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  • Theological Education in the Twenty-First Century
  • Father John Behr

Theological education really is at the heart of the Christian faith, going back to the mandate of Christ himself: “go, therefore, and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). When we hear this great commission, our attention is usually captured by the words go and baptize, although in Greek these are participles—going/baptizing. It is, however, the phrase “make disciples” that is in the imperative: this is what we are to do, with the going and baptizing being the concomitant activities. Moreover, the phrase “make disciples” (μαθητεύσατε) is not simply a matter of making new followers: it is a matter of teaching, making students (μαθηταί), students of the Word. And this, furthermore, is not simply a matter of passing on information, making better educated Christians. The woman fleeing into the wilderness, described in the book of Revelation (12), is, according to Hippolytus, the Church, and her child is the Christ, “whom,” he says, “the Church continually bears as she teaches all nations” (AntiChrist 61: ὃν ἀεὶ τίκουσα ἡ ἐκκλησία διδάσκει πάντα τὰ ἔθνη). The Church gives birth to Christ in the act of teaching! Theological education has a high calling indeed!

Learning, then, it unfortunately has to be said, is essential for all Christians: we pray in the liturgy for “growth in life and faith and spiritual understanding.” And yet, we prefer to spend our time studying anything else—politics, sports, economics, etc.—and then wonder why our faith too often remains in a childish state. But that is [End Page 1] not my topic for today. Rather, my topic is more specifically the higher level of theological education, preparing those who would be teachers. For, as the Apostle said, for equipping the saints and building the body, God has given some to be apostles, other prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11–12): “pastors” and “teachers” go together as a single office, not distinct roles or even separate activities (something to which I will return). What then is involved in such theological education, the preparation of those called to be teachers/pastors? There are two main points I would like to make.

I: THE TASK OF THEOLOGY/THEOLOGY AS TASK

It has become ever more borne in upon me over the last decades, that the task of education is not to enable students to answers questions that arise today, but to be able to respond to those that will be raised in decades to come, as they mature over the decades, in their own vocation. If the questions that address us today are difficult, in ways unimaginable only a few years ago, they will assuredly be even more difficult as the world changes at an increasing rapid rate. There is, then, a prophetic element to theological education. But to accomplish this, we have to be very clear about what the task of theological education is. Simply put: it is not about conveying information, but rather forming theologians, ones who can speak in new and unforeseen contexts.

Theological education does, of course, involve learning a lot, and indeed all sort of disciplines. Some are more academic, such as the study of Scripture, the Fathers/Patristics, history, systematics, liturgy, canon law, iconology, and the languages needed for this. Others are more pastoral, dealing with issues in pastoral ministry, counseling in various matters, sickness, old age, death and bereavement, addiction and so on, often involving extensive field work. And others still more practical, such as rubrics, music, public speaking, and preaching. However, in a very real sense none of this is yet theology: each discipline can be, and is, taught by others, but not as theology. In fact, each of these disciplines—scriptural exegesis, patristics, liturgy, systematics, or dogmatics, and the others—have now become disciplines in their own right, resulting in the fragmentation of the singular discipline of theology. Borrowing from Edward Farley, one could say, in admittedly broad strokes, that for the first millennium and more, theology was pursued by the contemplative reading of Scripture in the context of the school of liturgy and in the tradition of the Fathers.1 But during the course of...

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