How can one describe the pluralisation of the religious realm, which is of such significance for processes of social change? How can it be done from an international perspective? The book sharpens the idea of religious pluralisation by elucidating it against the backdrop of specific religious phenomena and practices. Concepts and interpretations of religious praxis are correlated here in a way that has proven most fruitful in the field of Practical Theology. We take a closer look at twelve highly relevant topics that are formative for the practical-theological discourses in South Africa and Germany: poverty and wealth, education, transitional rites and passages, health, religious community formation and the future of the Church, beginning and end of life, transformation of the media, migration and interculturality, populism and radicalisation in religion and knowledge, processing of the past, communal living. Each topic will be introduced by one scholar from a certain country and commented on by another. The conversational procedure contributes to a contextual theology that understands theology essentially as dialogue. In all contributions pluralisation is the overarching topic. It shall be developed as a conception and theory respectively, both of which are not self-evident their theoretical implications must be explicitly unfolded.

Current processes of globalization are challenging Human Rights and the attempts to institutionalize them in many ways. The question of the connection between religion and human rights is a crucial point here. The genealogy of the Human Rights is still a point of controversies in the academic discussion. Nevertheless, there is consensus that the Christian tradition - especially the doctrine that each human being is an image of God - played an important role within the emergence of the codification of the Human Rights in the period of enlightenment. It is also obvious that the struggle against the politics of apartheid in South Africa was strongly supported by initiatives of churchy and other religious groups referring to the Human Rights. Christian churches and other religious groups do still play an important role in the post-apartheid South Africa. They have a public voice concerning all the challenges with which the multiethnic and economically still deeply divided South African society is faced with. The reflections on these questions in the collected lectures and essays of this volume derive from an academic discourse between German and South African scholars that took place within the German-South African Year of Science 2012/13.

This study examines the meanings, patterns, and structures of religion as experienced by the elderly. Its focus is on questions related to the meaning of life. In addition to identifying dimensions of meaning in old age, the work also seeks to develop a suitable research design for the empirical study of this question. It is sure to be of considerable interest to researchers studying religion in the elderly as well as researchers of practical theology.

What is the glue of society? Which forms of sociability help to overcome social needs and poverty? The role of religion and religious institutions are often expected to be relevant to questions like these. But until today, these issues were seldom raised from a theological perspective. This volume opens the discourses on social cohesion, social capital formation, and social development for the theological debate, presenting theoretical reflections and empirical research by scholars from different religion-related disciplines. (Series: Studies of Religion and Culture / Studien zu Religion und Kultur - Vol. 4)

German description: 14 prominente TheologInnen der Gegenwart stellen ihr Predigtkonzept vor. Anhand eigener Arbeitsproben erlautern sie, worauf es ankommt, wie es gemacht wird und was das fur die Theologie als Ganze bedeutet. Die homiletische Forschungslandschaft ist - nach dem Abschied von den grossen theologischen Schulen - unubersichtlich geworden. Nicht nur Berufsanfanger finden es schwer, inmitten des grossen Angebots hilfreiche Trends fur die eigene Praxis zu entdecken. Uso notwendiger ist es, das breite Angebot zu sichten und fur die Predigt fruchtbar zu machen. Das Studienbuch bietet hierfur eine gut strukturierte, anschauliche Basis. Die vierzehn Beispiele sind unter den Stichworten Auf die Gegenwart hin, Dem Vollzug nach und Von den Aufgaben her gebundelt und setzen eigene Akzente. Dialogische Strukturen ermoglichen es den Nutzern, in die Diskussion einzutreten, sei es mit Martin Nicol, Manfred Josuttis oder Isolde Karle.