Miroslav Volf, A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve Common Good. Brazos Press, 2011.
Referenced in: Evangelism in Contemporary Culture – Special Challenges
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Volf offers a theological perspective on how Christians may interact in a pluralistic society (religious, political, philosophical, ethnic, etc.) by civil discussion and cooperative action for the public good.
Endorsements
“Our efforts as people of faith to bring our religious convictions into the public arena have clearly malfunctioned in recent years, but Miroslav Volf does not want us to retreat to a ‘private faith’ mentality. Instead he offers profound counsel about how faith-based public advocacy can promote the common good in our increasingly pluralistic world. This important book is packed with wisdom!”- Richard J. Mouw, president and professor of Christian philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary
“Why should Christians use the resources of their faith to speak to and serve the common good rather than reducing the faith to a message that soothes individuals or energizes them to pursue success? And how can they do that without coercing those who are not Christians? In A Public Faith, Miroslav Volf sets for himself the daunting task of addressing these two deep and urgent questions in a way that is both widely accessible and takes account of the scholarly literature. He succeeds on all counts. It is a wonderful guide for the perplexed in our times.” – Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale University; senior fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia
“Firmly rooted within his own tradition of Christianity, Miroslav Volf has produced an indispensable guide for voices of faith within the arena of public discourse. A Public Faith is arguably the most important book on the topic since H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture.” – Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history, Columbia University.
From the Publisher
Debates rage today about the role of religions in public life. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, various religions come to inhabit the same space. But how do they live together, especially when each wants to shape the public realm according to the dictates of its own sacred texts and traditions? How does the Christian faith relate in the religious pluralism of contemporary public life?
While Volf argues that there is no single way Christian faith relates to culture as a whole, he explores major issues on the frontlines of faith today:
- In what way does the Christian faith come to malfunction in the contemporary world, and how should we counter these malfunctions?
- What should a Christian’s main concern be when it comes to living well in the world today?
- How should we go about realizing a vision for human flourishing in relation to other faiths and under the roof of a single state?
Covering such timely issues as witness in a multifaith society and political engagement in a pluralistic world, this compelling book highlights things Christians can do to serve the common good.
About the Author
Miroslav Volf (DrTheol, University of Tübingen) is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture in New Haven, Connecticut. He has written more than fifteen books, including Exclusion and Embrace (selected among the 100 best religious books of the twentieth century by Christianity Today), After Our Likeness, and The End of Memory.
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