World Theology - The Christian responsibility in global perspective

Christian theology adopting a global perspective can be understood as "world theology" in the sense that the world is recognized as the "place" of theological thinking. "World theology" faces four challenges: (1) a secular rationality, demanding learning and adaption processes on the side of the believer; (2) a political praxis, in which the Christian faith has to attest its liberating potential; (3) cultural diversity, raising not only the question of an intercultural mediation but also of the (inter) cultural constitution of religious identities; and (4) religious plurality, a challenge towards the most demanding encounters possible - inter-religious dialogues and theology of religions. The attitude of a "world theology" can be characterized by communication, participation and mission (in the sense of being able to open oneself vis-a-vis the stranger), its methodology comprises the ability of polylogs, the deconstruction of identity and the creation of a certain responsivity, open to the appeal of the stranger. In such a way Christian theology is able to account for the hope, destined towards all human beings.