9 - An unconcluding postscript

Summary

A theology of reconstruction is about facilitating, promoting and supporting such actions that make and sustain human life in the best possible manner. The point has already been made. It is a positive and constructive theology, concerned with social, economic and political structures. It is more than a theology of resistance.

It is a theology which is obliged to say ‘No’ to all that distracts from or counteracts the life giving and sustaining process. As such it, in turn, needs to say ‘Yes’ to that which promotes social justice and human dignity. In some situations the ‘No’ will need to be bold and unequivocal. In others the ‘Yes’ will need to be decisive and without compromise. In most cases, however, concrete proposals, social programmes and actions involve neither an unqualified ‘No’ nor an uncompromising ‘Yes’.

A theology of reconstruction is not an exact science. It is a creative and imaginative art, grounded in the hard realities and inevitable contradictions of human life and political manouverings. It involves an ethic which goes beyond slogans, while refusing to be dogmatically prescriptive. It cannot, however, afford the luxury of taking refuge in generalities and principles with which few take issue and most will have no dispute – primarily because such generalities are devoid of specific content. The complexity of issues central to reconstruction are at the same time such that there is no unqualified and detailed ‘Christian’ directive, arrived at on the basis of the Bible or a textbook of moral rules.