Ma`rifat Kalami

Social theology, a field of theology, explains and defends Islam’s social teachings and issues, especially considering contemporary social issues. Considering the principles, concepts, and methods of the science of theology, this article tries to find the capacities of this science to develop social theology. The social capacities of theology can be investigated in various fields; such as social arguments in theological issues (such as the necessity of imamate and the goodness of taklif -duty-), proposing issues regarding culture (such as cultural beliefs and values), and also creating important social discourses (such as the monotheistic discourse in social sciences, the discourse of imamate and socialization, the discourse of social justice and the discourse of unity and Islamic approximation). Obviously this research will be able to answer the question of the capacities of contemporary social discourse if it uses documentary methods and refers to theological texts and provides their theoretical analysis. Considering the small number of works related to social theology, this research is even more necessary because some conventionalist intellectuals talk about the end of theology and theological thinking in the new era, and this is more important in the field of social and political issues. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to develop social theology by highlighting its contemporary capacities.