Social themes have been present in the Church since the beginning of Christianity. It is a known fact that Christian Churches manifest the practical, social dimensions of faith in many ways by concretely helping those that are in need. The theoretical aspect of the social dimension of the faith has been minutely systematised in Catholic social teaching, starting with Pope Leo XIII and the first social encyclical letter Rerum Novarum (May 15, 1891). In Protestant Churches this aspect developed within ‘social ethics,’ especially in the second half of the 20th century. Orthodox Churches, on the other hand, started to discuss the theoretical aspect of social themes only recently, starting from the first official document of the Russian Orthodox Church, entitled Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church (August, 2000). In 2006, the Orthodox Faculty of Theology of the University of Belgrade introduced the course Christian Sociology, which covers social themes. There are many issues in the social teaching of the Catholic Church which could be discussed from ecumenical and dialogical points of view. The paper will point out the important need for deepening ecumenical dimension of the social teaching of the Church, theological dialogue with social teachings of other Christian Churches, as well as the importance of their closer cooperation on the level of activity, and in the areas of poverty and social justice.
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