A Public Convergence: Embracing the Congregation as a Place of Difference

Abstract

Communitarians and public theologians alike tend to discuss the church’s identity as a clearly demarcated community separated from the world or public life, each defining publicness as something that is found outside the church. It is a more likely argument that publicness is already present in the congregation as a place of difference: it is possible for the particulars of the community to interact, engage, and mutually benefit the various social realms present in and through the congregants. This public identity renders engagement with the public an unavoidable reality and provides an opportunity for the congregation to become a fruitful space for the work of public theology by embracing this reality through the development of a public posture of openness, accessibility, and accountability, which would improve both the church’s internal ministry and its ministry in the world beyond its community.