Publieke teologie of koninkryksteologie? Gedagtes oor die sosiale relevansie van Gereformeerde Teologie

Abstract

Public theology or kingdom theology? Thoughts on the social relevance of Reformed Theology. This article investigated the metatheoretical assumptions of the contemporary discourse about Public Theology. The investigation attended to the historical roots of the movement to understand the notion of defining theology as a mere social programme where the principles are sought in a contextual reading from the context of the reader – thus a reading ‘from below’. Although a clear definition of Public Theology is not possible at this stage of the discourse due to a variety of fundamental ideas promoted by the various exponents of Public Theology, certain dualisms can be discerned in the presentations by public theologians. This investigation presented Kingdom Theology, developed in the classic Reformed tradition as a corrective to the dualisms in Public Theology. The research found that Kingdom Theology is better equipped to address social wrongs and to seek socio-political justice.Contribution: The investigation presented the Kingdom Theology of the classic Reformed tradition as a corrective to the notion of Public Theology and indicated that the ethic Kingdom Theology can address the totality of life and the social order fundamentally, and is not inhibited by contexts, temporality and historic spaces.