Josip Turčinović was born on September 30th 1933. in Sveti Petar u Šumi, in central Istra. He received his education in Sveti Petar u Šumi, Kopar, Pazin and Zagreb. For the most part, his life and career will forever be linked to Zagreb, Catholic Faculty of Theology, Kršćanska sadašnjost publishing firm and the Wounded Christ Church in Zagreb. This dissertation focuses on the theological, publishing and public benefit work by the professor of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, Josip Turčinović, PhD, from the purely ecumenical standpoint, from the time of his birth in 1933. till his passing in Zagreb in 1990. Josip Turčinović was one of the leading Croatian theologians , leaving an undeniable mark on theology and culture in general. His contributions to the culture of dialogue, collaboration and search for peaceful solutions lead the way for future generations, securing his ecumenical profile and legacy. Furthermore, he was a professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb while also heading the Ecumenic theology department, along with being an expert on the history of religion and Croatian culture in general. Considering the environment and the region in which he operated, we can say that he was a brave theologian who focused on finding peaceful coexistence between Christian churches and trying to reflect the ecumenic thought on both the religious and social level. Considering the topic of this dissertation, the first chapter contains the biography of prof. Josip Turčinović with some key moments of his life laid out in chronological order to fully present us with his life's journey. Keeping the goal of this research in mind, along with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the modern theological viewpoint of the Catholic church, it was important to place prof. Turčinović clearly within the confines of time. This is crucial, because it makes a very obvious point of establishing the origins of prof. Turčinović's desire to pursue the knowledge of ecumenical teachings. It also shows his ecumenical growth and the way he reflected it onto both the religious and social level. Considering he was a very distinguished individual, both within the Church hierarchy and as an important figure of Croatian culture that has not been properly and systematically researched, we were open to explore that in more detail and present it through two periods of Turićinović's life, one representing his educational development and the other his development as a person. By exploring these periods we present the origins of his scientific interests. If we consider the value and level of practical contribution of prof. Turićinović to the ecumenic thought in general, we find it to be of great importance to keep all aspects of his life and work completely clear and precise. Finally, his formation, both as a person and as a priest, turned out to be an authentic prism through which we could fully understand his ecumenic dimension and his placement within time. His environment certainly had a significant impact on his development as a theologist. Keeping in mind that Josip Turčinović is primarily a Catholic priest, it is worth showing in which types of circumstances his formation in that area came to be. Two determining factors turned out to be especially important for his development as a person and as a priest. Those factors were culture and faith, both omnipresent within the Catholic church and crucial for understanding prof. Turčinović. The second chapter of this dissertation focuses on the second period of Josip Turčinović's life, the period in which he became a professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, thus changing his environment. The reason for exploring these new circumstances in more detail is to determine which aspects of his earlier education and up-bringing he decided to change. An important role belongs to his professors who were his frequent collaborators in pushing forward the presence of dialog on every level of social life in the spirit of council rebuild of Croatia, so we also dedicated a part of this chapter to this very topic. His academic career at the Catholic Faculty of Theology started in January of 1964. and ended in october of 1990. The broad spectrum of his ecumenic and scientific interests is best conveyed through the sheer number of many different subjects which he taught during his academic days. Furthermore, in this chapter we wanted to shine a light on Turčinović's contributions to ecumenism in general. He was a person whose impact was always substantial in theology, literature and culture. We presented him as a well-intentioned man of the Church, who was always guided by the principal of dialogue and also as a theologist who, inspired by the Second Vatican Council (1962.-1965.) which centered heavily on ecumenism, intentionally chose ecumenism as the focus of his interest. It needs to be pointed out that although Turčinović was involved with all the Council activities, this dissertation explores and evaluates his work through the prism of ecumenism and also presents certain pre and post-Council activities to highlight his involvement. If we take into account the socio-political circumstances and structure, which had a massive impact on the Catholic Church at the time, the importance of Turčinović's work in that context, the significance of his long term vision and even courage in some of his initiatives is immeasurable. Here we would like to highlight the founding and the importance of the publishing firm Kršćanska sadašnjost, considering the fact that the Catholic press was controlled at the time, with its spectrum of topics being extremely narrow. Kršćanska sadašnjost was headed by Turčinović,making him the spark in all of the firm's endeavors while also being the chief editor which allowed him to shape the firm's ecumenic profile and activity, shaping ecumenism in Croatia in the process. It is once again worth to note his academic career at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb and his contribution to Faculty's goals as a theological-scientific institution by being the chief editor of two major libraries of Kršćanska sadašnjost, Volumina Theologica and Analecta Croatica Christiana, since the time he became an assistant at the Department of Eastern Divinity in January 1964 until the time of his passing in 1990. Prof. Turčinović's devotion to progress and the reputation of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb is best reflected not only on his collaboration with his colleagues and professors, especially Tomislav Janko Šagi-Bunić, Vjekoslav Bajsić and Ivan Golub, but also in his representation of the Faculty on ecumenical conferences of theological faculties from Ljubljana and Belgrade and many other international congresses. There he proved himself to be an excellent lecturer with a keen sense of importance, synthesis and meaning. His contribution to theological studies is evident through many different viewpoints and in the second chapter, we chose to focus on his efforts to start the theology rebuild based on the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council, making him ahead of his time in recognizing the importance of such process. In this chapter we established the lines in between which the life and work of Prof. Turčinović was taking place. This meant getting back to the origins of Christianity and accepting the world as is, providing hope and salvation. For the theologian Turčinović, the Second Vatican Council was a crucial moment in time, a defining moment that will determine the future. If we take into consideration the socio-economic circumstances during which the Council took place, it was necessary to point out the very brave approach of Prof. Turčinović in the implementation of Council conclusions, where he played a vital role in moving forward the culture of dialogue and ecumenism in this part of the world. We can conclude that all of his contributions were based on the culture of dialogue and collaboration, especially with his professors at the time, and that his academic work greatly contributed to the reputation of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb. The third chapter, the central chapter of this dissertation, evaluates analytically all of Turčinović's significant published ecumenic work and the publications with ecumenic topics while acknowledging the fact that prof. Turčinović intentionally chose ecumenic field as the focus of not only his life's work but his life itself, using ecumenism as a solution and a tool for overcoming obstacles. His scientific and publishing work spans a wide variety of topics , with some of the more notable ones being his publications on theological controversies of the 17th and 18th Century, which demonstrate his keen understanding and viewpoint on the relations of East and West through the entire 18th Century. Furthermore, Potom, his contribution to further development of the modern post-council thought is more than clear, most notably through his revision of the translation and the content and graphic classification of the Second Vatican Council Documents (Koncil 1, Zagreb 1970). We tried to fully determine, from the historical and Church standpoint, Prof. Turčinović's theological work right after the Second Vatican Council was concluded, and became an inescapable factor in understanding his thought process, his practical approach and also the effort to spread the message of the Council onto theological and liturgical level, sending it also to the Catholic priests and the Catholic community in general. In addition, this chapter introduces main determinants and characteristics of Josip Turčinović's ecumenic theology , its actualization, biblio centricity and christocentricity as the essence of ecumenism, and in the core of everything – the interest in each and every person alongside with their desires in life, intervowen with ecumenic spirit. This chapter also presents the overall nature of Turčinović's ecumenic thought in its entirety and also the importance and the impact it has for the future ecumenic dialog, in an effort to unite the now unfortunately still divided Christian Churches. It is also important to mention the year 1975, the time when liturgy was being adapted to Croatian language. Turčinović is seen here as one of the more established authors of liturgy books. That same year he visited the 10th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council In Rome where he, along with certain professors from the Catholic Faculty of Theology, managed to secure the 'free' translation rights for all the theological literature. According to the Roman Department of Liturgy, Josip Turčinović is considered to be one of the most successful liturgy publishers among the Catholic nations. Within this chapter, through evaluating the contribution to the ecumenical thought in general, we asked ourselves one significant question: How important is ecumensim for today's theology and can the Turčinović's ecumenic thought help us as a framework for the future of ecumenic dialogue between still divided Christian Churches? In conclusion we would like to point out the following: 1) Considering the unique geographical and cultural position of Croatia, being torn between the Christian East and the West, along with many ad antra conflicts within the Church itself which resulted in many significant historical events such as the East-West Schism in the 11th Century and the Reformation of the 16th Century, it is safe to assume that these circumstances enabled the emergence of many brave theologists such as Josip Turčinović who were in permanent search for the peaceful solutions to many divisions; 2) Keeping in mind Turčinović's broad recognition and his interreligious affinity, his ecumenical work, guided by the culture of dialogue, is of immense significance for the relationships between different Christian Churches at the time and the Catholic Church itself; 3) We believe that the ecumenical theological thought and the ecumenical work of Prof. Josip Turčinović contributed greatly to the ecumenical atmosphere in the Catholic Church; 4) The turning point and the beginning of the new age of ecumenism for the entire Christian world was introduced by the Second Vatican Council (1962.-1965.) shining a spotlight on the new ways of evangelization, initiating the rebuild of the previously in place structure. In that sense, the Council requires a step forward towards ecumenism and dialogue with the religions of the world, and it is precisely the post and pre-Council period that defined Josip Turčinović's theological legacy, making his role in this entire ecumenical moment in time crucial and unavoidable. He was among the leading theologists during these ecumenical developments, whose endeavors even than showed the future path of ecumenical activity in Croatia and things to come.; 5) The fundamental starting point of Turčinović's theological work was determined by his ecumenically relevant literary work in which he, both critically and theologically contemplates the essence of ecumenism, the historicity and critique in regards to this region in particular. It is also clear that the source for his understanding of ecumenical theology comes from the Scripture and that he uses the ideal of Jesus Christ as a role model and an guideline for his ecumenical work; 6) Considering a broad recognition of Prof. Turčinović and his willingness to understand and respect anyone who might be considered different, we can talk about, with a high degree of certainty, of his involvement with finding the solution in a substantially tense period of time, both in a religious and socio-political sense, which he finds in ecumenism; 7) The activity of Josip Turčinović during especially difficult and complicated times, both in a religious and sociological sense, is undeniable and invaluable. Guided by the culture of dialogue he was involved with religious life in a more direct way. We can say that through collecting and examining the relevant documents regarding Josip Turčinović a conclusion arose that Prof. Turčinović contemplated heavily to find the solution and overcome the barriers between Christian Churches, only to find a promising one in the ecumenical principles of positive approach and the culture of dialogue, not solely on a theoretical theological level but also through applying it to everyday life.