Church, Immigration & Pluralism

This book wrestles with the question of how the church can
thrive in such a diverse urban environment as Berlin and
contribute to the flourishing of a pluralistic society. The
study includes embedded experience on the streets and
crosses the disciplinary divides of Sociology & Theology.
The main claim of the book is that the church is only able
to thrive when it is willing to descend into the messy urban
reality and encounter the stranger. However, the church can
only do so by glimpsing God's glory in worship. Living
pluralism emerges from the grassroots. The church can only
become a gift to society paradoxically: By not setting
itself at the center, but rather by gathering around the
triune God and abandoning its desire for power and
relevance, the church will unintentionally provide a fertile
soil within which resilient pluralism will grow.

Oleg Dik is professor for urban Theology &
Sociology at the Evangelische Hochschule TABOR, Marburg /
TSB Theologisches Studienzentrum Berlin and lectures
occasionally at Humboldt University Berlin in Sociology of
Religion.