On Churches

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides a counterpublic political ecclesiology for local churches to join BBCOs. To make this case, I draw from a radical social gospelers, Rev. George Washington Woodbey. After a brief caveat in the first section, this chapter’s second section, then, dives into Woodbey’s life, seeking to draw out from his life and work key themes and principles of a counterpublic political ecclesiology. These are three: cooperation, dialogue, and agitation. We need to do some updating of Woodbey’s nascent political ecclesiology and as I explore Woodbey’s life and writing I work dialogically to develop my counterpublic political ecclesiology. In my third section, I briefly review theologians and theological ethicists who have written about social practices of recognition, political ecclesiology, or churches in organizing. The fourth section sums up my argument and addresses the reality that a counterpublic political ecclesiology of churches in BBCO takes place in religiously plural constituencies.