Volker Kuster

In late modernity theology has to perform an aesthetic turn, if it wants to break out of its current isolation. Theologians cannot limit themselves to biblical texts and Christian tradition as a frame of reference but also have to search for traces of God's presence in cultures and religions. God/Terror addresses the quest for God in the context of oppression, violence and terror from an aesthetic perspective. It looks at how artists and writers approach the relationship between God and Terror. Statements such as that from composer Karl Heinz Stockhausen: "9/11 was the greatest work of art ever" or from South African writer Adam Small: "Only literature can perform the miracle of reconciliation" - are occasions to reflect again about the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, theology and the arts. As in a medieval diptych, the theme is mirroring god talk in memory of 9/11 and in the context of political conflicts in Germany, South Korea and South Africa. First published in German as Gott - Terror: ein Diptychon by Kohlhammer.

In late modernity theology has to perform an aesthetic turn, if it wants to break out of its current isolation. Theologians cannot limit themselves to biblical texts and Christian tradition as a frame of reference but also have to search for traces of God's presence in cultures and religions. God/Terror addresses the quest for God in the context of oppression, violence and terror from an aesthetic perspective. It looks at how artists and writers approach the relationship between God and Terror. Statements such as that from composer Karl Heinz Stockhausen: "9/11 was the greatest work of art ever" or from South African writer Adam Small: "Only literature can perform the miracle of reconciliation" - are occasions to reflect again about the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, theology and the arts. As in a medieval diptych, the theme is mirroring god talk in memory of 9/11 and in the context of political conflicts in Germany, South Korea and South Africa. First published in German as Gott - Terror: ein Diptychon by Kohlhammer.

"Theologie infiziert" nimmt anno 2021 angesichts der Covid-19-Pandemie den Begriff der Infektion in metaphorischer Rede auf, um zum Ausdruck zu bringen, dass das AutorInnenkollektiv sich hermeneutisch den "Zeichen der Zeit" stellt und seine Theologie thematisch von der Pandemie beruhren lasst, in der Folge aber auch zu einer Immunreaktion beizutragen hofft. Auf die Klage folgt der Neuanfang Dieser kann nur unter Wachhalten der gefahrlichen Erinnerung an die Opfer der Pandemie und im Angesicht der von ihr aufgedeckten Gerechtigkeitsproblematiken im Kontext des globalen neoliberalen Kapitalismus gelingen. Was das Virus enthullt hat, darf nicht mehr verschleiert werden, sondern harrt der Bearbeitung. Die Mainzer TheologInnen spuren in drei Durchgangen Anthropologie - Theologie - Ethik den Interpretationsmustern und Bewaltigungsstrategien in der Pandemie nach, identifizieren generative Themen und legen Dilemmas offen.

Minjung Theology is introduced here through theological biographical sketches of its main representatives. They formulated a protestant liberation theology under the South Korean military dictatorship of the 1970s and 80s. Their strong emphasis on the suffering (han) of the people (minjung) led them to the formulation of a genuine theology of the cross in Asia. Volker Küster explores the reception of Minjung Theology and raises the question what happened to it during the democratization process and the rise of globalization in the 1990s. Interpretations of art works by Minjung artists provide deep insights into these transformation processes. Prologue and epilogue abstract from the Korean case and offer a concise theory of contextual theology in an intercultural framework.