THEOLOGY IN THEPUBLIC SQUARE, Church, Academy, and Nation
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loginI have been teaching theology of religions for some 22 years and inevitablyone reflects on the institutional context of one’s intellectual work, for me,the university. This book is the result of such reflection. I hope it will inter-est those concerned with the future of the university in Anglo-Americanculture and those who believe that the university might be other than theintellectual production line in the industrial halls of late postmodern capi-talist society. This book is also addressed to those who teach and study thedisciplines called “theology” or “religious studies” (or “comparative religion”or “history of religion”). To the former, it is yet another voice in a growingsymphony that imagines a vital public role for theology so that it may serveboth the Church and the wider secular and inter-religious culture in whichwe live. To the latter, it is a challenge to consider a theologizing of their dis-cipline. In the final chapter of the book I indicate how this theologizing ofalldisciplines is what might characterize a theologized university—a Christ-ian university. Thus, this book might also be of interest to Christian intel-lectuals who may sometimes wonder what their Christian identity has to dowith their university work. Hence, I address a triangular and often overlap-ping audience: the Church, the university, and the “public square” made up,as it is, of the former two, but also other religions, secularism, and variousideologies.
