[Forthcoming in the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.]
In her Theology, Political Theory, and Pluralism, Kristen Deede Johnson discusses two approaches to the fact of pluralism in democratic society. The first, exemplified in John Rawls’ political liberalism, seeks to consolidate difference into an overarching “overlapping consensus.” The second, represented by agonists such as William Connolly and Charlotte Mouffe, prefer to protect difference from assimilation. The first school aspires to unity; the second aspires to diversity. Both, Johnson writes, go wrong insofar as they pursue one at the sake of the other.
Johnson proposes a solution rooted in Augustinian theology, which recognizes the impossibility of a perfect harmony of diverse voices in the earthly city. Yet earthly citizens are still invited, in the Augustinian account, to work toward such harmony in their loving and humble interactions with otherness. This way of life is marked by what Johnson calls “rich conversation,” in which “people live together and engage with one another from within the embodiment of their differing narratives.” In this paper, I seek to further concretize the kind of communication that Johnson’s theology entails, putting it in conversation with Iris Marion Young’s theory of “communicative democracy.” I find in the Biblical narrative of the Pentecost an instructive example of the “embodied communication” Johnson promotes.
Drawing heavily on Willie Jennings’ portrayal of the episode in his magisterial commentary on Acts, I discover in the Pentecost a paradigm for communication between divergent communities that respects difference and underscores possibilities for union. The disciples speak in languages not their own, which requires that they enter into unfamiliar worlds—yet only in order to edify and encourage strangers in their midst. The community born at Pentecost is comprised of divergent constituencies, and yet is nevertheless integrated by communicative practices.
Most striking is the move that the Biblical text makes: the visions and dreams that Joel says God will convey to God’s beloved is not to be kept secret, but shared in prophecy. Tongues are first seen, and then heard. The proposed paper will therefore invite reflection on how divinely granted visions might be translated into conversations that facilitate what Jennings calls “joining.” This, in turn, is what unites God’s people in a visible manifestation of the Spirit-filled vision.