The Company of Strangers Christians and the Renewal of America's Public Life

In The Company of Strangers, a strikingly relevant book even after nearly twenty years, noted educator Parker J. Palmer describes public experience as our "life among strangers with whom our lot is cast, with whom we are interdependent whether we like it or not." And the educational process is one "which brings us out of ourselves into an awareness of our connectedness." At its core, public education recognizes the fundamental dignity of a "relationship rooted in our common humanity." Public education then, unlike private forms, will consciously underscore the shared primary elements of social experience without giving preferential treatment to limited secondary characteristics based on wealth, economic status, race, religion or ideology."In this process," Palmer continues, "opinions become audible and accountable and individuals learn that private viewpoints have implications for the common good. Under the pressure of accountability religious discourse may be forced to reach for the essentials which unite us." In contrast to withdrawal from public participation into private enclaves of conspicuous consumption or of opting to participate only as a convinced crusader invincibly armored to fend of responsible dialogue, Palmer notes that "public life becomes the spiritual guide of our private life." Truth, he continues, "is a very large matter, and requires various angles of vision to be seen in the round." Such an assessment of public experience is, in my view, what makes American education a "very large matter," requiring each of us to renew the commitment to public education. In this way we may be drawn out of ourselves to the point where our angle of vision allows us to see and to respect the common ground we share with others.

Palmer depicts public life as pre-political -- a life of festivity including block parties and theatre. He makes the point that without public spaces in which strangers can learn to become comfortable with each other, able to trust each other, a political life is an impossibility. He makes a case for the significance of the stranger in Christian and Jewish scriptures. He suggests that the mystery of God is experienced in the mystery of the stranger, and that living our religious beliefs in response to the stranger is a way of encountering the mystery of God. He also sees churches and synagogues as training grounds for developing the skills necessary for public life. This is an inspiring book.