Is More Theological Research Really Needed?

Do we really need more research in Bible and theology?

This is a question that those of us in the academic world find ourselves asking from time to time. Well, at least I know that I ask it of myself. Our students (or families or churches) may ask it as well when they hear about the kind of research and writing we biblical studies faculty do. I found a good angle from which to approach this question in Avery Dulles, The Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1992). Dulles provides a compelling case for the ongoing need for more theological research and development, giving both a theological answer and a practical one. He writes,

“Systematization in theology can never be complete, for the true object of theology is the unfathomable mystery of God, attained by tacit rather than explicit awareness. Every theological system is deficient, but some systems are superior to others, especially for making the faith intelligible to a given cultural group at a given period of history.” (10)

Dulles’ comment is an important reminder to me of two important ideas. First, further theological research is a theological necessity: our theology can never exhaust the depths of God, and therefore the subject matter of our discipline is one which is inexhaustible. As a result, theology will always be a work in progress; we will never fully arrive at the final word on God, God’s world, and God’s work in the world.

Second, a practical consideration: time and history never stand still, and new times and new cultural contexts raise new questions that call for fresh and compelling formulations—formulations which of necessity must go beyond the explanations and theological formulae of earlier generations. Thus, Dulles reminds us of the importance of ongoing, careful, and critical work in the field of theology, and, for me, in the sub-discipline of biblical studies. Rather than simply forwarding on the systematized answers of the past, there is a pressing need for a continual process of revisiting and revising our theology, to strive toward a theological system that is (if not complete) at least well-suited for our own particular place and time.

Dulles elaborates on this second point about the need for fresh theology in changing times:

“The questions confronting the present-day theologian arise from apparent gaps or contradictions in the normative sources, or from the deficiencies perceived in past theological syntheses, or from objections arising out of contemporary experience or knowledge. Theology, then, can never be static. It must deal with new questions put to the Church by the course of events and by the circumstances of life in the world. Continual creativity is needed to implant the faith in new cultures and to keep the teaching of the Church abreast of the growth of secular knowledge. New questions demand new answers, but the answers of theology must always grow out of the Church’s heritage of faith.” (11)

With that last sentence Dulles thus brings into view the dynamic tension that exists between tradition and faithful innovation—a tension that Jewish and Christian people of faith have wrestled with for centuries. And of course, this "dynamic tension" would make a great research topic in its own right.