Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on the writings of German pastor-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jennifer M. McBride constructs a groundbreaking theology of public witness for Protestant church communities in the United States. In contrast to the triumphal manner in which many Protestants have engaged the public sphere, The Church for the World shows how the church can offer a nontriumphal witness to the lordship of Christ through repentant activity in public life. After investigating current Christian conceptions of witness in the United States, McBride offers a new theology for repentance as public witness, based on Bonhoeffer''s thought concerning Christ, the world, and the church. McBride takes up Bonhoeffer''s proposal that repentance may be reinterpreted non-religiously, expanding and challenging common understandings of the concept. Finally, she examines two church communities that exemplify ecclesial commitments and practices rooted in confession of sin and repentance. Through these communities she d
Trade ReviewThis refreshing study of Christian activism appeals to Bonhoeffer's deeply Luteheran Christology and transcends the usual stereotypes of evangelicals as right-wingers and mainliners as left-wingers...this books merits attention, not only as a Bonhoeffer study but also as the witness of the social consciousness of McBride herself, a young evangelical. * Lutheran Quarterly *
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments ; Part I: Public Witness in a Pluralistic Society ; Chapter One - Introduction: Confession and Repentance as Public Witness ; Chapter Two - Evaluating Public Witness in the United States ; Part II: A Theology of Public Witness Based on Bonhoeffer's Thought ; Chapter Three - Christ's Public Presence: The Foundation and Form for Ecclesial Witness ; Chapter Four - Belonging: Participation in the World's Christological Pattern ; Chapter Five - The Church's Public Presence: Visibility through Confession and Repentance ; Part III: Contours of a Repenting Church ; Chapter Six - The Eleuthero Community: Confession and Repentance through Unlearning and Learning Anew ; Chapter Seven: The Southeast White House: A Local Presence in a Neglected Neighborhood ; Conclusion: Concrete Implications of an Ecclesial Witness Based on Repentance ; Notes ; Selected Bibliography ; Index
