INSeCT Research Theme: "The Future of Theology: Disrupting the Past and Generating a New Vision"

The unique opportunity of INSeCT to convene its general assembly at the same time as the Holy See’s Dicastery of Culture and Education conference on “The Future of Theology” provided members of the network a rich experience. They were able to learn more about the Dicastery as well as to converse with a broader contingent of scholars from around the world. A highlight of the conference was a special meeting with the late Pope Francis, who invited theologians to continue the task of theology, which is to “help us rethink how we think.” His gentle nudging and encouraging words provide our varied societies with support in the pursuit of “doing” theology. 

In that vein, INSeCT encourages our member societies to continue to build on past research themes with the current one. Even though the theme is new, the spirit of how it materialized resonates with the last theme of decolonizing theology. The future of theology relies on the past and the present in order to make sound and thoughtful reflection on theology. Moreover, the future of theology relies on the fact that scholars are building on ideas, conversations, debates, and histories that are essential to how people express their experiences of God. Such an endeavor would require us to reflect on what needs to be disrupted from the past, where theology may have been used as a tool for oppression and injustice.  At the same time, we are asked to challenge our imagination to generate alternative visions of society, including how theology is done and its effects in various communities all over the world–an alternative vision of the world and how we can get there. The ways in which we think and how we develop in our contexts affect how we can imagine the world can be, and so how we do theology should contribute to building instead of hampering our imagination. Thus, the new theme very much builds on the last theme as well as the past 30 years of INSeCT’s engagement, collaboration, and hope for the livelihood of theology around the globe. 

To that end, we ask our societies to encourage their members to take up the research theme. This can be done by making it part of an annual meeting, inviting speakers either in person or via Zoom, collecting essays, and publishing findings on your websites. These are but a few ideas of the multiple possibilities in researching the theme of The Future of Theology.