Recent development of public theology
The term public theology was coined by Martin Marty in reference to the work of
Reinhold Niebuhr (Bezuidenhout 2007:7). Niebuhr has had an important influence on
public theology (Forrester 2004:9-10). What we know as public theology today has
developed from the liberation and political theologies of the 1960s onwards (Forrester
2004:14). The influence of Moltmann and Metz in their reinterpretation of political
theology, and the liberation theology of Guitierez and others has made an important
contribution in this time (De Gruchy 2004:48, 51). The South African church struggle
against Apartheid and the way in which the World Council of Churches (WCC) played an
active role in forming policy decisions in those days also had a formative influence on the
development ecumenical of public theology. It was only over the last two decades that
the term, public theology, has become popular (Smit 2008:par1). Still, there is a wide and
contrasting range of understandings of this term (Bezuidenhout 2007:5). Together with
providing a broad picture of the playing field of public theology, some questions which
could help in interpreting and understanding public theology is explored in chapter 1.
A creative tension in reading Bosch within public theology
Writing in the first publication of The International Journal of Public Theology, William
Storrar (2007:11) points to the work of Bosch, especially Transforming Mission, as the
place where many has found their most helpful articulation. This is because of the way in
which Bosch holds the ecclesial and emancipatory dimensions together in his theology,
and more especially in the way in which he seeks to hold all aspects of mission in
creative tension. From this it would seem that the question of this study is not whether
Bosch was a public theologian, but rather understanding the contribution that Bosch
could make towards public theology, and understanding the approach which Bosch would
use in public theology.
When talking about Bosch’s ecclesiology, or his understanding of the relation between
church and world, we need to focus on his use of the alternative community concept. The
reader who has read only Transforming Mission might miss the importance of this
concept, since Bosch never used this term in Transforming Mission, but a study of the
work of Bosch would reveal this from earlier writings. However, in the same article in
which Storrar credits Bosch with the most helpful articulation for public theology, he
contrasts public theology and the approach of Hauerwas and Willimon in Resident Aliens
(1989). For him these two are very different theological responses to the end of
Christendom. Storrar (2007:8-9) describes their approach as an ecclesial one, which seeks
to “offer an alternative model of human society rather than seeking to manage its
problems”. How can it be that Storrar at the same time describes the theology of Bosch as
of such high importance for public theology, and also describes that of Hauerwas and
Willimon as an entirely different enterprise than that of public theology, all this while for
Bosch as well as Hauerwas and Willimon the alternative community is of such central
importance? This apparent tension in the article of Storrar is not the focus of our
discussion in this study, but provides an entry point in discussing Bosch and public
theology which we will use in chapter 2.
The public theology of Bosch
The question in this study is not primarily whether Bosch should be considered a public
theologian or not. Although comparisons between Bosch and others who call themselves
public theologians cannot be sidestepped, these comparisons are, as far as possible,
considered not with the goal of testing whether Bosch can be considered a public
theologian. Rather, working from the view of Storrar that Bosch’s articulation is of vital
importance for younger public theologians, these comparisons are done in order to assist
us in our task of describing Bosch as public theologian. In the end this is the primary
focus of the study, and the question which we will address in chapter 4 is: How do we
describe the public theology of David Bosch?
