Toward a Post-Religious Urban Theology: The Missionary Movement Ethos in Secularized Contexts

An urban theology should be the center of conversation with the current post-religious context that takes into serious consideration people’s search for meaning and the new spirituality in this age. Perhaps popular culture can give clues about contemporary meaning-making as well (Shannahan 2014:207-217). On the one side, history assures that an urban setting does not need to feel like a threat to the Christian faith. “Early Christianity was primarily an urban movement. The original meaning of the word pagan (paganus) was ‘rural person,’ or more colloquially ‘country hick.’ It came to have religious meaning because after Christianity had triumphed in the cities, most of the rural people remained unconverted” (Stark 2009:2). On the other hand, history warns that a theology irrelevant for the current context and a Christian identity disconnected from the biblical narrative should be perceived as a real threat for the transmission of the faith and mission