This book shows why, in our modern society, many important questions in our public debates urge for attention to be given to questions about economy, and why religious thinking gives unexpectedly relevant perspectives on these. Neither economy nor religion is a private matter. Our daily life and personal decisions about lifestyle are marked by our public choices and attitudes. As we are actually part of complex and disturbing processes in an information society, our daily lives are changing in rapid ways. Beginning with a discussion of what public theology is actually about, the text moves on to discuss three dimensions of these processes: namely, our capitalist market economy, our urge for a common ground in the conflicts of that economy, and our responsibility for a sustainable lifestyle in that economy. Religious thinking, especially that of Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390), confronts questions about spiritual awareness in these domains.

This book asserts the importance of conducting research on visual culture phenomena in public theology. As we increasingly communicate and express our social and cultural identities through images in today’s culture and economy, visual culture has become a burgeoning area of study and research in many academic institutions. In light of this, public theology must engage with this complex field. The concept of iconicity is raising fresh inquiries within the realm of public theology, which is already rife with hermeneutic concerns. These questions must be revisited, as images compel us to reassess our ongoing approach to the interpretation of religion. The potency of images is an uncharted and potent force, propelling public theology towards a future that is yet to be discovered.

This book investigates the intersection of theology and social theory in the work of Jürgen Moltmann. In particular, it examines the way in which his concept of the "Exodus Church" can illuminate the importance of the idea of civil society for a Christian public theology. The concept of civil society can aid in moving from the narrower category of "political theology," a term used frequently by Moltmann to emphasize the church's public commitment, to a broader understanding of theology's public task, which takes into account the plurality of ends and institutions within society. The idea of the Exodus Church enables deeper understanding of Christian ethical participation within a complex modern society.

This book shows why, in our modern society, many important questions in our public debates urge for attention to be given to questions about economy, and why religious thinking gives unexpectedly relevant perspectives on these. Neither economy nor religion is a private matter. Our daily life and personal decisions about lifestyle are marked by our public choices and attitudes. As we are actually part of complex and disturbing processes in an information society, our daily lives are changing in rapid ways. Beginning with a discussion of what public theology is actually about, the text moves on to discuss three dimensions of these processes: namely, our capitalist market economy, our urge for a common ground in the conflicts of that economy, and our responsibility for a sustainable lifestyle in that economy. Religious thinking, especially that of Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390), confronts questions about spiritual awareness in these domains.

This book is an important step in clarifying the issues that come up when addressing the public square. It is an early effort towards a coherent theological frame for engagement in socio-political issues, this time rooted in the richness of a multi-faith context like that of India. While the church is the primary social context in which the saving power of God is made visible, this book equally insists that it is in the larger arena of what God is doing in the world that the kingdom’s historic presence is felt. It is a fitting tribute to a man who has spent much of his life opening up the spaces where the Word is in vital conversation with the larger world. Melba Padilla Maggay, PhD, Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC).

The Reformed tradition in the twenty-first century is increasingly diverse, dynamic, and deeply engaged in a wide variety of global and public issues, from the arts and business to immigration and race to poetry and politics. This book brings together the insights of a diverse group of leading Reformed thinkers--including Nicholas Wolterstorff, Makoto Fujimura, Bruce Ashford, John Witvliet, Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, and James K. A. Smith--to offer a contemporary vision of the depth and diversity of the Reformed faith and its global public impact.

What is the role of the church in society? What role did the church play in South Africa ? during apartheid, in the struggle against apartheid and during the period of transformation? The essays collected and published in this volume deal with questions such as these. They are all occasional pieces. They were written over two decades and reflect the times in which they originated ? always intended for specific audiences, always addressing issues of the particular moment.

Wolfhart Pannenberg’s understanding of “public,” based on his view of revelation as history, is that everything is potentially a theology. Of course, a public theology of everything is impossible; therefore, Jae Yang develops a Pannenbergian public theology by correlating Pannenberg’s theological methods (postfoundational, eschatological, and trinitarian) with the aims and methods of public theology, and second, with Pannenberg’s views on various spheres, arguing that Pannenberg’s public theology engages not just the academic world, but also the political, economic, familial, religious, and cultural ones. This book argues that Pannenberg is a public theologian because the public purpose of his theology is not to coerce or inject a Christian agenda onto the public (political theology), challenge and subvert unjust structures (liberation theology), or substitute overtly Christian religion with a publicly palatable secular and vaguely religious one (civil religion), but to cooperate and dialogue with the established order under the presumption of a “Christianity outside the church.”

Postcolonial Public Theology is a tour de force, a study in theological reflection in conversation with the most compelling intellectual discourses of our time that offers prophetic challenge to the hegemony of economic globalisation. While evolutionary science searches for an ethically responsible practice of rationality, and inter-religious engagement forces Christians to grapple with the realities of cultural hybridity, Postcolonial Public Theology makes the case for public theology to turn toward postcolonial imagination, demonstrating a fresh rethinking of the public and global issues that continue to emerge in the aftermath of colonialism. Paul S. Chung provides students and scholars with a fascinating framework for imagining a polycentric Christianity as well as for discussing the continuing importance of Christian theology in the public arena.

Max L. Stackhouse is one of the most prolific and influential American theologians of the last half century, and he has been widely recognized for his contributions to the emerging field of public theology. This volume compiles some of Stackhouse's most significant shorter writings. These selections make clear his central role in the development of public theology as a distinct disciplinary perspective in the fields of Christian theology and theological ethics. Shaping Public Theology serves as an introduction to Stackhouse's extensive corpus; readers will see the depth and breadth of his comprehensive public theology while also gaining insight into his singular importance for the field.