Church as Field Hospital: Toward an Ecclesiology of Sanctuary

by Erin Brigham

Overview

Through an ethnographically driven study of expressions of sanctuary in San Francisco, Church as Field Hospital constructs an ecclesiology that expands notions of public engagement and sacred space in Christian theology. Sanctuary practices that create spaces for those who have been marginalized—immigrants, refugees, and unhoused people—reflect the field hospital church Pope Francis has envisioned and enacted.

This book investigates sanctuary as a way of being church, one marked by prophetic witness, embodied solidarity, sacramental praxis, and radical hospitality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814667200
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	01/03/2022
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Erin Brigham is the Faculty Coordinator of Research for the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought and Adjunct Professor in the Theology and Religious Studies Department of the University of San Francisco. She earned her PhD in systematic and philosophical theology at the Graduate Theological Union in 2010. Her research interests include Catholic public theology and social thought as well as post-conciliar ecclesiology and ecumenism. Her work has appeared in Ecumenical Review, The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, and other periodicals.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Searching for Sanctuary in the City of St. Francis 29
Chapter 2: Sanctuary as Prophetic Witness 65
Chapter 3: Sanctuary as Embodied Solidarity 95
Chapter 4: Sanctuary as Sacramental Praxis 125
Chapter 5: Sanctuary as Radical Hospitality 153
Conclusion 175
Index 187

Editorial Reviews

"A brilliant book! Brigham presents a compelling yet thoroughly practical vision of what the church could and should be in our times. Clarifying the church’s mission as one of radical hospitality, Brigham brings personal experience, cutting edge philosophy, and nuanced theology into dialogue with actual church practices. This inspiring and well-written book will be accessible for undergraduates, thought-provoking for graduate students, and engaging for all who seek to follow Christ in the church today."
Mary Doak, University of San Diego

"Church as Field Hospital represents one of the best products of the move to integrate ethnography and ecclesiology in recent decades, and is a moving, thought-provoking, and multi-faceted study rooted in carefully analyzed experience and thorough scholarship."
Journal of Catholic Social Thought

From the Publisher