Studying theology academically (or, generally speaking, just being a post-Enlightened westerner) can have some major drawbacks, foremost among them being the tendency to analyze Christian Scripture into an impotent stew of historical-psychological-sociological lab experiments instead of a double-edged sword to be eyed warily lest we find ourselves actually being (gasp!) remade by its power, or at least offended by its claims. Take it away Jürgen,
I imagine that I step behind the pulpit in a church and preach in order to proclaim the Gospel and, if possible, awaken the faith. But those who sit in the pew don't listen to my words. A historian is there who examines critically facts about which I am speaking; a psychologist is there who analyzes my psyche which reveals itself in my speech; a cultural anthropologist is there who is identifying the class to which I belong and as whose representative he believes I am functioning. Everybody is analyzing me and my context, but nobody is listening to what I want to say. And the worst thing is: nobody is disagreeing with me, nobody wants to discuss with me what I have just said.
-Jürgen Moltmann, as quoted by Miroslav Volf
This idea finds me at a good moment, as my wife and I are, together, reading some Reflections for Holy Week. The offense of the cross is getting ever more, well, offensive, that is, if I'll let it.
