Liberationist Conversion and Ethnography in the Decolonial Moment: a Finnish Theologian/Ethicist Reflects in South Africa

Abstract

As ethnography has become more popular among theologians, scholars have begun a discussion on what it means to do ethnography specifically as a theologian.1 Even though empirical theology has been an important aspect of practical theology since the 1990s, some argue that empirical research in theology continues to be methodologically dependent on the social sciences, and urge theologians to think of qualitative research, including theological ethnography, as more than collecting data using social science methods and reflecting on it theologically.2 This chapter joins this collective effort to think about ethnography as a method in theology. The “ethnography and (Christian)3 theology” conversation to date is largely centered in North America and Europe, as the references to some of the leading scholars on the topic above and the contributors in some of the recent edited volumes indicate.4 This conversation also resonates with anthropologists’ growing interest in, and engagement with, the relationship between