Dispute for the Sake of Heaven?

Reflections on a Fundamental Theological Theory of Conflict

Abstract

“[S]ocial conflict is a mechanism for adjustment of norms adequate to new conditions”1. In the following, I will adopt the conflict-sociological view of Lewis Coser (building on reflections by Georg Simmel) and explore the role that conflicts play in renewing the church and theology, as well as how they can promote such renewal. To do this, I will begin by discussing some sociological reflections on the productive and integrating power of conflicts, before examining them from a fundamental theological perspective. Finally, I will briefly discuss how to handle controversy in theology and the church, which is both inevitable and useful if properly regulated.