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Linking Spirituality and Public Life
God's Imagination for the City (1993)
 In 1993, Imagine Chicago conducted a series of eight
public forums for six downtown churches on Chicago as a context for
God’s imagination. Each evening included dinner, a presentation on
some aspect of city life (economic, political, social, artistic, etc.) and
an interactive community conversation on the topic. As part of the
series, eight local artists were invited to ”re-member Chicago’s
body”, that is to represent visually their conceptual understanding of the
city as a single section of a to-be-united body. As the
conversation progressed week by week, another section of the body was
connected and discussed. This ”Exquisite Corpus of Chicago” sought to
capture Chicago’s beauty, diversity and vitality in visual form and to
draw attention to the importance of imagination in thinking about Chicago.
It raised the question of what it might it mean for Chicago to see
itself as a whole, value healthy civic connections and encourage a vital
public imagination?
Sacred Spaces, Public Spaces (1996)
 Imagine
Chicago, in collaboration with religious and community groups, and cultural
institutions, has been interested in creating ways to help urban dwellers
share stories of their sacred places and find those they have in common.
Throughout the spring and summer of 1996, through events, conversations and
their products (exhibits, lectures, poetry readings, tours, writing
workshops, public rituals) participants clarified and shared how they thought
about “sacred space’ and went public with the understanding. The program
explored important linkages between spirituality and public life and the
community-creating power of “sacred places’ in the life of a city. This
exploration included those who begin with “sacred” but for whom “public” is
faint; those for whom “public” is rich but for whom “sacred” is foreign;
and those who know that “place” matters but are wrestling with how it is
hallowed and held in common. All constituencies benefitted from being in
conversation—wrestling together with how to connect sacred, public and place,
and how to identify places that evoke mystery, fascination, and function as
life-giving community symbols. The program, organized in partnership with
local museums and churches, evoked broad-based conversation about place as a
community symbol of the sacred in ordinary life.
Faith in the City (2000)
For centuries, religious congregations played an important
role in organizing the patterns of city life just as the city contributed
to a social understanding of faith. What is the faith-city
connection today? Do individuals and communities still view the city with
“eyes of faith” or has faith become a lens that only illuminates
people’s private lives? What helps people to make the connection between
faith and public life? And what actually happens to faith when it moves
into the public square?
This joint venture between Imagine Chicago,
Loyola University and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange involved six public
lecture/discussion forums in 2000 on the dynamic interplay of faith and the
city. A primary goal was to better understand how faith contributes to the
creation and transformation of a city and how the city is a privileged place
for an enlarged understanding of faith. A second goal was to foster
urban theological reflection that renews and sustains social practice:
to develop questions, skills and arts that enable the participants
to continue this conversation on faith and city within their
neighborhoods, organizations and working groups. Dance was integrated so
participants learned to use the arts to relate faith to social action
and activism,moving from faith to engagement. The John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation funded the series. A detailed program
description is available here
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