Global South Theology as Theological and Missiological Imperative: Decolonising Christian Theological Discourse

Abstract

As of 2025, approximately 69% of the world’s 2.64 billion Christians reside in the Global South, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, yet theological education and academic discourse remain anchored in Eurocentric epistemologies. This article addresses that gap through a constructive theological synthesis integrating demographic, postcolonial, missiological, and ecclesial evidence. It advances a four-pillar argument for the necessity of Global South theology: (1) demographic representativeness, grounded theologically in catholicity and the missio Dei; (2) the historical imperative of decolonising theological discourse; (3) the theological richness of contextualised integral mission; and (4) the sociopolitical demand for a theology responsive to poverty, injustice, and cultural identity in the majority world. The article engages three scholarly objections, syncretism, Marxist reductionism, and theological relativism, and concludes with four recommendations for theological education reform, each explicitly anchored to one of the four pillars. The argument is not majoritarian; rather, it rests on the claim that Christian catholicity and the doctrine of the incarnation require the full theological witness of the global body of Christ.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Religions, 2026 · DOI ↗