Notions of the Public and Doing Theology

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirkie Smit
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Elective Affinities ◽  
Similar Range ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Descriptive Sense

AbstractThe notion 'public' can have widely different meanings and, accordingly, many also understand the notion 'public theology' in different ways. Why would some who regard themselves as doing public theology prefer certain notions of 'public', while others prefer different understandings? In the first part, the article distinguishes three broad types of understanding the notion 'public'; ranging from a technical and almost prescriptive sense, following Habermas' description of the public sphere, to a vague and almost descriptive sense, following Tracy's description of all theological discourse as public. The second part serves as reminder of the similar range of possible meanings of the notion 'public theology', roughly corresponding to this wide spectrum of uses of 'public'. The third and final section then briefly reflects on the question why certain theologians prefer to do certain forms of public theology, suggesting both sociological reasons, like Tracy's 'elective affinities', as well as theological reasons; fundamentally different ways of viewing God and divine involvement in the world.

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 Language and Revolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 5-37
Author(s):  
Ana Iriarte Díez
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Political Change ◽  
October Revolution ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Public Sphere

Speakers’ individual and collective identities are socially constructed through their linguistic and social behavior, and inevitably shaped by the socio-political and cultural situation of a region and its observers. It stands to reason, therefore, that significant changes in a community’s linguistic practices are often catalyzed by noteworthy socio-political developments within the same community. In this light, the present study aims to explore recent linguistic developments regarding speakers’ use of Arabic and their perception of its status in Lebanon in the midst of a time of profound social and political change: The October Revolution. The present study opens with an introduction that reviews Lebanon’s linguistic panorama before October 17th, 2019, and provides a brief synopsis of the succession of events now widely known as ‘The October Revolution’. The second section explains the study’s theoretical approach and the nature of the data. The third and last section focuses on how the events of the October Revolution have, at least temporarily, affected the use and status of Arabic in Lebanon and reshaped this language’s place in the public sphere.

Ovid, the Res Publica, and the ‘Imperial Presidency’: Public Figures and Popular Freedoms in Augustan Rome and America

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-144
Author(s):  
Nandini B. Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Information Access ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Property ◽  
Imperial Presidency ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
The People ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Res Publica

Abstract How did Romans perceive the changing relationships among leaders, the people, and the public sphere as their commonwealth (res publica) fell under the control of an emperor? This paper examines Ovid’s uses of the Latin adjective publicus, ‘public, common, open’, to explore strands of implicitly ‘republican’ political thought behind his poetic corpus. Ovid first celebrates Augustus’ material benefactions as common goods for private consumption; then dramatises the tragic consequences of arbitrary domination; and finally, from exile, treats the emperor himself as a public property, subject to his people’s spectatorship and sovereignty of judgment. A final section draws on Ovid’s thinking on privacy, publicity, and information access to explore themes related to America’s ‘imperial presidency’, from the Founders’ emphasis on a free press to the recent interplay of secrecy, celebrity, and ‘sunshine’ laws.

Shaping Public Opinion and Community Mobilisation: The Role of Urdu Language Media in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-257
Author(s):  
Fahad Hashmi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Community Mobilisation ◽  
Daily Newspaper ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Public Sphere

Considering the role played by Rashtria Sahara, an Urdu daily newspaper that took recourse to the democratic practice of questioning and challenging the hegemonic formation of the maligned image of Islam and the faith community vis-à-vis terrorism in the discursive arena, that is, the public sphere, this article tries to understand the role of the Urdu language media in shaping the public opinion and mobilising people from within the community. To this end, first, the article seeks to comprehend the present configuration of the Indian public sphere keeping in view its colonial origin. Moreover, the ‘othering’ of Muslims in postcolonial India that has colonial roots, too, has been understood through the idea of ‘interior frontiers’. Second, the role and practices of the Indian state towards Muslims have been taken into account. And, the final section analyses strategies that were put to use by the newspaper to contest the hegemonic formation, which paved the way for social movement to emerge.

scholarly journals Ideology and Truth

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-39
Author(s):  
Krešimir Petković
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Science ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Third ◽  
Western Philosophical Tradition ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Public Sphere

The author argues that any discourse analysis, as well as other approaches in social sciences and humanities, cannot ultimately avoid the truth and ideology distinction. The first part of the article provides several glimpses at the Western philosophical tradition that preserves the value of truth. In the second part, an idea for political science, grounded in such a history of ideas, is sketched. After a brief discussion of what is ideology as opposed to truth, the author proposes a thesis about ideology, identity and power, and several heuristic ideas how to develop it. In the third part, he briefly provides examples from political and policy analysis that correspond to such a project. In the final part, he explains the importance of preserving the distinction between ideology and truth in the discursively postulated “post-truth” era. This combination of epistemology, science, analysis and teleology is reflected together in one political area of utmost importance for political science operating in the public sphere: the politics of naming.

Religionspädagogik und öffentliche Theologie

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-309
Author(s):  
Ulrich H.J. Körtner
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Religious Instruction ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract Religious instruction is not only an important locus of religion in the public sphere but also a locus (of learning) of Public Theology. Thus, it makes sense to include the discourse of Public Theology in the discourse of Religious Education. Furthermore, the discourse of Public Theology could, in turn, profit from an intensified exchange with Religious Education, since Religious Education is one of the eminent loci in the public sphere at which exactly those questions are raised for discussion and are debated which are thematised by Public Theology. Religious Education, to be sure, is not only the task of religious instruction but rather is to be viewed as an educational mandate of the school as a whole. Therefore, the questions raised in school by Public Theology cannot be restricted to religious instruction but rather may be treated within multidisciplinary projects.

The public sphere in the twilight zone of publicness

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312110614
Author(s):  
Slavko Splichal
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Twilight Zone ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Scholarly Discourse

The article discusses the reasons and conditions for the rise and fall of the popularity of the public sphere concept in scholarly discourse in four parts. The first part examines the peculiar circumstances of the emergence of the concept of the public sphere, and its rapid and widespread adoption in the social sciences. The second part discusses the complexity of the concept “Öffentlichkeit” and its English proxy “the public sphere,” and the contemporary critique of its ideological predispositions. The third part focuses on the liberalization and (operational) banalization of the concept. The final part suggests ways in which social scientists could respond critically to the challenges outlined earlier and reintegrate publicness, the public, and the public sphere into the analysis.

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