The place and role of Theology in the Space of "Secular," "Sacred," and "Holy"

Abstract

Despite the recognition of theology as a scientific specialty, its legal and actual consolidation as a scientific branch of knowledge in the Russian scientific and educational space, there are still many questions related to the comprehension of its place and role in the academic space. It has been revealed that theology, occupying the place of the "sacral" in the space "secular-sacred", being inside the tradition and open to the secular space, is a connecting bridge between the secular and religious, and solves the problem of overcoming the "mutual estrangement" between them. As for theology, which is in the field of the "sacred" as we see it, its main task is to preserve the original Tradition by being closed to the "secular" and the "profane". However, not being closed from the "sacred", i.e. open to the space of theology, theology fears the possibility of distortion of Tradition on the part of the theological community, which, according to some theologians, encroaches on the Sacred by its intellectual fabrications and reformatory ideas. Despite the fact that most of the theological community considers the concepts of theology and theology as synonyms, the presented study carries out their distinction, in order to understand the reasons for both the difference in views of the academic community regarding the scientific status of theology and the possibility and need for its teaching in secular universities, and within theological disagreements.

Keywords: Theology, profane-secular-sacred, tradition and reformation, ultimate concern, transcending.