dynamic of theology shaping practice, practice--particularly at the popular level--
can impact belief. Likening it to a feedback loop, he says "we are not always as
rational as we sometimes think we are; experience frequently influences belief."
the control and shaping force of sound theology.
Reconnecting
Effective ministry is the ultimate purpose of theology, and we should rejoice
wherever this truth is affirmed and receives attention. Ellen Charry, in a recent
study of classical Christian theology from the New Testament to the Reformation,
makes the point that the shapers of doctrine had uppermost in their minds a
pastoral function. They understood that doctrine was pointed toward ministry. In
her words, "as these major shapers of the Christian tradition formulated,
reformulated, and revised Christian doctrine, its moral, psychological, and social
implications were uppermost in their minds. Even when refuting their colleagues
or opponents who...were...falling into heresy, they never forgot that God was
seeking to draw people to himself for their own good."
salutary, doctrine not interpreted in terms of its bearing on ministry.
This perspective of theology is reflected in Well's observation that "theology is a
knowledge that belongs first and foremost to the people of God and that the
proper and primary audience for theology is therefore the church.....And its
purpose is... primarily... to nurture the people of God." Theology as such, he
says, is a knowledge "that has Christ as its object and his service as its end."
This was clear in the teaching of the Apostle Paul about the purpose of God-
breathed Scripture, where he points to the usefulness of Scripture to teach,
rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness, "so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:17). His following charge to
"preach the word" and to teach sound doctrine affirms the central pastoral task
described in Ephesians 4:12, "to prepare God's people for works of service", that
is, ministry.
It is instructive to note one instance in which believers working from within one
mainline denomination issued a call for ministry renewal based on restoring the
foundations of sound theology. Observing that "no denomination in the United
States has moved as far to the left as the United Church of Christ," Gerald M.
Sanders provided an account of the renewal movement within that denomination
in the mid-1980's. In 1983 the leaders of the renewal effort issued a statement
arguing that "there are limits to what may legitimately be called Christianity,"
They saw such theological "defining" as the essential basis for the life and
ministry of the Church, which was needed to counter the practices of "giving