Oecumene as a secular sociological concept. The word oecumene has its origin in the Greek word „oikoumene”. Both words show a variety of meaning. The present usage of the word oecumene is not confined at all to the meaning of „Christian world” and „the church throughout the world”. In human geography oecumene is still common for the oecological concept of the inhabited and inhabitable surface of the earth. In anthropology and sociology the word was used e.g. by Kroeber to indicate an historic culture aggregate of higher civilization and by Redfield to classify the types of cities as before and after the industrial revolution and Western expansion (before and after the „universal oecumene”). Historians talk about the buddhist and moslem oecumenes. The word may also be used to refer to the communist world. Because of its variety of meaning the word oecumene may become a very useful concept in a cultural sociological study of world development. It implies a general historical perspective of cultural growth as well as a perception of the tremendous conflicts in the present situation of the „universal ecumene”. Its use as a secular concept may stimulate „oecumenical movements” to recognize world-wide problems of human existence as urgent matters for joint action.
