Theology Mediating Social Capital: Ordinary Theology, Motivation and Relationships

Abstract

The concept of social capital and its use as a sociological tool has received considerable attention and continues to provide insights into various aspects of community life. Social capital offers a means to study beneficial and detrimental aspects of relationships away from economic or rationalist reduction. Although social capital and religious affiliation has seen significant attention in the literature, there has been little research into the relationship between theology and social capital. In this article, theology and social capital is explored through a qualitative ethnographic study of an Australian faith-based organisation. It is argued that ordinary theology, defined as the beliefs found in the language of believers without scholarly religious education (Astley 2002) mediates social capital. The ordinary theology of the volunteers, which I callaction-driven theologywas found to mediate bridging social capital with refugees through developing theologically significant relationships.