Posted on November 3, 2015 by PLT Staff

Visit the Online Journal of Public Theology at pubtheo.com.

From the website:

Religion is the source of great contention in public life today. One form of Christian faith, what is referred to as fundamentalism, evangelicalism, or the religious right, has come to dominate the public sphere. It has aligned itself with one political party and allowed itself to be used by that party in partisan politics. This has tremendously skewed the political culture of our time and threatens the historic witness of the orthodox church.

This website seeks to promote a more responsible form of public faith associated with the historic orthodox theology of the ecumenical Christian church especially in the Protestant tradition stemming from the Reformation. Fundamentalism is a modern perversion of historic Christian faith. Biblical inerrancy, for example, is a modern notion of the holy scriptures. One of the most important theological tasks of our time is to make this clear and to seek to interpret and present historic Christian faith in concepts and terms understandable to modern folks, including a proper role for faith and church in public life. This we seek to do at this website.

Since the Republican Party has chosen to identify itself with the religious right, and since we at this website oppose that theological view, it will seem that we are ourselves promoting the views of Democratic Party. But this is only because we live in a society with a two-party system. If you are against one you appear to be for the other.

We reject absolutisms on either side. We promote the concept of “critical engagement”, the church needs to be critically engaged with the issues and powers of the day but ultimately captured by no one party or perspective. To believe in God incarnated in Jesus Christ is to transcend and stand apart from any of the powers of this world. At each moment in history Christians must carefully assess how to be critically engaged in their political context. Christians who are Republican will be able to critique their own party, as should Christians who are Democrats. Neither party, or any political party, is the source of salvation.

• Publication Information
• Editor: Ed Knudson
• Publication Type: Website
• Publisher:Center for Public Theology
• Publication Location:Portland, OR