Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

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pt. 1. Theoretical approaches to the study of social witness practice. Seeking excellence : social witness as a religious practice -- Goods internal : social movement theory and the construction of identity -- pt. 2. Theological perspectives on social witness : sin, hope, and social change. "Bound together in a network of interdependence" : the complicated character of social life -- Entangled in the curse : sin and social action -- With an urgency born of this hope : hope and social action -- pt. 3. Toward the nourishment of social witness practice. Thinking and expressing : theological reflection in social witness practice -- Appendix: Ethographic sample, research methods, and themes.

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.