ABSTRACT
This chapter critiques the concept of freedom, which will lead into a discussion about new spaces and culture change. It outlines the importance of freedom; its constraints, possibilities, and links with early Christian practices. The chapter underlines an incipiently open baptismal practice of an early Church, which was taken up by Paul and made the centrepiece of a letter to the barbarians. The underlying problem is the Church's enmeshment with sovereign power, which is fuelled by an enthrallment with the "the spell of monarchy". In particular, the Church needs to renounce the monarchical model and become a space of freedom. To that end, it would be helpful to revisit Foucauldian themes, and identify the origin of the concept a space of freedom. In particular, the faithful live for the promise of freedom; in the Pauline communities there was a complex, fluid network of local and more than local structures and authorities.
