Thank you for starting this discussion Tom. I have been following with
(most of the time) keen interest.
For a college assignment I have read an interesting article on the Freedom
of Christian Theology by Douglas John Hall ("Bound and Free: On Being a
Christian Theologian", Theology Today, October 2002; pp421-427). It is a
very interesting discussion on the freedoms and boundaries of theology. It
talks about the importance and the wealth of 'tradition' in Christian
theology and how that should be used to spur on further theological
discussion and not to become the rock in a particular 'Christian tradition'
or denomination.
Hall speaks about the 'bookends' of Christian Theology, one end being
Tradition and the other being responsibility for the future. I think the
problem that a lot of denominations are facing at the moment is that they
are not finding a balance in the centre of Hall's bookshelf, rather they are
holding on to firmly to the tradition, or have completely thrown it out the
window - both of which will lead to problems.
As for Lindsay's comment re: Theological literacy - this is indeed a
problem, and it is one that my esteemed theology lecturer sees as a real
problem. People are indeed not 'tied' to a denomination (which is largly a
good thing - we want to do the will of God, not of the UC or CoE or RC), but
we are indeed losing the distinctness of our 'tradition' if you like, and
the Church (as I have heard argued many times) will just become a club for
issue X, without the rich theological and biblical basis and Christ
centredness it should.
Regards
Wesley
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