The ability of Christian discourse to give people a sense of their identity sustains the concrete church. The cultural revolt of the 1960s which suddenly weakened the power of discursive Christianity in Britain may be partially explained in terms of the deterritorializing power of capitalism. In the context of this deterritorialization the formation of self-identity becomes more difficult and strong religious identities have a new appeal. Post liberal theologians have endorsed the identity-forming power of the church. But Christian identity must still be worked out in relation to what lies beyond the borders of the church. Christians rediscover their own foundational story in the acts and deeds of others. Theological formation should involve not only an immersion in the Christian tradition but also the search for what recognisably shares in the same project that the gospel defines. The history of personalism suggests what this search might look like in practice.
