Rawls Goes to Church

Many mainline Protestant communities want to be welcoming while preserving their identities; they want to be shaped by the central claims of the faith while making room for those who doubt. And crucially, they want to do this in a way that leads to vibrant, growing communities, where more and more p...

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Main Author: Bob Fischer
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Catholic University of Louvain 2020-04-01
Series:TheoLogica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/theologica/article/view/20683
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author_sort Bob Fischer
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description Many mainline Protestant communities want to be welcoming while preserving their identities; they want to be shaped by the central claims of the faith while making room for those who doubt. And crucially, they want to do this in a way that leads to vibrant, growing communities, where more and more people gather to worship, encourage one another, and live out the Gospel. How should the Episcopal Church—and other mainline Protestant denominations, insofar as they’re similar—try to achieve these goals? I suggest that local churches borrow some resources from John Rawls’s Political Liberalism. On the view I outline, it’s valuable for local churches to see themselves as akin to political bodies composed of reasonable citizens. The idea, in essence, is that the relevant kind of reasonableness would make congregations more unified even while tolerating more diversity, and would accomplish all this without giving up their distinctly Christian identity.
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spelling doaj.art-5cdb6884d7f04698b7b9ffbb4b7796302022-12-22T03:06:05ZdeuCatholic University of LouvainTheoLogica2593-02652020-04-014110.14428/thl.v4i1.20683Rawls Goes to ChurchBob Fischer0Texas State UniversityMany mainline Protestant communities want to be welcoming while preserving their identities; they want to be shaped by the central claims of the faith while making room for those who doubt. And crucially, they want to do this in a way that leads to vibrant, growing communities, where more and more people gather to worship, encourage one another, and live out the Gospel. How should the Episcopal Church—and other mainline Protestant denominations, insofar as they’re similar—try to achieve these goals? I suggest that local churches borrow some resources from John Rawls’s Political Liberalism. On the view I outline, it’s valuable for local churches to see themselves as akin to political bodies composed of reasonable citizens. The idea, in essence, is that the relevant kind of reasonableness would make congregations more unified even while tolerating more diversity, and would accomplish all this without giving up their distinctly Christian identity.https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/theologica/article/view/20683Episcopal ChurchJohn Rawlsunitydiversityidentity
spellingShingle Bob Fischer
Rawls Goes to Church
TheoLogica
Episcopal Church
John Rawls
unity
diversity
identity
title Rawls Goes to Church
title_full Rawls Goes to Church
title_fullStr Rawls Goes to Church
title_full_unstemmed Rawls Goes to Church
title_short Rawls Goes to Church
title_sort rawls goes to church
topic Episcopal Church
John Rawls
unity
diversity
identity
url https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/theologica/article/view/20683
work_keys_str_mv AT bobfischer rawlsgoestochurch