Reconsidering David Tracy’s Public Theology in a Digital Age

Abstract

Abstract While public theology initially developed amid concerns about secularization, its continued flourishing requires attention to the digital. Shaped especially by mediatization, digital intimacy, and accessibility issues, the digital sphere impacts both the idea of ‘public-ness’ and the practice of theology. Building on the work of David Tracy, this article offers four possible approaches in light of his methodological connection between publics and theological subdisciplines: the digital is only an extension of existing forms of mediation, the digital is a feature of society and practical theology, the digital is a new public and needs a new subdiscipline, or the digital is a new context for the various publics and thus requires a contextual theology.