Placing reform

The ecumenical future of Reformed Theology

Abstract

This brief contribution offers personal reflections on the future of Reformed theology given the author’s experience in ecumenical collaboration on various volumes in the field of Christian ecotheology. It offers seven generalising theses on the future of Reformed theology. These theses raise the question what it is that is being reformed. It is suggested that this cannot be reduced to the church or the Reformed tradition, always reforming itself. Instead, at best Reformed churches seek to transform their immediate, local environment by responding to the challenges of the day, perhaps by selecting and employing some of the typically Reformed categories and convictions. This requires a dialectic between reforming place and placing reform. This is illustrated with reference to the premises of the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University.