ABSTRACT
Theology would not exist without religion. Religious traditions see it as their specific responsibility for carrying theologies in society even if God-
Chapter 1
talk also happens outside of religions in the context of wider society. Religions carry different theologies from each other. Religion scholars and specialists in inter-faith encounter may be able to point to common ground between religions.1 But the irreducibility of religions to a common core of human experience is now more commonly accepted than the view that appeal can be made to some basic spiritual impulse in the human being. That there is some such spiritual or religious impulse need not be disputed. But this does not produce ‘religion’ in any generic sense. Religions are contingent, particular, historical, culture-related and contextual, and the theologies that they carry are too. This does not mean that ‘God’ as understood within any particular religious tradition is nothing but the result of the impact of contingent factors. It means that these factors have to be acknowledged and highlighted whilst theological viewpoints are examined. Otherwise the reality about which one seeks to speak, God, may not be spoken of at all. Recognition of the radical contingency and pluralism of religions does not turn all theologians into relativists. It simply means that theology is hard work and that all who engaged in it have to be prepared to ask hard questions of their own contingency and context.
