WCC general secretary speaks on public theology in a fractured world

WCC general secretary speaks on public theology in a fractured world

msc

Tue, 10/20/2026 - 15:51

During a keynote speech at the Global Network for Public Theology conference, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay reflected on why public theology cannot remain an abstract academic exercise but must ask how Christian faith is to be articulated, embodied, and witnessed within the public realities of a wounded world.

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WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay.

Photo: Sean Hawkey/WCC

“ We live in a world increasingly characterized by fracture and fragmentation,” noted Pillay. “ Human beings are increasingly divided from one another, communities are separated by competing narratives of identity and belonging, nations are increasingly suspicious of one another, and religious communities can themselves become instruments of exclusion rather than agents of reconciliation.”

At the same time, humanity is experiencing a profound crisis of meaning, Pillay added. “ Technological progress has not necessarily produced moral progress,” he said. “ Greater connectivity has not…