Between Rejection of Religion and World-Saving: Itineraries of Sociology and Postsecular Social Theory

Encroachments of contemporary social theory on the field of theology are the focal point of this essay. In postmodernity, theology facilitates connections with social theory. In the domain of theology, sociocultural problems are being presented as theological issues. Secularized variants of world theology meet with theologizing postsecular social theory above and beyond sociology. This is facilitated by the constant discourse of ambiguity. In this discourse, "the theological" is a vehicle of indeterminate meanings. Praxis' oriented discourse uses the term "social theory" with its modernist connotative envelope of science and rationality, but with no obligation whatsoever to maintain objectivity of cognition. Sociology doesn't interfere with theological discourse, but may analyze it, leaving the otherworldly outside its perspective on sociocultural phenomena. The sociotheological discourse of ambiguity, however, opposes both religion and the rationality of science.