Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Part one Public Witness in a Pluralistic Society
1. Introduction: Confession and Repentance as Public Witness
2. Evaluating Public Witness in the United Staes
Part two A Theology of Public Witness Based on Bonhoeffer's Thought
3. Christ's Public Presence: The Foundation and Form for Ecclesial Witness
4. Belonging: Participation in the World's Christological Pattern
5. The Church's Public Presence: Visibility through Confession and Repentance
Part Three Contours of a Repentig Church
6. The Eleuthero Community: Confesion and Repentance through Unlearning and Learning Anew
7. The Southeast White House: A Local Presence in a Neglected Neighborhood
Conclusion: Concrete Implications of an Ecclesial Witness Based on Repentance
Notes
Selected Bibliography
General Index
Scriptural Index

Drawing on the writings of German pastor-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jennifer M. McBride constructs a groundbreaking theology of public witness for Protestant church communities in the United States. In contrast to the triumphal manner in which many Protestants have engaged the public sphere, The Church for the World shows how the church can offer a nontriumphal witness to the lordship of Christ through repentant activity in public life.
After investigating current Christian conceptions of witness in the United States, McBride offers a new theology for repentance as public witness, based on Bonhoeffer's thought concerning Christ, the world, and the church. McBride takes up Bonhoeffer's proposal that repentance may be reinterpreted "non-religiously," expanding and challenging common understandings of the concept. Finally, she examines two church communities that exemplify ecclesial commitments and practices rooted in confession of sin and repentance. Through these communities she demonstrates that confession and repentance may be embodied in various ways yet also discerns distinguishing characteristics of a redemptive public witness.
The Church for the World offers important insights about Christian particularity and public engagement in a pluralistic society as it provides a theological foundation for public witness that is simultaneously bold and humble: when its mode of being in the world is confession of sin unto repentance, the church demonstrates Christ's redemptive work and becomes a vehicle of concrete redemption.