Dissenting Church Exploring the Theological Power of Conflict and Disagreement

This book challenges the prevailing notion of stability, cohesiveness, and uniformity within Christian communities, inviting readers to view contestation and disagreement as integral to theological reflection and church identity. While the volume focuses predominantly on the Roman Catholic Church as a case study, various chapters broaden the exploration across other Christian and non-Christian traditions. Beginning with the philosophical and theological foundations of conflict, contestation, and community, the book subsequently focuses on four main conflict fields: liturgy, canon law, gender, and sexuality, as well as race and postcolonial critical theory. The book finishes with a constructive proposal on how to think theologically about identity and antagonisms, as well as how to construct an ecclesiology of dissent. Contributors employ diverse methodological perspectives to offer constructive theological reflections, enhancing both understanding and practice of theology in the context of polarised public debates.

Chapter 1. Introduction.- I. Philosophical and theological foundations  of conflict, contestation, and community.- Chapter 2. Theological Perspectives of Conflict, Contestation and Community Formation from an Ecumenical Angle.- Chapter 3. A Radical Theology of Conflict and Contestation.- II. Conflict field: Liturgy.- Chapter 4. Catholic Liturgy Caught Between Polemics About Differences and Embracing Diversity.- Chapter 5. To Be Who We Are - A Dissenting Church: Two Proposals.- III. Conflict field: Canon Law.- Chapter 6. Dealing with Conflict and Dissent in the Roman Catholic Church.- Chapter 7. Dissent as Deviance: Sociological Observations on Structural Con?icts in Church.- IV. Conflict field: Gender and Sexuality.- Chapter 8. Seeking allies within the institutional church: reflections from South Africa on partnership as means to unsettling deadlocked conflict?.- Chapter 9. Conflicting Masculinities in Christianity: Experiences and critical Reflections on Gender and Religion.-V. Conflict field: Race / Postcolonial Constellations.- Chapter 10. The Muslim Ban: The Racialization of Religion and Soteriological Privilege.- Chapter 11. The Secularism Paradox of Interreligious Relations and International Relations.- VI. Constructing a Theology / Ecclesiology of Dissent. Chapter 12. Love your enemy: theology, identity and antagonism.- Chapter 13. Disagreement and Religious Relevance.

Judith Gruber is an associate professor of systematic theology at KU Leuven, Belgium, and the director of KU Leuven’s Centre for Liberation Theologies.