Aug 31, 2026 · 43 min · 11 segments
What is public theology—and how does it differ from political theology, apologetics, or cultural witness? What does it look like to bring theological ideas into public life, especially in societies…
Christine SchliesserGuest
Barnabas AsprayHost
Austin StevensonHost
Now, you wrote in your article that theology and the church are in their nature always public.
So how did you understand this? Does it mean that you can't do theology in a way that isn't public?
In our constitution, we try to define the task of the church and There in article two, we read that it is the task of the church to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all people in the church and in the world, unquote.
And I think that article grasps very well that as Christians, as church whose task is it to proclaim the good news we are always public if we are called to proclaim the good news not only in the church to our own so to speak but also outside the walls of the church in the world so I would say, well, not surprisingly, being a public theologian, it is part of the DNA of theology and of the church to always be public.
But when we look back into theological history, but even nowadays, we find very different perspectives on how to relate the church or theology to the public spheres.
So public theology is by no means the only way of thinking about this relationship.
I think that's sort of what my question is getting at, is if theology is by its nature always public, then do we even need to talk about public theology if it's just theology? Or is there something that it's addressing, some sort of controversial question that public theology is taking a stand on? Are there kinds of theology that are not trying to be public and are therefore problematic from your perspective?
For example, if we go back just for a second, the European context, we're very much influenced by a post-enlightenment paradigma that basically sets the religious into the private realm, while whatever's in the public sphere meant to be secular.
So you have this divide, you have this dualism between the private religious on the one hand and the public secular on the other hand.
And in certain strands of theology, for example, certain Lutheran understandings, this is compounded by a problematic misunderstanding of Luther's ideas of the two realms.
And, you know, Luther actually never laid out in a systematic manner something like a two kingdom doctrine.
So what he was thinking about actually was how can we relate the church and religion well, the state, the public spheres.
While in the kingdom of the world, There are laws, there are strict rules, there's the sword.
But Luther meant to differentiate these two kingdoms because if you inflate them into one, if you identify them as only one, you run into danger of creating like a religious conflict tyranny in the end.
So he was very careful to differentiate these kingdoms, but he never meant to separate them.
But what happened after Luther, little by little, the differentiation became separate.
Now, you wrote in your article that theology and the church are in their nature always public.
So how did you understand this? Does it mean that you can't do theology in a way that isn't public?
In our constitution, we try to define the task of the church and There in article two, we read that it is the task of the church to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all people in the church and in the world, unquote.
And I think that article grasps very well that as Christians, as church whose task is it to proclaim the good news we are always public if we are called to proclaim the good news not only in the church to our own so to speak but also outside the walls of the church in the world so I would say, well, not surprisingly, being a public theologian, it is part of the DNA of theology and of the church to always be public.
But when we look back into theological history, but even nowadays, we find very different perspectives on how to relate the church or theology to the public spheres.
So public theology is by no means the only way of thinking about this relationship.
I think that's sort of what my question is getting at, is if theology is by its nature always public, then do we even need to talk about public theology if it's just theology? Or is there something that it's addressing, some sort of controversial question that public theology is taking a stand on? Are there kinds of theology that are not trying to be public and are therefore problematic from your perspective?
For example, if we go back just for a second, the European context, we're very much influenced by a post-enlightenment paradigma that basically sets the religious into the private realm, while whatever's in the public sphere meant to be secular.
So you have this divide, you have this dualism between the private religious on the one hand and the public secular on the other hand.
And in certain strands of theology, for example, certain Lutheran understandings, this is compounded by a problematic misunderstanding of Luther's ideas of the two realms.
And, you know, Luther actually never laid out in a systematic manner something like a two kingdom doctrine.
So what he was thinking about actually was how can we relate the church and religion well, the state, the public spheres.
While in the kingdom of the world, There are laws, there are strict rules, there's the sword.
But Luther meant to differentiate these two kingdoms because if you inflate them into one, if you identify them as only one, you run into danger of creating like a religious conflict tyranny in the end.
So he was very careful to differentiate these kingdoms, but he never meant to separate them.
But what happened after Luther, little by little, the differentiation became separate.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.