order. He is a lay member of the Assemblies of God.