Exclusion - a practical-theological and pastoral challenge

The sociological term "exclusion" refers to a qualitative change of poverty that affects the majority of the population in the "Third World", but is not limited to these countries. What are the reasons for this global phenomenon and how can it be explained theoretically? The article presents two sociological approaches (Niklas Luhmann; Pierre Bourdieu) as well as the intense discussion taking place within theology and the church concerning social exclusion, especially in Latin America. The question: Why does the phenomenon of social exclusion concern theology and the church? The thesis: the phenomenon of social exclusion - namely the fact that human beings are simply declared superfluous and the conditions and means to participate in social life are taken away from them - demonstrates most brutally in which direction the recent social development with its dominant system of regulation is leading to or even where it has already arrived: for the benefit of just a few, the depreciation and destruction of human life on an unimaginable scale is accepted as natural. This increasingly visible and threatening "sign of the times" cannot leave indifferent those who earnestly wish the future generations to lead a life of human dignity. The article explains the fundamental importance of social exclusion to Christian faith and theology.