Pastoral Resources

There is only one theology, but there are many theologians.

The humanities need to be defended today against the encroachments of physical science, as they once needed to be against the encroachment of theology.

The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth.

The best theology would need no advocates; it would prove itself.

Theology is a science of mind applied to God.

When theology erodes and organization crumbles, when the institutional framework of religion begins to break up, the search for a direct experience which people can feel to be religious facilitates the rise of cults.

Theology is the logic of the Devil.

What I think I have in common with the school of deconstruction is the mode of negative thinking or negative awareness, in the technical, philosophical sense of the negative, but which comes to me through negative theology.

I feel that the Christian experience and the Jewish one have much to give each other. If this open society continues and there is no return to political anti-Semitism, then this encounter, deeper than any theology, may happen.

If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go.

My theology is such that the God who loves Israel and will not forsake Israel - which is why I want to see Israel have a secure nation with secure borders - also loves the Palestinians.

Faith is more basic than language or theology.

Life isn't like a book. Life isn't logical or sensible or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time. And theology must be lived in the midst of that mess.

Our theology is still in a time of crisis, and I think this will last for some years more.

Before Vatican II, in theology, as in other areas, the discipline was fixed. After the council there has been a revolution - a chaotic revolution - with free discussion on everything. There is now no common theology or philosophy as there was before.

Catholic theology believes that God gave man free will, and you can't give somebody free will and then send in a play from the sidelines.

I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.

Theology is anthropology.

The result has been that although few conservative Presbyterian churches actually worship in the Puritan way, the Puritan theology of worship remains the standard orthodoxy among them. This discrepancy sometimes leads to guilty consciences.

Pastoral theology and care helps people look deeper at the intersection between their inherited religious traditions and their current life situations.