Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice

A new appraisal of the relationship between theology and culture.

What is the relationship between Christian theology - as practised in liturgies, Bible readings, academic research, doctrinal commissions - and what goes on in culture more generally? Graham Ward offers a new approach to interpretation as a cultural activity and examines how the practices of theology might influence cultural transformation.The book sets out to address and answer three questions from the point of view of Christian theology. The first is, from where does theology speak? The second is, what are the mechanisms whereby cultures change? The third is, how might we conceive the relationship between the contemporary production of theological discourse and the transformation of cultures more generally? Drawing upon the work of standpoint epistemologists, cultural anthropologists and social scientists, the book argues that public acts of interpretation are involvements in renegotiating the future direction of cultural change. Though the enquiry is conducted from one particular standpoint - Christian theology - the observations and suggestions it makes regarding cultural transformation and the defense it makes of syncretism have more general application.