The public role of the Christian community in the work of David Bosch

Abstract

The article is a response to a recent claim by William Storrar that Bosch’s paradigm of mission can be named a public paradigm of mission, and that the creative tensionbetween the elements of Bosch’s emerging paradigm of mission might cease to existin the work of public theology. The development of Bosch’s ecclesiology in relation tothe notion of the alternative community is examined, and it is argued that this servesas a reminder that, in the work of Bosch, the church should also remain in tension withthe public sphere as associated with a particular kind of democracy. While publictheology and the creation of an inclusive public sphere are not rejected, within Bosch’secclesiology the critical distinctiveness of the Christian community continues to beimportant.