Hybrid Church in the City Third Space Thinking

The Hybrid Church in the City focuses on the importance of urban space as a way of reinterpreting the mission and identity of the church for the twenty-first century. Christopher Baker uses the idea of the Third Space (a concept widely used in post-colonial and cultural studies) to offer a way of understanding the new form of the city – namely the diversity of the hybrid, post-colonial and postmodern urban space. In The Hybrid Church in the City, Christopher Baker deploys thinkers like Homi Bhabha and Leonie Sandercock to argue that the church should closely follow the grain of hybrid cities, including new forms of civil society and systems of governance, in order to occupy the fluid spaces created by the interaction of both networks and institutions, of the local and the global, and religion and secularity. He offers several case studies to back up his case for the development of what he calls local practical theologies which focus on developing partnerships with both faith and non-faith-based partners. Underpinning this practical theology is a radical Christian Realism tradition in the tradition of such thinkers as Bonhoeffer, Niebuhr, Temple, Preston and Atherton. In other words, the author believes, Third Space ecclesiology and theology are already at work. What is needed now is a new spatial language of the Third Space in order to help public theology engage with the complexity of rapidly-changing cities and societies. Christopher Baker writes and researches extensively on faith-based engagement in civil society and social policy. He also teaches and facilitates training events on these topics. ‘Christopher Baker offers a refreshing and authoritative look at the opportunities and challenges facing the urban church. This book is a great blend of cultural analysis, local voices and theological reflection. It marks a new wave of thinking about what it means to live as people of faith amidst the complexities of the contemporary city’. Elaine Graham, University of Manchester In this fascinating and prescient study, Christopher Baker argues for a new kind of engagement and connectedness for theology and the churches. By focussing attention on space, urbanisation and marginalisation, new possibilities for practical theology are opened up that invite a fundamental reconsideration of the churches and their location within post-modern society. This book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the Christianity and culture debate in more depth, and tackle it with imagination, flair and thought’. –Martyn Percy, Ripon College Cuddesdon Product Description There has been a growing interest in the rapidly evolving nature of cities in the past 10-15 years, but especially in the last 5 years, and the profound impact this is having upon our understanding of community, belonging and church. This book shows that theology in an urban context has developed way beyond the inner-city nostaligia. It is a challenging, critical and constructive study of the role of the church in cities.