ABSTRACT
Both conceptually and in actual practice, the Judeo-Christian heritage has always been involved in the prevention of individual and social problems. Focusing on American Protestant Christianity, two main theological trends, traditional and modernist, are delineated and explored with respect to their positions concerning prevention. Beginning with the premise that theology performs as cultural ideology, and acts to legitimate social, economic, and political power, in the main, traditional theology is shown to support conservative individualistic preventive views and actions. There are notable exceptions to this position, but they have not been culturally influential. In contrast, modernist theology challenges the status quo by adopting a collective social orientation to prevention that stresses the significance of transaction and context on all levels from the situational to the societal. Relative to the development and utilization of prevention ideas and practices, these variant theological positions are likely to find expression in competing political agendas.
