From Isolation to Community

It is no secret that isolation--in political, cultural, physical, and social forms--is one of the key ailments of our age. But less explored is the way the church as it is frequently practiced contributes to this isolation instead of offering an alternative. This book applies Dietrich Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology to contemporary church practice. Myles Werntz engages with Bonhoeffer's work, particularly Life Together, to argue for a renewed vision of the church community as a theological therapy to cultural, moral, and sociological isolation. Insofar as the church fails in this task, it fails to be the body of Christ and magnifies the isolation that permeates creation. Werntz offers an account of how familiar church practices--such as Scripture reading, worship, prayer, and eating--contribute to community formation in the body of Christ. Shifting church practice away from isolation is not simply a matter of social engineering but a matter of embodied theological practice characteristic of the church as a community.

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