Witness Is Presence

Reading Stanley Hauerwas in a Nordic Setting

Tolonen

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781498271028
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

In a postsecular cultural situation the conditions for understanding and communicating a Christian tradition have changed. None of the established religions can any longer claim monopoly in the marketplace of religions. A claim of this study is that a postsecular situation characterized, among other things, by dwindling memberships in established churches as well as a new visibility of alternative religious expressions, opens up a need to reflect on alternative ways of understanding Christianity in its context. This study focuses on the question, how can a Christian tradition be communicated understandably in a postsecular context? In traditional terms: how can Christian witness be understood in our situation? It is to this need, according to this study, that the ecclesiology of Stanley Hauerwas provides a meaningful perspective. This perspective becomes relevant because in a postsecular context a Christian church, even a folk church, cannot assume to be in a position of majority or power. There is, therefore, a need to ask how to understand Christianity as a community of witness that is neither in power nor a majority. The study suggests that embodiment of Christian convictions becomes a central factor in a meaningful postsecular notion of witness.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Church as Social Ethic
• Chapter 3: Embodiment and Truth
• Chapter 4: Constantinianism and Nonviolence
• Chapter 5: Hauerwas in a Nordic Setting
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Bibliography