TEOLOGI SOSIAL:

LATAR BELAKANG,
DEFINISI DAN LOKASI
KEILMUAN
Yusak B. Setyawan, Pdt, MATS,Ph.D
yusak.setyawan@uksw.edu
 Latar Belakang Keilmuan/Teologi

Teologi yang selama ini dikembangkan

bercorak individualistik, parokial
(kegerejaan), tidak dapat diakses secara
luas di kalangan publik.

Dalam skopa akademik di Amerika

Utara, teolog-teolog menggunakan
istilah teologi publik.
 Teologi Sosial/Publik mencakup berbagai
macam aliran yang berkembang dalam ilmu
teologi yakni antara lain Gerakan Injil Social
(the Social Gospel Movement, abad 19/20),
Ajaran Sosial Katolik (John Ryan, 1990-an),
Realisme Kristen (Reinhold Niebuhr),
juga teolog-teolog lain, seperti Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Jürgen Multmann, Dorothee
Soelle, William Temple, Martin Luther King,
Jr., and John Courtney Murray
Reinhold Niebuhr, Dietrich Bonhoeffers,
Martin Luther Kings, Desmond Tutu,
adalah pioner dalam mempertautkan
teologi sosial dalam ranah publik.

Isu-isu sosial yang menantang pada saat

itu, antara lain: diskriminasi, kejahatan,
korupsi, kebebasan pers dan akademik
Teologi Sosial mempunyai penekanan
yang berbeda dengan Etika Sosial
 TEOLOGI Teo-Logia: ‘faith
seeking understanding’

the content of the differing

the faith itself expressions of this
content.

Utopia, speculative, imaginative

 The task of theology is to
‘understand’— not God, but
TEOLOGI the symbolic language
of the faith, perceiving its
deep significance.

Religious language metaphor

 Kritis
Konstruktif
(de dan re)

TEOLOGI Transformatif
Kontekstual
Antisipatif (local and global)

Inter/multi Apresiatif
disipliner
 GOD MYSTERY

mystery itself in its pure divine state,

beyond all linguistic and symbolic
expression
 Beyond Theism and
GOD Atheism

Luc Ferry dan André Comte-Sponville:

the question is not whether we can

explain (scientifically) the world without
God, but whether human life has any
meaning without God.
 TEOLOGI

to translate (interpret) into another

language that is more accessible today
what Christian tradition has been
expressing in the language that
belonged to former times.

Social dimension of theology

Hubungan antara individu dan entitas
sosial terjalin sedemikian erat.

Epistemologi Marxian

Sosiologi pengetahuan
 theologian is an interpreter

God “reveals” his/her mystery

through the mediation of messengers
who express it in human language.

Series of interpretation

Hermeneutical Enterprises
Christianity: a language-based
religion

The Bible
(Alkitab)

Logos

Jesus is the Logos

 Faith arises from the human
consciousness, in the human
consciousness, under the “inspiration”
of God.

to interpret the faith It is to interpret

is to interpret oneself one’s own
in one’s religious
transcendent, divine, consciousness
dimension. in the depths of
oneself.
 Reason Tradition

Experience Scripture

Cultural/
Social (Change) Philosophical
Context Miljue
 Teologi dan Komunitas
Kristen/Gereja
Theology is not something engaged in
for itself alone, it is for the whole
community of believers.

Theologians carry out a significant

function in the Christian community;
they have a pastoral responsibility to
perform in this community.
the Church is also and above all the
Christian community.

Cf: Komunitas/persekutuan
hidup beriman (Banawiratma
95: 23)
Dunia dan sejarah sebagai locus
theologicus (Banawiratma 95: 23)
 Dimensi-dimensi

Teologi atas dan teologi bawah

(Banawiratma 95: 25)

Tanggapan Kritis?
a two-fold task of theology: a critical and
a positive task.

The critical task, that of discernment,

would consist in showing that there is a
religious language that is obsolete and
must be abandoned because it conceals
rather then clarifies the true spiritual
content of faith.

Social lag
a two-fold task of theology: a critical and
a positive task.

The positive task would then

be that of enabling the religious
consciousness to rediscover the
sources of inspiration, which for us
Christians are the Gospel and the
living tradition that flows from it.
Another task of theology: a constructive
task.

Contributive engangement to the wider

community.

Reflective and antisipatory tasks

 Doing theology: Social Theology

Conformity with the biblical sources of

Christian faith

Tradition of the faith of the Christian

community in our time.

Social location of doing theology: context

 Sosiologi/Social Science dan
Teologi: Keterhubungan

Sociology
(politics, cultural narrative
anthropology , contingency
some versions of
psychology) history subjectivity

cumulative rather than

theology revolutionary
 “religious rejections”
of the world

Max Weber
the tension
between social
reality and
religious hopes
 the city of God
Augustin
(Agustinus)

the city of Man

 Teologi Sosial
(See, Banawiratma 95: 25)

Dalam arti luas: teologi kontekstual

Dalam arti sempit: keterlibatan umat dalam

masalah-masalah masyarakat

Perlu diperhatikan bahwa pelbagai macam

teologi selalu bersifat kontekstual, bahkan
teologi yang paling spekulatif sekalipun.
 Dinamika/Unsur-Unsur Teologi
Sosial
(Banawiratma)

1. Diskripsi (pengalaman/exposure)

Praxis
2. Analisa sosial

3. Refleksi teologis-sosial

4. Aksi/Tindakan
 Teologi Sosial: A Glimpse

Theological liberals social issues

Humanistic values of the social gospel

Inclusive social policies

Conservative theologies
conservative
positions

Defend orthodox faith, morality, next life

Traditional views: sexuality, the family,

national security.
 Social Theology

the divine will for human relationships

Transcendence perspective on the

Church’s role in civic and social life

Involve general strategies: political activity

Public spheres
 Church
Public spheres
(Schleiermacher/
Academic
David Tracy)

Public/society

Sangat krusial untuk memperhatikan ide

“ruang publik” dalam gagasan Habermas.
Teologi sosial/publik adalah
“… is theology for others and done with
others; that is its true end and
means.” (Tracy)
Dinamika Teologi Sosial di Amerika Utara

Communitarianism

Individualism

Neopuritanism
Communitarianism

• Judeo-Christian ideals for a just society

• Social reconciliation across barriers of
culture, race, religion, gender and lifestyle
• With scientific and scholarly
developments and social progress
 Accomodation was achieved:

1. supernatural distinctive elements of the

Christian tradition.

2. the Bible: great wisdom literature than

embodies eternal truths.

3. Jesus: more as an ethical teacher and

model for the development of human
community.
 Accomodation was achieved:

4. the Kingdom of God: manifest

destinity whereby the benefits of
western civilization à gobally.

5. humans were seen more

optmisticallyàeducation.
The social Gospel (Rauschenbusch,
1907) played off liberal theology à
critical: the social evils of monopoly
capitalism and its naivete regarding
the perfectibility of humanity and the
inevitabilityof social progess.
See, the prophets of the OT.
World War I à Great depression
Reinhold Niebuhr (1932): at that
time that socialism offered the best
prospects for an approxiation to
social justice in a sinful world.
The civil right movement and the
Vietnam War, new theologies of
liberation, the “death of God”
àemphasized themes of peace
and justice, focusing on issues of
nuclear disarmament, poverty, and
homelessness, minority rights
(LBGTQ), and environmental
degradation.
 Individualism

The mission of the Church is to promotes

individual salvation through spiritual
regeneration and persoal moral reform.
Individual conversion.
Strongly inclined to conclude the political
activity in a democratic society should be
limited primariy to voting for honest
candidates who will promote legislation
that facilitates the Church’s evangelistic
mandate.

Individualism is the end product of a “Great

Reversal”: evangelism and social reform.
 1. A more pietistic approach
(restricted social concern to
provide charity and confine
direct political activity).
After Civil
war a two-
phased shift
occured:
2. Evangeical efforts,
(beginning around
1900s).
 Neopuritanism

Protestant civic piety

The primary mission of the Church is

individual salvation, but also contends that
this is best facilitated by the presence of a
supportive social milieu.

The USA: as a successor to OT Israel,

a chosen people.
TEOLOGI SOSIAL DAN SOCIAL SCIENCE

Traditionally human sciences focus mainly

on the totality of a person’s life, which
includes concepts related to values and
purpose.

classics, history, archaeology, languages,

art, literature, philosophy and theology
Pada akhir abad 19/awal abad 20

‘gamma-sciences’

the study of human behaviour in

relation to their social environment
Teologi membangun posisi

Friedrich Schleiermacher

Teologi praktika
 Friedrich Schleiermacher

Teologi an independent
praktika discipline

Berbeda pendapat dengan Gottlieb Jakob

Planck (1751–1833): practical theology as
subordinate to other theological
disciplines; practical theology as an
applied theology, theologia applicata.
 Friedrich Schleiermacher

Teologi as a science that studies

Christian religion as it is
praktika found in the praxis of a
person’s life

needs to explore how the symbolic strength

of Christianity for making sense of life and
for successfully coping with life can take
shape in the church under today’s complex
socio-cultural conditions
 Teologi lean on the social
sciences

understanding of human behaviour within

the context of religion

as a modern academic science has developed

strongly to the likeliness of social sciences
 Teologi ‘intra-disciplinary’

multi-displinary

borrowing concepts, methods and techniques

from other disciplines that are then integrated
within the study of another science.
“. ...empirical methodology enables
practical theology to study
religious convictions, beliefs,
images and feelings of people. It
has both descriptive and
explanatory value....”
(Cartledge, 1999:103)
Salah satu studi:
the impact of social development
on various religions and the
disciplines that study these
religions as a result of a new
political environment. De Villiers
(2004:103)
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