Polydox Eschatology: Relating Systematic and Everyday Theology in a Cancer Context

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Individuals who have lived through a serious disease like cancer often have a variety of ideas about life after death. These “polydox” eschatologies often seem far from systematic theology. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative data collected among Danish cancer survivors, this article proposes a positive theological description of the relation between two different repertoires of theological practice: systematic theology (an academic, normative practice) and everyday theology (an individual, lived practice). I argue that everyday theology may contribute to expand the systematic theological understanding of eschatology. In the eschatological practice among cancer survivors, the issue of place appears central, thus complementing the focus on time in traditional systematic theology. I conclude that taking the polydoxy of everyday life into systematic-theological consideration does not debase the matrix of the Christian tradition, but allows different theological interpretations thereof to appear
Original languageEnglish
JournalStudia Theologica
Volume66
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)107-129
Number of pages23
ISSN0039-338X
Publication statusPublished - 2012

ID: 46892774