Abstract:
David Tracy claims that the contemporary emergence of a sociological
imagination is as crucial for theological self-consciousness as the earlier
rise of historical consciousness among theologians. The authors are of the
opinion that the rapid and fundamental social changes in South African
society over the past few years have accelerated this "emergence of a
sociological imagination" amongst South African theologians. In three
sections, they point to three clusters of questions that have therefore
become increasingly important, namely questions related to the growing
awareness of the crucial role of social location or context, questions
arising from a growing acknowledgement of public responsibility, and
questions concerning the integrity of theological education, i.e. the question
on what makes theological education "theological".
