Paolo Cugini
In the contemporary landscape
of theological reflection, there is a growing need for a theology capable of
listening to reality, a theology from below capable of grasping the action of
the Holy Spirit within concrete history. This perspective presents itself as a
lively alternative to deductive Western theology, which often formulates dogmas
starting from abstract concepts, risking losing touch with people's experiences
and with what the Holy Spirit brings to the everyday. Theology from below is
born from experience, from encounters with others, from listening to the
questions that emerge from the folds of history and the wounds of humanity. In
this approach, reflection does not begin with abstract universal principles,
but from the concreteness of life, from the stories of men and women seeking
meaning and salvation. "Reality surpasses ideas," Pope Francis would
say, recalling the need not to confine oneself to static frameworks but to
allow oneself to be challenged by history.
This openness to reality is
not only method, but also content: it is here that the Holy Spirit acts,
transforms, and prepares new paths. Bottom-up theology thus becomes a
contaminated theology, capable of being challenged and transformed by contact
with real life, cultures, social changes, the sufferings and hopes of peoples.
Western theology, especially in its most deductive form, has often favored the
formulation of dogmas based on abstract concepts, sometimes estranging itself
from historical context and lived reality. This method, rooted in Greek
philosophy and medieval scholasticism, has certainly guaranteed the coherence
and depth of Christian thought, but it risks becoming self-referential. The
danger is that of an in vitro theology, which analyzes faith as a laboratory
object, refusing to be contaminated by life, but rather defending itself from
it. In this way, theological reflection can lose its prophetic power and
dynamism, failing to grasp what the Holy Spirit is preparing in history through
novelties, crises, challenges, and transformations. This is perhaps one of the
most evident problems in contemporary theological debate, where the inability
of official theology and the Church's Magisterium to engage with the issues
highlighted as urgent by everyday life is evident. A theology that defends
itself from life, to protect its own absolute principles, deemed
non-negotiable, is destined to remain outside the realms of real life and, in
the long run, to be ignored in the debate seeking solutions to existential
problems.
Conversely, a contaminated
theology is a theology that accepts the risk of encounter, incarnation, and
fusion. It is not afraid to get its hands dirty in history, to engage with what
is new, different, and unexpected. It is a theology that recognizes that the
Holy Spirit acts not only in institutional settings or consolidated dogmas, but
also, and above all, on the peripheries, in uncomfortable questions, in social
changes, in struggles for justice. This perspective recalls the biblical model,
where God reveals himself in the concrete history of a people, through events
often marked by pain and hope. Grassroots theology, informed by reality, then
becomes a place of discernment, listening, and creativity, capable of
generating new syntheses and new paths for faith. It is on the paths of history
that theologians should find themselves, in order to listen and develop a
theology that is rooted in earth and water, in life lived, not in the stench of
books and shelves. In a rapidly changing world, theology cannot be content to
repeat abstract formulas, but must listen to reality, allowing itself to be
influenced by history and the questions that emerge from daily life. Only in
this way can we truly grasp the working of the Holy Spirit, who continues to
prepare new paths for the Church and for humanity. Bottom-up theology invites
us to leave the safe shores of abstraction to navigate the open sea of life,
where the Spirit breathes and renews all things.
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