Towards an emergent theory of reimagining church in a racially divided society: Building theory from different cases

Abstract

How to build an emergent theory on changing social imagination of church in the context of South Africa? Emergent theory involves building theory, not testing theory. The author uses the so-called Eisenhardt method of building an emergent theory. Rigour in the Eisenhardt method rests on five criteria: “how” and “why” research questions, using theoretical sampling, well-identified theoretical constructs, identifying mechanisms of transformation, and boundary logic. The author builds an emergent theory on how to change social imagination based on three cases, namely Dion Forster’s study on the social imagination of forgiveness, Jaco Botha’s study on
reimagining outreach by White theology students, and Wynand Breytenbach on transformation of ecclesiological imagination of a congregation in liturgy.