Churches in Europe and the Challenge of Cultural Witness

The Special Issue 'Churches in Europe and the Challenge of Cultural Witness' seeks to explore and articulate new ways for the Church and the Theological Academy to work together to make the culture-shaping resources of Christian faith more widely known and available within secular European contexts. The Church across Europe has in recent times struggled to make its voice heard in public life, especially when it comes to communicating core Christian ideas and perspectives. We discern a need to move beyond simplistic apologetic strategies of rationalist arguments for faith, purely reactive pronouncements on social or political issues, or framing Christian doctrines purely within the acceptable language of secular discourse to find a new framework and practice for the communication of Christian faith. This Special Issue brings together different voices from both the Academy and the Church and from various denominations to explore new paradigms for the task of bearing witness to Christian faith within the particularities of contemporary cultures. This Special Issue is linked to the launch of the new Centre for Cultural Witness in the UK, based at Lambeth Palace on invitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, with key partners at the Center Faith & Society/Zentrum für Glaube & Gesellschaft at Fribourg University in Switzerland.