Beloved Community

Reclaiming the Christian Faith for the Common Good

JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE has committed his life to building ‘Beloved Community’ – a phrase popularized by Martin Luther King Jr. that casts a vision of a space for economic and social justice, peaceful conflict resolution, and the reconciliation of humanity.

A celebrated spiritual author, sought-after speaker, and a well-known peace and social justice activist, Jonathan is one of a generation of leaders influenced by Tony Campolo and Ron Sider, with their emphasis on theology and social action.

One of the ways Jonathan has outworked this influence is through Rutba House – a house of hospitality that he and his wife Leah founded in 2003. Here, the formerly unhoused and the formerly housed share life together.

“This is where we find the kind of joy and gladness that God offers,” Jonathan says about living in this reflection of beloved community, “in being part of how God builds something new, particularly with and among people who’ve been rejected.”

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove @wilsonhartgrove Follow

When the early church proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus, they didn’t take people to see the empty tomb. They pointed to the beloved community that Christ makes possible.

Apr 4, 2021

Spiritual Practices

The New Monasticism movement, founded in 2004 by Jonathan and Shane Claiborne, builds on this sense of beloved community.

“The practice of being in spaces where scriptures are read and proclaimed, where we pray and have contemplative practices rooted in a tradition of worshipping the Jesus who sets the captives free – that’s the most important spiritual practice for me,” Jonathan explains. New Monasticism stresses community, spiritual practices, and love for those on the margins of society as a way of following and experiencing the presence of Jesus.

Reclaiming The Christian Faith For The Common Good

But the Church has a chequered history in seeking to love its neighbour. In the North American Christian context, public action has taken on a particular – often polarizing – form. But is there something different and better that can be offered?

In June 2023, Jonathan will be the keynote speaker at the Simpson Lectures in Wolfville during ADC's East Coast Theology Summer School to address just that.

“Throughout Christian history, the church’s call to love of neighbour and public justice has led God’s people to engage in public life for the common good,” Jonathan says. “While this vocation has looked different depending on the political systems of particular times and places – and Christians’ relative power within them – there is no gospel witness without a social witness.”

“Throughout Christian history, the church’s call to love of neighbour and public justice has led God’s people to engage in public life for the common good.”

Register for the lectures at ACADIADIV.CA/SIMPSON-2023

Jonathan warns that political engagement comes with its own temptations. “The story of Christianity in public life has also been a story of sin and betrayal,” he says, “in which some of the most wicked deeds done by humans in the world have been committed in the name of Jesus. In the contemporary North American context, the rise of a “religious right” following the civil and women’s rights movements of the 1950s and 60s in the United States has had a profound impact on public perceptions of Christian public witness.”

In his lectures, Jonathan hopes to “locate our present challenge in the long history of Christian public witness and in the context to the ongoing backlash against movements that were led by Christians.” He’ll tackle questions like “What tactics were deployed to undermine the moral movement for beloved community, and how have they distorted the ways we talk about moral issues in public life today?” He’ll unpack where we can turn for resources to reclaim a faithful public witness, and what movements for social transformation the church might be called to join today.

Join us June 13-15, 2023 for the Simpson Lectures at Acadia Divinity College and online.

ABOUT JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE

Jonathan is a leader in the Red Letter Christians movement and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. He directs the School for Conversion, a popular education center that works to build beloved community and resource moral fusion coalitions. He is also an Associate Minister at Saint John's Missionary Baptist Church. He has written many books and regularly speaks at churches and conferences where he seeks to encourage Christians to engage in faithful witness to Jesus Christ in the public sphere.

Starting in December 2022, Jonathan became the Assistant Director for Partnerships and Fellowships and Lecturer at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

Learn more at JONATHANWILSONHARTGROVE.COM

For more details, visit ACADIADIV.CA/ZEMAN-2023 Register for the lectures at ACADIADIV.CA/HAYWARD-2023