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

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dc.contributor.author Meylahn, Johann-Albrecht
dc.date.accessioned 2012-04-20T08:40:17Z
dc.date.available 2012-04-20T08:40:17Z
dc.date.issued 2011-12
dc.identifier.citation Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, vol 37, Supplement, pp 287-313 en
dc.identifier.issn 10170499
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5665 en
dc.description Peer reviewed en
dc.description.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. en
dc.format.extent 1 online resource (15 pages) en
dc.language.iso en en
dc.publisher Church History Society of Southern Africa en
dc.subject Empires en
dc.subject Local community en
dc.subject Hermeneutical way en
dc.subject Theology en
dc.subject Incarnation en
dc.subject Resurrection en
dc.subject Kingdom space en
dc.subject Discerning en
dc.subject Interpreting en
dc.subject Listening en
dc.subject.ddc 262
dc.subject.lcsh Church -- ecclesiology en
dc.subject.lcsh Ecclesiology-- Christianity en
dc.subject.lcsh Church and social problems en
dc.title Ecclesiology as doing theology in and with local communities but not of the empire en
dc.type Article en
dc.description.department Research Institute for Theology and Religion en


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