Ecclesiology as doing theology in and with local communities but not of the empire

Abstract

The concept of empire has re-emerged as one useful to interpret and describe the joining of dominant global themes that together construct a global homogeneous totality. Some of the main themes of this totality are: global finance/capitalism which goes hand in hand with consumerism, global media and communication technologies, security (including personal, national and global), equity within a context of limited natural resources and postmodern multi-culturalism with so-called religious pluralism. These themes, together, have created a system of meaning – an imperial world-of-meaning, that is imperialistic in the sense that it takes on absolute proportions as it does not acknowledge or accommodate alternative worlds-of-meaning unless such worlds-of-meaning have consumer value in a so-called pluralistic society, thus allowing alternative voices to be assimilated into the Same. South Africa is not exempt from this imperialism as our political-economic reality and our culture – which is strongly determined by the global media and social life – is dependent on, and interpreted within, the context of empire. This article will ask the question: What role can the local church play in such an imperialistic context? In response to this question the article will unpack a hermeneutical way of doing theology in and with the local community that is not of the empire as a possible ecclesiological response to empire. In other words, a theology that is contextual and embedded within the local community, yet that is not determined by the empire, but critically engages with the empire as it challenges the local effects of empire, thereby creating a liberated space for alternative realities.