The starting-point of this social-philosophical and at the same time thoroughly practicaltheological study is the embarrassment related to the collective identity of Christian communities of faith and of Christian movements and institutions (associations, educational institutions, etc.) as they are situated in the modern lifeworld. Time and again, those communities are confronted with the challenge to orientate themselves to a common identity. In that respect, this study attributes an important task to the practical theologian. When a community of faith or an institution on a Christian foundation runs, up against a problem, in most cases it will turn out to be a problem of a communicative kind, which will then be directly related to the common identity. In order to clarify that identity a practical theologian can be called upon for help.

In the performance of that task, the practical theologian can find support in the thought of the German social philosopher Jürgen Habermans. This study presents a full-scale analysis of Habermas' entire oeuvre, as it has been published from 1953 till now. Based upon that analysis, the clarification of a common identity can be considered a process, in which each of the members of a collective should be involved and in which matters are settled by arguments (discourse). One can distinguish theoretical discourse, in which a common identity is described; normative-practical discourse, in which the contours of a desired common identity and accompanying values are outlined; and translational discourse, in which the translation of a new self-understanding into a new practice is discussed. The three types of discourse center themselves around the concept of communicative rationality. By analogy this study proposes to speak of 'communicative identity'.

The study engages in reflection on the foundations of practical theology, whereby the author particularly focusses on the problem of normativity. To that end, critical reviews of the work of D. Browning. J.A. van der Ven, U. Kuhnke and G.D.J. Dingemans are included.

After a, year in Wilmington, Ohio, USA and a year of sociology studies in Leiden, Hendrik Pieter (Henk) de Roest (1959) studied theology at Leiden University. He graduated with a ministerial degree in 1985 and completed graduate work in 1988, in both cases with distinction. He is a minister of the Netherlands Reformed Church, presently serving the community of faith of Monnickendam. This study is his doctoral thesis.