
Interrupting the Church's Flow
A radically receptive political theology in the urban margins
Al Barrett(Author)
SCM Press
Published on 30. October 2020
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-334-05990-5 (ISBN)
Description
How can we develop and embody an ecclesiology, in contexts of urban marginality, that is radically receptive to the gifts and challenges of the agency of our non-Christian neighbours?
Drawing on resources from political theologies, and in particular conversation with Graham Ward and Romand Coles, this book challenges our lazy understanding of receptivity, digging deep to uncover a rich theological seam which has the potential to radically alter how theologians think about what we draw from urban places. It offers a game changing liberative theology rooted not in the global south but from a position of self-critical privilege.
Drawing on resources from political theologies, and in particular conversation with Graham Ward and Romand Coles, this book challenges our lazy understanding of receptivity, digging deep to uncover a rich theological seam which has the potential to radically alter how theologians think about what we draw from urban places. It offers a game changing liberative theology rooted not in the global south but from a position of self-critical privilege.
Reviews / Votes
This book offers us a renewing and challenging vision of how to be human in unsettling times. It renews political theology as a discipline, building on (rather than rejecting) the movements of recent years; and it renews the Church whose pathway to the life of resurrection is argued to be via a radically receptive way of living. -- Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought and PracticeMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
763 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-334-05990-5 (9780334059905)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Al Barrett
Interrupting the Church's Flow
A radically receptive political theology in the urban margins
E-Book
10/2020
1st Edition
SCM Press
€103.99
Available for download
Person
Revd Dr Al Barrett is rector of Hodge Hill Church in the Diocese of Birmingham. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queen's Foundation
Content
Acknowledgments vii
Foreword, Professor Mike Higton and Dr Sanjee Perera xi
Introduction 1
Part One - Church on the Edges of the Public Square
1 Locating the drama 17
2 Public Theology 33
3 Liberation Theologies 43
4 Ecclesial political theologies 58
Part Two - Engaging Graham Ward: theologian of the postmodern city
5 The postmodern city 75
6 Church as 'alternative erotic community' 96
7 Interrupting the church's flow: Ward's 'schizoid' christology, and repressed 'others' 123
8 Tracing Ward's retreats 138
Part Three - Engaging Romand Coles as post-liberal 'theologian' of receptivity
9 A tension-dwelling 'visionary pragmatism' 161
10 A 'christeccentric', 'radically insufficient' church 201
Part Four - Developing a radically receptive political theology
11 Engaging critical white theology: dis-locating the (privileged) theologian 225
12 A radically receptive political ontology: returning to the flow(s) 243
13 Practising radically receptive political theology 254
14 Returning 264
Appendices 276
Bibliography 301
Index of Names and Subjects 325
Foreword, Professor Mike Higton and Dr Sanjee Perera xi
Introduction 1
Part One - Church on the Edges of the Public Square
1 Locating the drama 17
2 Public Theology 33
3 Liberation Theologies 43
4 Ecclesial political theologies 58
Part Two - Engaging Graham Ward: theologian of the postmodern city
5 The postmodern city 75
6 Church as 'alternative erotic community' 96
7 Interrupting the church's flow: Ward's 'schizoid' christology, and repressed 'others' 123
8 Tracing Ward's retreats 138
Part Three - Engaging Romand Coles as post-liberal 'theologian' of receptivity
9 A tension-dwelling 'visionary pragmatism' 161
10 A 'christeccentric', 'radically insufficient' church 201
Part Four - Developing a radically receptive political theology
11 Engaging critical white theology: dis-locating the (privileged) theologian 225
12 A radically receptive political ontology: returning to the flow(s) 243
13 Practising radically receptive political theology 254
14 Returning 264
Appendices 276
Bibliography 301
Index of Names and Subjects 325