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Introduction Katie Day -- Interfaith community organizing : emerging theological and organizational challenges Brad Fulton, Richard L. Wood -- Receiving from the other : theology and grass-roots organizing Mary McClintock Fulkerson -- Churches unusual : worship and broad-based organizing in two Brooklyn congregations Aarian Marshall -- Leaders in faith-based organizing networks Patti Daley, Ryan J. Bell, Anthony Banout, Jonathan Currie -- Funding and teaching challenges facing faith-based organizing Sheila Greeve Davaney, John Bowlin, Jarrett Kerbel, Elizabeth Valdez -- Three public cultures Michael Gecan -- Pastors and flocks Jeffrey Stout -- Alinsky and Augustine : connecting organizing and theology Luke Bretherton

Abstract
Multifaith engagement must be motivated by ethics, sustained by ethics, and constructive of ethics. Written from the perspective of Christian ethics, this article locates empathy at the core of the ethics of building meaningful inter-religious relationships and activities. It draws on the life and work of Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer to illustrate the transformative role of empathy in constructing moral courage and action.

An in-depth study of 10 churches in African American neighborhoods of North Philadelphia examines the use of either church-based community organizing or a "traditional" (entrepreneurial leveraging) approach to enhance community economic development. In spite of sharing the same time, space, ideology, & social history, five clergy elected to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods by joining a broader group that challenged the system, while the other five chose to work within the system by accessing the existing power structure to gather resources. The community-organizing approach emphasizes shared leadership, broad parameters, the use of power to produce change, & political change. With the traditional approach, leadership rests almost totally with the pastor; the project's parameters are narrower; & political change is not a goal. Although the 10 projects were similar physically, significant differences in conceptualization & action corresponded with the two different strategies. It is shown that the pastor's personal history, as well as the context created by subcultures within their congregations, affects the social theology that determines which strategy is chosen. J. Lindroth

An in-depth study of 10 churches in African American neighborhoods of North Philadelphia examines the use of either church-based community organizing or a "traditional" (entrepreneurial leveraging) approach to enhance community economic development. In spite of sharing the same time, space, ideology, & social history, five clergy elected to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods by joining a broader group that challenged the system, while the other five chose to work within the system by accessing the existing power structure to gather resources. The community-organizing approach emphasizes shared leadership, broad parameters, the use of power to produce change, & political change. With the traditional approach, leadership rests almost totally with the pastor; the project's parameters are narrower; & political change is not a goal. Although the 10 projects were similar physically, significant differences in conceptualization & action corresponded with the two different strategies. It is shown that the pastor's personal history, as well as the context created by subcultures within their congregations, affects the social theology that determines which strategy is chosen. J. Lindroth