Church, Immigration & Pluralism: Paradoxical Reformation After German Christendom

This book wrestles with the question of how the church canthrive in such a diverse urban environment as Berlin andcontribute to the flourishing of a pluralistic society. Thestudy includes embedded experience on the streets andcrosses the disciplinary divides of Sociology & Theology.The main claim of the book is that the church is only ableto thrive when it is willing to descend into the messy urbanreality and encounter the stranger. However, the church canonly do so by glimpsing God's glory in worship. Livingpluralism emerges from the grassroots. The church can onlybecome a gift to society paradoxically: By not settingitself at the center, but rather by gathering around thetriune God and abandoning its desire for power andrelevance, the church will unintentionally provide a fertilesoil within which resilient pluralism will grow.Oleg Dik is professor for urban Theology &Sociology at the Evangelische Hochschule TABOR, Marburg /TSB Theologisches Studienzentrum Berlin and lecturesoccasionally at Humboldt University Berlin in Sociology ofReligion.