The Works of Alan Richardson as a Prototype Public Theology

Abstract Public theology today is a discipline engaging with an ever-growing array of publics, seeking to view their various social, political and cultural issues through a theological lens. In this article I will argue that the discipline has often failed to pay attention to earlier work which can claim to be antecedent of the genre. To evidence this claim I will describe and contextualise the work of Alan Richardson in mid twentieth-century Britain as a pragmatic endeavour responding to a developing public antipathy towards Christian beliefs and adherence which can be viewed as a prototype public theology. I will suggest that engaging with Richardson’s work perceived as an antecedent of public theology will add praxis to contemporary debates focused on theory, definitions and purposes.