Introduction

What is rural theology? I suspect that it is too early to say, and that we shall have to wait for the publication of more books and articles that will help to exemplify and identify the subject. Most academic subjects are as a matter of fact best defined ostensibly, by pointing out the concrete manifestations of their study. This is surely as true of theology as it is of philosophy, which was once defined by G.E. Moore by pointing to the books on his shelves with the words, ‘It is what all these are about.’

It does not yet appear what rural theology will be. Quite properly, it will be interpreted by some as the application of theology, itself a multi-disciplinary entity, to the area – or (happily) ‘field’ – of rural life and society, and their particular concerns. Some might therefore prefer to speak about a ‘theology of the countryside’ or ‘theology and the countryside’, focusing their theology on rural issues and the rural context. But such a theology of context and concern is likely to generate a particular theological style, framework, pattern and procedure: in short, a theological viewpoint or perspective that may later be used to examine other contexts and other issues.