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From: sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Contemporary Theology and its flight from the church.
Message-ID: <496@bbncc5.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 01:08:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: bbncc5.496
Posted: Thu Aug 22 01:08:15 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 15:03:29 EDT
References: <1008@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 24

I guess I am more than a little appalled by the tone (and some of the
content) of Gary's latest article.  If theology is not, as Anselm claimed,
"faith seeking understanding", if it does not work in service to the People
of God, what then, do you have left?  Not much, except a dessicated,
inbred, and essentially secular discipline qualifying for the name "theology"
only through historical accident.  "Faith seeking understanding" only is
meaningful if there is a faith from which to begin, and of course, that
faith comes through the Church.

Churchmen seem to go their own way and theologians another; if anything,
this is the perennial fate of the two groups ("can't live with 'em, can't
live without 'em", both sides say.) And, indeed, though theologians are the
best qualified to concern themselves with matters theological, I get the
distinct impression that Gary sees theologians as the High Priests of the
One True Church, rather than key participants in the interpretation of
faith for the Church at large, through which their efforts are fully
realized.

Finally, it is not completely out of order to note that Gary's response
to Bob is lacking in several virtues traditionally considered Christian.
-- 
/Steve Dyer
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