ABSTRACT
Various ways of constructing more radical Christian communities in postfordist cultures will only emerge from the dialogues, interactions, and mutual challenges that flow within and between churches that emphasize their distinctiveness and subversive character, or they will not emerge at all. A vision and experience of church as the primary source for Christian self-definition and mission in the world presumes that the Church can and should change, even as it holds fast to the stories, poetry, and symbols of Jesus and the Christian tradition—a paradoxical charge to some, a contradictory one to others. Both lay and clerical groups have contributions to make to the creation of churches able to fashion Christians against the flood of global culture industries. A discipleship-oriented church, the possibility of more fundamental conversion among already-baptized Catholics and other Christians, is simply impossible unless the church wins back time and attention from the global culture industries.
