Theology and religion-state relations: Theorising on the middle range

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the problem how a theologian would treat religion-state relations field of research. This field is to describe by middle-range theories in comparison to other levels: philosophy of religion (high-range theories) and social anthropology (low-range theories). The middle range deals with religion as actual social practice involved in a regional culture context. In world cultures, there is a lot of original views on religion and theology, it is difficult to generalize them in a correct way. It would be better to understand theology as optics. This optics is an insider view on religious community and its doctrines, including in-depth knowledge of its traditions, practices and worldview. A theologian analyzes correlation between religious reality and normative rules of a tradition as well as seeks to point out probable traits and changes of religion in the future. The optics of theology towards religion-state relations comprises several hermeneutical methods applied to reconstruct meaning of key religious concepts or to compare present-day opinions with heritage of tradition. This focus contributes to understanding of religion as social, historical and political reality. Nevertheless, the optics of theology does not exclude methods of religious studies or philosophy of religion when necessary.