Intercultural Theology

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Intercultural theology is a discipline of theology and is technically somewhere between missiology and religious studies . The focus is on the context- related hermeneutics of the relationships between culture and religion and their comparison under the aspect of enabling an interreligious dialogue .

The term intercultural appeared for the first time in the 1960s in an academic context and was taken up from a theological perspective just a few years later. The origin of this discipline lies in the hegemonic mission theology of the European colonial age and the differentiations of Christian theology during contact with foreign cultures. The term was finally raised to a central point in 2005 by the German Society for Mission Studies and the Section for Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology of the Scientific Society for Theology .

The objects of investigation of intercultural theology are particular and divergent religious developments in different regions. For example, due to the meeting of Western theology with other cultures, differentiations, nuances and new perspectives emerged, the comparative illumination of which is the subject of intercultural theology . The methodology includes difference hermeneutics , comparative statistics and dialogue .

Intercultural theology consequently offers the possibility of perceiving and understanding the counterpart in his culture-specific religious self-image in a globalized world.

A more recent definition summarizes essential aspects as follows: “Intercultural theology reflects the missionary, cross-border interactions of Christian witness of faith, motivated by the universal validity of its message of salvation, which, in interaction with the respective cultural, religious, social and other contexts and actors for the formation of a multitude of local Leading variants of Christianity which, through the awareness of their togetherness, are faced with the task of constantly renegotiating the normative contents of Christian teaching and practice in the tension between universality and particularity. "

The subject of the subject is therefore the expressions of local Christianity variants induced by cross-border interactions (especially, but not exclusively in non-European countries), which includes media forms (symbols, rites, etc.), teachings and worldview patterns as well as moral-ethical positioning. These forms of expression can only be understood through the interaction with cultural-religious and contextual conditions and actors, which is why both semiotic and discourse-theoretical approaches are currently methodologically of particular importance.

The subject of the subject is also the very different patterns and focal points of cross-border interactions, depending on the cultural-religious, social and other contexts, but also according to the denomination-specific profile. For this subject area, topics such as social and societal action, interreligious understanding, conversion and transformation processes, ecological questions or gender play a significant role.

In addition to the forms of expression and forms of interaction, the negotiation processes between different local Christianity variants with one another (but often also with contextual or translocal actors) are of interest. These include questions of intercultural hermeneutics , identity claims, stereotyping of the other / stranger, questions of the construction of a common identity or questions of power and status.

The subject intercultural theology draws on various methodological approaches of cultural and religious studies for the range of subject areas and subject areas. However, it can also take a position on normative questions in a reflected theological approach that has to be differentiated. Both approaches are methodologically clearly distinguished from one another.

literature

  • Klaus Hock: Introduction to Intercultural Theology. Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3534201006 .
  • Volker Küster: Introduction to Intercultural Theology. Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3825234652 .
  • Henning Wrogemann: Intercultural Theology and Hermeneutics. Basic questions, current examples, theoretical perspectives . Textbook Intercultural Theology / Mission Studies', Volume 1, Gütersloh 2012, ISBN 978-3-579-08141-0 .
  • Henning Wrogemann: Mission theologies of the present. Global developments, contextual profiles and ecumenical challenges. Textbook Intercultural Theology / Mission Studies, Volume 2, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-08142-7 .
  • Henning Wrogemann: Theology of interreligious relationships. Religious theological ways of thinking, cultural studies inquiries and a new methodological approach. Textbook Intercultural Theology / Mission Studies, Volume 3, Gütersloh 2015, ISBN 978-3579081434 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henning Wrogemann, Theology of Interreligious Relationships. Religious theological ways of thinking, cultural studies inquiries and a new methodological approach. Textbook Intercultural Theology / Mission Studies, Volume 3, Gütersloh 2015, 420.