The article argues that Richard Rorty’s idea of edification should be adopted as the central approach of public theology. It begins by outlining Rorty’s definition of edification before exploring the argument in Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature which led to this definition. Various critical responses are then explored, especially the critique by Roy Bhaskar that Rorty’s approach is politically frivolous. However it is suggested that the criticism that Rorty is either relativist or unconcerned with ethical agency is unfair. Instead, rather than being concerned with different types of speaking Truth to power, public theologians should be focused on producing novel, unique and eye-catching redescriptions of social and political phenomena.

中文翻译：

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更有用的神学：作为教化的公共神学

文章认为理查·罗蒂的教化思想应该被采纳为公共神学的核心方法。它首先概述了罗蒂对教化的定义，然后再探讨导致这一定义的《哲学与自然之镜》中的论点。然后探讨了各种批评性回应，尤其是罗伊·巴斯卡 (Roy Bhaskar) 的批评，即罗蒂的方法在政治上是轻率的。然而，有人认为，批评罗蒂要么是相对主义者，要么是不关心道德代理是不公平的。相反，公共神学家应该专注于对社会和政治现象进行新颖、独特和引人注目的重新描述，而不是关注不同类型的对权力说真话。