What Is Theology For?

Summenary Ep. 1. NOTE: If you want to read along in this series on Robert Jenson’s A Theology in Outline, you can find the PDF of next week’s reading below:Making our way through Robert Jenson’s, A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live we begin with the question: “What is theology?”“Theology,” says Jenson, “is thinking what to say to be saying the gospel.” The gospel can not simply be parroted from one generation to the next. It is a living message, that speaks a fresh, new, liberating word to each new hearer. This is why, he argues, the gospel can never be preached the same way twice:Precisely to be itself, the gospel is never told the same way twice. The formulas which yesterday opened Jesus’ future will tomorrow bind to the past. “We are justified by faith alone,” said Luther, and liberated four generations. When preachers say these words today, supposing themselves to be following Luther, they bind us to the terrible law of having to save ourselves by the quality of our sincerity, for that is what “faith” has come to mean since the eighteenth century. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cameroncombs.substack.com