Doing Communicative Theology of Social Justice from Christian and Islamic Perspectives

Abstract

With a long tradition of mono-religious education in Indonesia, the understanding of social justice inscribed as the fifth principle of Pancasila is subject to a one-sided theological or otherwise secular outlook. While the former lacks in theology’s publicness, the latter does not conform with the foundational national consensus. Resembling Pancasila’s collaborative spirit, the research question of this article is how to understand social justice from an inter-religious outlook. This library research-based article employs a communicative theology developed by Matthias Scharer and Bernd Jochen Hilberath within the scope of Christian and Islamic perspectives. In such a theology, social justice is never speculative, ideological, or ahistorical. Instead, it emerges from factual movements that ignite public awareness required for further engagement for social transformation. A close reading of some sources of both traditions reveals social justice as a God-oriented, people-centered movement with a mustadafun perspective