ABSTRACT
A study of the social significance of theology explores the possibility that theology, even as a product of society, may in turn have an influence upon that society. A strong emphasis upon the connection between faith and praxis has been one of the chief characteristics of Political theology. Theologians have typically been concerned more to examine the social implications of theology than to measure its social effects. There is now very widespread agreement that Christianity does have moral, social and even political implications. The relationship of theology to political, moral and social realities has occupied theologians at least since the time of Augustine. It was also clearly a matter of considerable importance at the time of the Reformation. In more recent theology, it was the source of much of the discord between Brunner and Barth. For Temple, prophecy belongs to the churches only in relation to general principles or virtues: particularized prophecy is an individual phenomenon.
