Theology ‘In Exit’ for a Better World: An Introduction

Pope Francis articulated the dynamic of an Ecclesiae in exitu, translated as Church that “goes forth”, in the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (Pope Francis 2017, no. 3). Subsequently he employed the Latin expression theologia in exitu in the Apostolic Letter Ad Theologiam Promovendam (Pope Francis 2023, no. 3), underlining that a Church “in exitu” must correspond a theology “in exitu”; in other words, a Church “in exit” necessitates a theology “in exit”. Given that no official English translation has been provided by the Holy See, Catholic commentators commonly adopted “outgoing theology”. Yet, we prefer the expression “in exit” as it synchronizes better with the official translation of Veritatis Gaudium (no. 3) in other European languages, such as “in uscita” in Italian, “en salida” in Spanish, and “en sortie” in French, than the English “goes forth”. In our opinion, theology “in exit” brings out more emphatically the necessity of leaving the familiar ecclesial terrain and risking the public terrain of secular sciences and sociocultural and politico-economic complexity. Moreover, theology ‘in exit’ is in consonance with what had been emerging as public theology for the last five decades, since the pioneering pointers of Martin E. Marty (1974). The envisioned paradigm shift denotes a holistic theological advancement in the intersecting features of ecclesial, societal, and academic domains, engaging diverse research methodologies and geographical contexts.

The first set of four articles in the present Reprint focus on the social concerns of the ecclesial domain: Rudolf von Sinner’s contribution addresses ecclesiology with a democratic sensitivity of the people of God, while Lap Yan Kung focuses on Christian communities’ engagement in local civil society as a minority religious community. These two contributions also reflect the ecumenical sensitivity of the authors. In tune with these, Lluis Oviedo’s paper takes up the underlying anthropological dimension, as well as that of Carolina Montero Orphanopoulos, the ethical dimension of human social flourishing.

The next three contributions address the religious pluralism of the societal domain. Gaetano Sabetta underscores the necessity of comparative public theology for promoting inter-religious education, whereas Francis-Vincent Anthony and Antony Christy Lourdunathan study the nature of public religious pedagogy amidst religious pluralism. The contribution of Ulrich Riegel, Daniel Engel, Marcus Penthin and Manfred L. Pirner focuses on the lifestyle of a religious community, specifically of a Muslim community, in a multireligious context.

The last two articles of this volume focus on the academic domain of secular sciences, with Santhosh-Kumar Appu taking a sociological perspective on the youth experience of the structural denial of human dignity, while Cecilia Collazos Ugarte, Giuseppe Crea and Joseph Jeyaraj Swaminathan take a more psychological approach to the exploration of emotional intelligence, faith and time perspectives among religious nuns.

As far as the research methodology is concerned, among the studies included in this Reprint, the last four use an empirical methodology, while the other five engage in analytical–critical and historical–critical discourse. Overall, the nine contributions exemplify how theology can exit into the public square engaging in intradisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.

Considering the geographical areas in which the research papers of the Reprint situate themselves, we find that three of them refer to the Asian context (two to the state of Tamil Nadu in India and one to Myanmar). Two other contributions refer to the European context (German and Italian). The other four papers do not refer to any specific context in their reflection, although the authors are of Argentinian, Brazilian, Indian, Italian, and Spanish provenience.

The foregoing overview of the nine contributions concerning the intersecting domains of church, society and academy, besides methodological choices and geographical contexts, highlight the complexity and diversity of public theological discourse. Having received an overview of the contributions, the reader is equipped to engage with the details of the articles that explore the intersecting features of public theology.

We, as Guest Editors, would like to thank the reviewers who with their valuable feedback and constructive criticism contributed to the scientific quality of the articles and the Editorial included in the Reprint: Robyn Andrews, Douglas Barros, John Berry, Luís M. Figueiredo Rodrigues, Kjetil Fretheim, Marian Gavenda, Peter C. Hill, Linh N. Hoang, Amina Inloes, Wojciech Kućko, Matthew T. Lee, Angel Santiago-Vendrell, Corneliu Simut, Alfredo Teixeira, Rudolf Von Sinner and the anonymous reviewers. We are equally grateful to Bella Xu and the editorial staff at Religions for their professional and prompt support during the entire process of reviewing and publishing the contributions of this Special Issue and the production of this Reprint. It is our hope that the complex issues taken up for theoretical and empirical study can contribute to the advancement of public theology engaging more extensively with both theological and secular sciences.

As this Special Issue took inspiration from Pope Francis (2013–2025), and as one of the Guest Editors (F.V. Anthony) had the opportunity of attending his Funeral Mass on 26 April 2025 at St. Peter’s square, Rome, we would humbly like to dedicate this volume to his memory as a pastor who made the periphery the center of his concern, thus showing how exiting into the public sphere contributed to human and ecological welfare.