INSANITY, THEOCRACY, AND THE PUBLIC REALM: PUBLIC THEOLOGY, THE CHURCH, AND THE POLITICS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

1994 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARRY A. HARVEY
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Church

scholarly journals The Metamorphosis of Written Devotion in the Age of Vatican II (c. 1948–c. 1998) in Hungary—Guestbooks in Hungarian Marian Shrines

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Krisztina Frauhammer
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
The Public ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Personal Prayer ◽  
The Church

This article presents the Hungarian manifestations of a written devotional practice that emerged in the second half of the 20th century worldwide: the rite of writing prayers in guestbooks or visitors’ books and spontaneously leaving prayer slips in shrines. Guestbooks or visitors’ books, a practice well known in museums and exhibitions, have appeared in Hungarian shrines for pilgrims to record requests, prayers, and declarations of gratitude. This is an unusual use of guestbooks, as, unlike regular guestbook entries, they contain personal prayers, which are surprisingly honest and self-reflective. Another curiosity of the books and slips is that anybody can see and read them, because they are on display in the shrines, mostly close to the statue of Virgin Mary. They allow the researcher to observe a special communication situation, the written representation of an informal, non-formalised, personal prayer. Of course, this is not unknown in the practice of prayer; what is new here is that it takes place in the public realm of a shrine, in written form. This paper seeks answers to the question of what genre antecedents, what patterns of behaviour, and which religious practices have led to the development of this recent practice of devotion in the examined period in Hungarian Catholic shrines. In connection with this issue, this paper would like to draw attention to the combined effect of the following three factors: the continuity of traditions, the emergence of innovative elements and the role of the church as an institution. Their parallel interactions help us to understand the guestbooks of the shrines.

scholarly journals An enquiry on poverty discourses in public theology for the calling of the church to respond to poverty: A case for the Africa Inland Church in Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah K. Tenai
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Africa Inland Church ◽  
Poverty Levels ◽  
The Church

As an emergent and rapidly growing international field of study, public theology has its focus on how Christian faith and practice impact on ordinary life. Its principle concern is thewell-being of society. In Africa, and in Kenya in particular, where poverty levels are still high, there is a need to enquire into the value and efficacy of the poverty discourses in publictheology, for the calling of the church to respond to poverty. One of the main and fast growingchurches in Kenya, the Africa Inland Church (AIC), has vast resources used for, amongst otherthings, various on-going work amidst the poor and the vulnerable in remote and poor areas. Due to the unrelenting nature of poverty in Kenya, the AIC needs a theological perspective, which is sufficiently sensitive to poverty and can enable it to respond to poverty moreeffectively. Public theology’s emphasis on gaining an entrée into the public square andadopting the agenda of communities, including public theology’s calling on churches toactively participate in rational and plausible public discourses, can assist the AIC to respondeffectively to the challenge of poverty in Kenya.

Doing Theology: Engaging the Public

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Elliot
Keyword(s):  
Public Theology ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis article examines the characteristics of some of the contexts in which public theology is done. Examples are taken from Scotland and particularly the experience of representatives of the Church of Scotland. Three publics are identified as target audiences: an institutional public in which official positions are debated and defended; a constructed public in which theological understanding is developed in the company of others; and a personal public which characterizes some forms of broadcasting. Discourse in each public has different characteristics, drawing on distinctive theological assumptions about church and faith. The article examines how public theology can draw strength from practice in each context.

scholarly journals Pastoral Letters and the Church in the public square: An assessment of the role of Pastoral Letters in influencing democratic processes in Malawi

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qeko Jere ◽  
Vhumani Magezi
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Church History ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Pastoral Letters ◽  
The Voice ◽  
The Church

The contributory role Pastoral Letters play in Malawi’s democracy cannot be underestimated. Historically, Pastoral Letters have been the voice of the Malawian people, and these have forced authorities to accommodate social and political reforms. From colonialism, federations and independence to the birth and consolidation of democracy, Pastoral Letters have been issued by the Church to State authority demanding political change and improvement in governance issues. For instance, Pastoral Letters issued by the Church put pressure on the British to end colonialism in Malawi, and in 1992, Pastoral Letters hugely contributed to the dismantling of Dr Kamuzu Banda’s, and the Malawi Congress Party’s, three-decade autocratic rule. Even in the multiparty dispensation, which was ushered in during 1994, Pastoral Letters have provided checks and balances to government in the consolidation of democracy. Thus, Pastoral Letters represent the voice of the voiceless in every political dispensation. The article is informed by the Pauline Pastoral Letters’ conceptual framework. The main argument governing this article is that unless there is continuity in the issuing of Pastoral Letters by the Church in addressing specific challenges within a democracy, sustainability of democratic value will always be compromised and not realised.Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This is an interdisciplinary article that touches on practical and public theology focusing on Church history and polity in assessing the role of Pastoral Letters in influencing the sustainability of democratic processes in a public square. The article contributes to a wider debate on the role the Church’s Pastoral Letters play in determining the sociopolitical landscape in Malawi. However, this is the only article written from a Pauline Pastoral Letters’ conceptual framework.

scholarly journals Probing the “global Reformed Christ” of Nico Koopman: An African-Kairos perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Urbaniak
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Black African ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
The Church

This study seeks to probe Nico Koopman’s Christological approach through the lens of the theological framework spelled out in the Kairos Document (1985), and in particular its understandings of church theology and prophetic theology, critically re-appropriated in the current socioeconomic context of South Africa. Four essential aspects of Koopman’s Christological perspective are examined: (1) the Reformed view of the lordship of Christ as the basis for the public vocation of theology; (2) Trinitarian and Christological foundations of human dignity; (3) Jesus as the epitome of divine and human vulnerability, and (4) the organic connection between the threefold office of Christ and the public calling of the church. In conclusion, I argue that Koopman’s Christ, albeit displaying an African veneer, upon scrutiny, appears to be unfamiliar with and unconcerned about the problems faced by most South Africans today, and thereby fails to constructively engage with African (especially black African) contexts of our day. This is due to four major factors, namely (a) Koopman’s choices regarding theological references; (b) his cursory and un-nuanced treatment of African theological notions; (c) his a-pathetic mode of theologising; and (d) his inability (or lack of willingness) to engage with structural (especially macro-economic) issues. I further suggest that my conclusions concerning Koopman’s “global Reformed Christ” may be (at least tentatively) extrapolated into a number of approaches developed by South African theologians under the umbrella of “public theology”. I also point to some promising (prophetically-loaded) insights coming from the chosen public theologians, including Koopman himself, as a way of illustrating the tension between civic spirit and public anger, inherent in this mode of theologising.

Models of Public Theology

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eneida Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Universal Model ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Contextual Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Action Models ◽  
The Church ◽  
Accessible Form

Abstract In this article, different models of public theology are characterized according to the reasons given for the importance of and need for a public theology (foundational models) and the ways proposed for its realization (action models). There are three emphases of identified foundations: the first understands public theology as a task driven by God (model of disclosure); the second anchors the need for public theology in religious questions that affect all of humanity (universal model); the third bases itself on the finding of the public presence of religious discourse in contemporary society (factual model). With regards to the prospects for action, three principal ways are identified, which affirm the possibility of the publicization of theology: addressing different audiences, such as the academy and the church (model of the audience); articulating itself through a style and an accessible form of argument (apologetic model); addressing contextual challenges (contextual model).

scholarly journals Theology in the Public Sphere in the Twenty-First Century

Horizons ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-356
Author(s):  
Bryan N. Massingale
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
First Century ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Church

Several decades ago David Tracy wrote that theologians speak to three publics: the academy, the church, and society. Since then many theologians have exhibited, in Tracy's words, “that drive to publicness which constitutes all good theological discourse[,] … a drive from and to those three publics.”1 Our four roundtable authors discuss how and why theologians engage the public sphere in the twenty-first century. In arguing for the necessity of such engagement, they also draw attention to the promise and perils of doing public theology today.

scholarly journals Postmoderne kerk-wees in die lig van publieke teologie – eenheid en verskeidenheid

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Institutional Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Postmodern Thinking

Being postmodern church in light of public theology – unity and diversityFoundationalism criticizes the “relativism” of postmodernity which deconstructs absolute and objective totalitarian truth claims. Although most postmodern scholars deny advocating relativism, they do acknowledge that plurality features significantly in postmodern thinking. Plurality and diversity are important to the theological discourse tool, because the church claims to be catholic and ecumenical. In a postmodern context people who do not necessarily affiliate with the institutional church may nevertheless regard themselves as Christians. The article supports a public theological discourse and aims to provide a framework for reflection on unity and diversity in postmodern faith communities. Public practical theology includes the public as one of its audiences. After a brief overview of the phenomenon of postmodernity, the article explores the role of plurality in ecclesiology. It reflects on the challenge of facilitating a dialogue between members of churches and those who regard themselves as spiritual in the secularized context of a “churchless Christianity”. The purpose of the article is to contribute to the ecumenism and the catholicity of the church.

Spirit-Empowered ‘Walking Alongside’

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-36
Author(s):  
Mark J. Cartledge
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
The Church

The gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in John’s Gospel, expressed in the so-called Paraclete sayings (John 14–16), indicates that certain capacities will be given to the disciples of Jesus Christ for the benefit of their witness to the world. This article reflects on these pneumatological texts, brings them into conversation with the discourse of public theology, that is, theology that seeks to address issues in the public domain of wider civil society, outside the sphere of the church. In particular, by taking the metaphor of ‘walking alongside’, this study explores the ways these texts inform the manner in which Renewal (Pentecostal and Charismatic) Christians, believing in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit for service to the world, may frame their pneumatology of engagement for the sake of others.

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