Theological Education as Conversation
June 1, 2004 – 1:03 pm | by Duncan
David Tracy writes the first essay in “Theological Literacy for the Twenty-First Century“, edited by Rodney Petersen with Nancy Rourke. In that essay, he outlines his conviction that theological education is about conversation.
Some gleanings:
“To become educated is to be freed to enter the conversation of all the living and the dead; to enter that conversation independently and critically, to be sure, but nonetheless to enter.”
The criteria of an excellent conversation? Letting go - freeing ourselves from self-consciousness to listen, allow opinions to be tested, and allow the ‘to and fro movement’ of the questions simply as they come.
Tracy places two great quotes alongside each other:
The unreflected life is not worth living (Socrates)
The unlived life is not worth reflecting upon (Buddhist)
This is to say that we’ve needlessly separated feeling and thought, form and content, theory and practice. Distinctions are helpful. Dichotomies are not.
In all this, I find again and again Tracy’s reminder that we are part of a learning community that breaks through the limits of time and space.
“We know Christ Jesus because long-extinct communities and too easily forgotten generations have alowed us to hear this judging and healing Word.”
I’m (Duncan) convinced that when we discover something about the people who write theology, we become partners in conversation with people rather than dealers in ideology. So with that in mind, here’s some biographical background to David Tracy…
David is on the faculty of University of Chicago Divinity School. His full title is “Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor of Catholic Studies” and “Professor of Theology and of the Philosophy of Religion, the Divinity School and the Committee on Social Thought”.
Born in 1939 - that makes him 65 this year (2004). He’s a Catholic diocesan priest. He’s keen on classical studies - which explains his many references to classics in his theological writing. His books include: Analogical Imagination (1985), Plurality and Ambiguity (1994), On Naming the Present (1995), Blessed Rage for Order(1985), and Dialogue with the Other (1991).
