Ruthless Critique of All That Exists and a Poetic-Political-Prayer

Abstract

This article responds to Robert Tally, For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists. It relates his ideas to practical and public theology. Tally bemoans the negative attitude towards critical theory within the humanities. This tendency, away from theory towards surface reading of contexts, phenomena, and texts, is something that the theological disciplines in practical and public theology also need to take cognisance of, but it is also clearly visible in the public debate. I specifically focus on public and practical theology as these are the disciplines that directly engage with contemporary public discourses. Surface reading of texts and contexts might be the only option left if one understands the world as a capitalist world without any alternatives, or a universe of technical images, and yet in this article, I will seek to argue with Tally that there is more, namely that which calls these texts forth.