AbstractIn this article, I am contributing to the ongoing conversation on a feminist public theology. Drawing on examples of feminist public theologians in my own context in (South) Africa, I propose that a feminist public theology ought to deal honestly and constructively with the reality of the deep wounds and the scars caused by racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia, which, if left unattended, may fester and return with a vengeance. It is also imperative that a feminist public theology continues to imagine the world to be otherwise, thus helping not only to name the injustice of the past, but also to be able to see beyond the violence to help foster values such as compassion, justice, resistance and resilience. Drawing on examples from the book of Jeremiah, I will illustrate something of my own vocation as a feminist public theologian in the context of South Africa today.

AbstractThis article explores public theology as a means of making public the needs of the voiceless, here with a focus on harm suffered in intimate spaces. The plight of farm labourers living on commercial farms in the Hoedspruit area in north-east South Africa is presented as a case study. In spite of national laws regulating domestic relationships, farm workers are vulnerable to HIV infection and domestic violence, in part because of religious discourses that impose hierarchical relationships on men and women and rob the individual of ownership over his or her own body. The reworking of harmful religious discourses into healthy practices is presented in this article as a set of tenets of a public theology that would bring healing and safety to people who, at present voicelessly, suffer violence in intimate spaces, in a country where cultural and religious taboos prevent clear information on this subject from entering the public arena.

AbstractPublic Theology is a rapidly growing international field of study which focuses on how Christian belief and practice engage with wider social issues. Yet, whilst the ultimate concern of public theology is the well-being of society, this body of theology has largely developed without integrating the thinking of feminist theology and its insights into womens' lives and experience. Public Theology and the Challenge of Feminism argues that public theology risks re-inscribing traditional constructs of public and private, civic and domestic, and uncritical notions of gender and the work and worth of people. The book brings together both theory and case material to expose how public theology has actively downplayed or ignored feminist perspectives and to reveal how constructive feminism can be for the future of public theology.