Joel Halldorf & Fredrik Wenell 
Between the State and the Eucharist [EPUB ebook] 
Free Church Theology in Conversation with William T. Cavanaugh

‘In the world, but not of the world’–this has been the motto of the Free Church tradition. But to what extent can freedom and independence from ’the world’ be realized in modernity, and how have these churches fared so far? These are the questions with which this book wrestles. The particular focus is Sweden, where a state-facilitated hypermodernity has created what some call ’the most modern nation in the world.’ The Swedish free churches have in many ways succumbed to the pressure of the modern welfare state and as a consequence lost their distinctive voice.
The argument of this book is that the rediscovery of practices left behind might be a way for these churches to recover a solid, particular, and deeply Christian identity. In dialogue with William T. Cavanaugh, the authors argue for a return to concrete, social practices: asceticism, table grace, written prayers, a turn to tradition, and the Eucharist. Here are lost treasures that might prove invaluable for the modern church at large, with her dual citizenship in the modern nation-state and the kingdom of heaven.

Over de auteur

Stanley Hauerwas is professor emeritus of ethics at Duke University where he held the Gilbert T. Rowe chair for more than twenty years. Among his numerous publications are Sanctify Them in the Truth: Holiness Exemplified (1998) and Living Gently in a Violent World, with Jean Vanier (2008). His latest publication is Fully Alive: The Apocalyptic Humanism of Karl Barth (University of Virginia Press, 2023).