ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes the phrase ordinary theology it includes the first-order activity of theologizing on the part of ordinary believers, but it is perfectly possible for the same term to be applied to the study of ordinary theology. It argues that it is very important to employ academic and scholarly disciplines to describe, study and critically and theologically reflect on the theology of ordinary believers, this task is mainly a matter of studying ordinary theology rather than doing it. Although ordinary theology may benefit from both qualitative and quantitative studies, both need to be approached with appropriate circumspection. But there is more to conceptual reflection on ordinary theology than this, of course. Theology is interested in the content as well as the form or function of religious discourse and has normative concerns that are not reducible to those of the philosopher. Unearthing a person's ordinary theology is therefore itself part of the critical task.
