CRITICAL-LIBERATIVE THEOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH

JANUARIUS ASONGU BETWEEN CHRISTIAN REALISM AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY

Abstract

The Church in the early twenty-first century faces converging crises of authority, credibility, and epistemic fragmentation intensified by globalization and digital mediation. Twentieth-century theological paradigms—particularly Christian realism and liberation theology—offered decisive responses to sin, injustice, and institutional ambiguity, yet neither fully addresses contemporary conditions in which disagreement concerns the very nature of truth itself. This article argues that the theological project of Januarius Asongu, articulated in The Splendor of Truth and Beyond Doctrine, represents a constructive development beyond these paradigms. Through Critical Synthetic Realism and Critical-Liberative Theology, Asongu integrates metaphysical realism, epistemic humility, doctrinal development, and liberative praxis into a synthetic ecclesiology oriented toward communal discernment and global mission. Engaging contemporary scholarship in synodality, lived ecclesiology, global Christianity, and public theology, this article situates Asongu’s theology as a significant contribution to ongoing debates about ecclesial futures in a fragmented world.