Waiting for a Glacier to Move: Practicing Social Witness

When asked about his work for social change, one Presbyterian elder and activist sighed, ＂You always have the feeling that you’re attacking an iceberg with an ice pick. . . . But still, some people do listen, and it does some good. As they say, even glaciers move every now and then.＂ The work for social change is long, arduous, and yields only the smallest of results. What sustains religious social activists while they chip away at social change? This book examines the practice of social activism from the inside out, exploring how activists are affected by their participation in the public sphere. Drawing on the fields of practice theory, social movement theory, and theologies of sin and hope, this book presents an interdisciplinary look at a complex phenomenon, and concludes with proposals for the nourishment of social activism within the church.

Jennifer R. Ayres is Assistant Professor of Religious Education and Director of the Program in Religious Education at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).