What makes someone a theologian? Is everyone a theologian, because everyone has some view on God, whether it's to deny his existence or to affirm it? Are there different kinds of theologian? Are some professionals and some lay? What does it mean to be a professional theologian? Does it mean holding or having held a university or bible college post? Does it mean that you've been published? I know Jeff Astley wrote a book and has done some work on Ordinary Theology, but I have never got round to getting a copy and reading it.
These questions arise out of my post on theology in the UK, where I identified theologians around the country, generally based at a university. Maggi ask me what is theology and who does it? In response I guess 'theology is simply the study of God' (Colwell, Promise and Presence, 2005, 1) and there are (according to Colwell) 'only two theological questions: 'what kind of God' and 'so what'. There are many types of theology and my map was only looking at Chrisitan theologians and generally those who are involved in the study of Christian doctrine and how doctrines relate to one another (systematic theology). I guess (I hope) those theologians are also active in doing theology for the church, that is, its grounded in helping the church narrate its story more truthfully and faithfully (see Hauerwas, Christian Existence Today, 1998 [2001]). There are some theologians who seem to seek only to answer the first question, 'what kind of God', but I think this must always be followed by a 'so what'.
I believe there are some are called to be theologians, who's task is to study the scriptures and the tradition and to help the church to understand its faith and life in its present culture. This kind of theologian are often found in the academy, where they are enabled to undertake this task. I would not want to suggest that all theology is done in the academy and often it is others outside the theological academy who are taking theology in new directions, but I would want to value (is that a helpful word) the theological judgments of those full-time theologians in helping the church live out its story. For example the rediscovery of the doctrine of the trinity and trinitarian theology has largely emerged from the academy and has helped the church see some of the shortcomings of some expressions of charismatic and evangelical theology.
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