Communities of resistance : faith as the new cultural avant-garde?

This paper argues that ‘faith communities’ are a significant yet largely ignored part of the cultural sector in the UK. It broaches current debates on religion, atheism and public life, yet serves to indicate how faith communities might point to ways in which ‘culture’ can become a substantive discourse on social life. Indeed, with reference to historical avant-garde art movements, this paper indicates how faith communities and their integration of cultural production and community could play a role in developing a significant cultural public sphere