A diasporic Christian theology: towards an eschatological understanding of theological education in post-communist societies

Abstract

Christian theology amidst post-communist societies finds itself in a precarious situation as it seeks to emerge from the competing social imaginaries of its totalitarian Soviet past and the democratic capitalism of its future. To do so, eschatological hope will need to spring eternal as it seeks understanding by faith in love of the triune God and its diverse neighbours while reckoning with its diasporic status. As such, this programmatic article succinctly circumscribes the meaning (hope), message (faith), and mission (love) of a diasporic Christian theology with an ecumenical vision predominately for university theological education under post-communist conditions. It seeks to give reason for the eschatological hope within (meaning) that is fixated on the resurrected Christ in the Spirit (message) for the wisdom and flourishing of humanity (mission).

Keywords:

• Theology
• theological education
• post-communist societies
• ecumenism

Acknowledgement

I’m grateful for the comments by reviewers, Jon Coutts, David Nelson, and Philip Ziegler on a previous draft of this paper and especially for the conversation at a political theology conference in Belgrade, Serbia in 2015 with Jon Coutts concerning theology’s engagement with the humanities that led to the formulation of the notion, ‘act-of-contact’. Any errors in judgment, though, are solely my own.