How might the Christian church effectively engage today's politically charged, profit-motivated world while remaining faithful to its biblical and theological roots? The contributors in this book argue that public theology provides a promising pathway forward. The public theology emerging from these pages has been influenced by the theological interests and commitments of Gary M. Simpson, Lutheran pastor and systematic theologian. His approach to public theology is intersectional and global; he artfully weaves together Lutheran theology and the civil society arena of Critical Social Theory. These essays provide three angles of vision on faith active in twenty-first century public contexts: contextual, ethical, and theological. While not mutually exclusive, these distinct strands of thought engage and challenge the church to substantial reflection on the challenging and often bewildering circumstances of the twenty-first century social world. Some reflect on God's activity within particular global contexts, others offer new perspectives on Lutheran confessional traditions, still others step boldly into innovative theological assertions. As the Christian church is ever forming and reforming, this book urges it to grapple with the "publicness" of its timely and timeless mission.

In dialogue with Jurgen Habermas's communicative ethics, Covenant and Communication constructively explores a covenantal-communicative model of Christian ethics. Hak Joon Lee analyzes themes of freedom, equality, and reciprocity in Habermas's theory of communication from the perspective of Reformed Christian doctrines of covenant and the Trinity. This reconstruction of Christian ethics based upon communicative rationality has profound implications for the reinterpretation of Christianity and its relationship with liberal political institutions. It offers fresh perspectives on important Christian theological concepts, such as divine economy, church, communion, conscience, law and gospel, and the social sphere. A communicative ethics rooted in a rich Christian spiritual tradition provides new energies for the kind of revitalization of democracy and human rights advocated by Habermas against the colonizing power of money and bureaucracy. This work tests its plausibility in dialogue with contemporary theories of Christian ethics, such as narrative ethics, Catholic human rights theory, and liberation ethics.

Racism. Immigration. Gun violence. Sexuality. Health care. The number of ethical issues that demand a response from Christians today is almost dizzying. How can Christians navigate such matters? What are faithful responses to these questions? Edited by two theologians with pastoral experience, this volume invites engagement with these issues and more by drawing on real-life experiences and offering a range of responses to some of the most challenging moral questions confronting the church today. With an unflinching yet irenic approach, this resource can help Christians as they seek to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.