Reconciling Places

How to Bridge the Chasms in our Communities

Paul A. Hoffman

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781532651229
  9781532651236
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532651243
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers"--but in our increasingly polarized communities and nation, where can a person of faith begin? In Reconciling Places, pastor and scholar Paul Hoffman introduces laypeople and ministry leaders to a "theology of reconciliation" that equips Christians to act as reconcilers and bridge builders, wherever they are and whatever issues divide their communities.

1 Your Place

Since 2007, I have resided in a particular place: the small, seaside city of Newport, Rhode Island, located at forty-one degrees north latitude and seventy-one degrees west longitude.15 My adopted home sits on the southern end of Aquidneck Island and is surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of Narragansett Bay. Before I became a resident of Newport, my wife and I only knew the city as tourists, first visiting in July 1998. We have fond memories of strolling on the boardwalk next to sun-kissed Easton’s Beach, riding the iconic carousel there, and sauntering down lower Thames Street, browsing through coastal-themed shops selling antiques, shot glasses, paintings, jewelry, and other assorted knickknacks.

Newport is known for its rich history and prestige: the city dates back to 1639 and projects a glamorous image due to its Gilded Age mansions, formerly owned by “American royalty” such as the Vanderbilt family.16 In 1953, Jacqueline Bouvier married Senator John F. Kennedy downtown at St. Mary’s Church; the reception took place at the elegant Hammersmith Farm estate in southern Newport. More recently, billionaire businessman Larry Ellison and comedian Jay Leno both purchased mansions in Newport (Beechwood and Seafair, respectively). Newport, past and present, has been a hot spot for the rich and famous.

However, upon becoming a resident of Newport, I began to see this city was more complicated than advertised. While its prestige is well-earned, Newport also endures high levels of poverty, unemployment, and drug and alcohol addiction, as well as a housing shortage for the impoverished and homeless.17 Furthermore, upon meeting the director of a local community center, I learned that Newport is polarized between the rich and the poor, between millionaires that spend the summer vacationing in the city and many others who subsist on government support.18 Perhaps most tragically of all, one agency has calculated that Newport has the third highest rate of child abuse and neglect in Rhode Island.19

That is a mere snapshot of the place I inhabit. What do you know about the place you call home? Very likely it is more multifaceted than you are currently aware. So because we cannot serve our communities well if our understanding of them is superficial, let’s take the opportunity to define the whole idea of place more fully.

Defining “place”

Let’s imagine that each place is like a diamond. Every diamond has facets: “A facet is a flat surface on the geometric shape of the diamond. . . . The facets are arranged in such a way as to make sure the right amount of light enters the diamond, as well as reflect from the diamond.”20 Now, let’s envision that each place has four facets: the concrete, interactive, sacramental, and eschatological. When taken together, these facets, or characteristics, give us a comprehensive picture of place.

The concrete dimension refers to the tangible, created order. The Bible begins with the phrase, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). God fashioned constellations, planets, and black holes in the firmament above, while on our planet he provided rivers, oceans, mountains, trees, grass, etc. Place, then, is materialistic, sensory, and tactile; it is the “physical context of our lives.”21 One can measure the temperature of water and feel its refreshing coolness as it slides down the throat. I can observe the dry texture of sand or the muckiness of mud as my feet press into these surfaces. Every place has an altitude, a scent, a specific collection of flora and fauna, a measurable population of humans and animal life, a certain kind of built environment located at a specific longitude and latitude. Place is external and quantifiable to us (humans).

Accordingly, place expresses “particularity,” a sort of local uniqueness.22 Consider theologian John Inge’s differentiation between space and place:

When we think of space, most of us will tend to think of “outer space” and “infinity,” but when we think of place, on the other hand, we will tend to think of locality, a particular spot. What is undifferentiated space becomes for us significant place by virtue of our familiarity with it. The two terms might be thought of as tending towards opposite ends of a spectrum which has the local at one end and the infinite at the other. Spaces are what are filled with places.23

“Particularity” then, refers to the distinctive elements between various places or localities. That is, every city, town, community, neighborhood, block, park, or domicile presents “‘[T]hisness’ or haecceitas . . . [it] is utterly specific and is to be found only in this and that particular.”24 Each place has a specificity to it that sets it apart from other places—concrete and measurable characteristics.

Theologically speaking, particularity finds its pinnacle in the Incarnation25 of the Son of God, in “Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 3:5). Professor Stephen Bevans notes,

God became flesh (Jn 1:14), and not generally, but particularly. God became flesh, a human being, in the person of Jesus, a Jew, son of Mary, a male. God became flesh in a human person of such and such a height, with a particular color hair, with particular personality traits, etc.26

The Incarnation reveals the value God places on the concrete and difference. The triune God, one being existing in three, distinct persons, has embedded diversity and nuance inside creation, and furthermore, revealed himself through a spec...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword by J. R. Woodward
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Our Place—the Divided States of America
• 1 Your Place
• 2 The Foundation: The Relational Nature of the Trinity
• 3 The Substructure: Reconciling Theology
• 4 The Superstructure: Reconciling Practices
• Conclusion: A Redux, Recasting, and Reconciling Commission
• Bibliography