| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Religion has been used by many scholars as an analytical category and an independent variable to account for the variances in governance and political violence. Very often, religion is decontextualized, resulting in confusions about the character of specific faith traditions. This article suggests an alternative framework by looking at the conceptualization and possible operationalization of the concept of public theology. In cases where "religion" might be conceptually ambivalent, a public theology framework with substantive, spiritual, spatial, and temporal dimensions can provide a sounder theorization of peaceful/violent or exclusive/inclusive strands of faith traditions and the relationship among them. Focusing on manifestations and public understandings instead of the religion itself, it also relieves political analysis from sensitive questions about what religious texts say and how traditions should be represented.
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