1. Theology cannot simply repropose abstract formulae and schemes of the past. Called to interpret the present in a prophetic manner and to discover new paths for the future in the light of Revelation, it must face squarely the new and profound cultural changes that are taking place. (ATP 1)
3. A synodal, missionary and "outgoing" Church calls for a theology "in uscita." We have to abandon an armchair theology. We need to theologize on the frontiers, the peripheries. Good theologians, like good pastors, must have the smell of the sheep and of the street. with their reflections they pour oil and wine on the wounds of human beings. And such contact cannot be merely "tactical." Reflecting on the frontiers cannot be a strategy that involves merely extrinsic adjustment to contents that are already crystallized. Theology must engage in a rethinking of its epistemology and its methodology (cf. VG).
4. Theological reflection is called to a change of paradigm, a "courageous cultural revolution" (LS 114). In the first place, it must be a contextual theology, capable of reading and interpreting the Gosplel in the concrete conditions in which men and women live their daily lives, in the different geographical, social and cultural contexts. The archetype of such a method is the incarnation of the eternal Logos, his entering into culture, into a worldview, into the religious tradition of a people.
Starting from this, theology cannot but develop within a culture of dialogue and of encounter between different traditions, wisdoms, christian confessions, religions. The need for dialogue is intrinsic to the human being and to the whole of creation. It is the task of theology to discover 'the Trinitarian imprint that makes the cosmos in which we live a “network of relations” in which “it is proper to every living being to tend towards other things”.' (VG 4a)
5. This relational dimension connotes and defines the status of theology from an epistemic point of view. Theology cannot be self-referential; it has to take its place in a network of relationships, first of all with other disciples and wisdoms. This is the cross-disciplinary approach. Interdisciplinarity in a weak sense is happy to get a better understanding of the object by considering it from different points of view. Cross-disciplinarity or strong interdisciplinarity involves "situating and stimulating all disciplines against the backdrop of the Light and Life offered by the Wisdom streaming from God’s Revelation." (VG 4c)
6. The dialogue with other disciplines presupposes the dialogue within the ecclesial community, and the awareness of the essentially synodal and communion nature of doing theology. The theologian cannot but be a person of fraternity and communion, at the service of evangelization, and for reaching the hearts of all. [He has to be religiously and morally converted.] "Ecclesial synodality therefore commits theologians to do theology in a synodal form, promoting among themselves the ability to listen, dialogue, discern and integrate the multiplicity and variety of instances and contributions". (Francis, Address to members of the ITC, 24 Nov 2022) It is therefore important that there be places, including institutional ones, in which to live and experience theological collegiality and fraternity. [Crowe had suggested monasteries, and seminars and congresses and workshops preceded by live-ins for praying and sharing and talking together; we could think of ashrams.]
7. The necessary attention to the scientific status of theology must not obscure its sapiential dimension. (S.Th. 1.1.6) For Rosmini, theology was a sublime expression of "intellectual charity"; he wanted the critical reason to be oriented to the Idea of Wisdom, which is a union of Truth and Love. It is impossible to know the truth without practising charity. (Degli studi dell'Autore, nn. 100-111)
"In this way, theology can contribute to the current debate of 'rethinking thought', showing itself to be a true critical knowledge insofar as it is sapiential knowledge, not abstract and ideological, but spiritual, elaborated on its knees, pregnant with adoration and prayer; a transcendent knowledge and, at the same time, attentive to the voice of the people, hence 'popular' theology, mercifully addressing the open wounds of humanity and creation and within the folds of human history, to which it prophesises the hope of an ultimate fulfilment."
8. "This is about the pastoral 'stamp' that theology as a whole, and not only in one particular area, must assume: without opposing theory and practice, theological reflection is urged to develop with an inductive method, which starts from the different contexts and concrete situations in which peoples are inserted, allowing itself to be seriously challenged by reality, to become discernment of the 'signs of the times' in the proclamation of the salvific event of the God-agape, communicated in Jesus Christ." Theology must give privileged place to the commonsense of the people, which is a theological place...
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