Doing Theology as Making Future(s): The Practices and Poetics of “Rethinking Theology”

“Rethinking Theology” is an international think tank founded by a group of five early-career theologians in 2021. In this essay, they consider the future(s) of theology in an age when the future feels radically foreclosed, both by the decline in institutional support for theology and by the broader apocalyptic threats of climate change and accelerating global conflict. Meditating on five ways of doing theology—looking, listening, writing, thinking, and speaking—the five members of “Rethinking Theology” explore what it might look like for theology to confront its own end. Ultimately, the group itself demonstrates an example of how theology might be done after the death of theology—beyond institutional walls, in spaces of conversation and friendship.