PHOTO: J
PHOTO:PETE LINFORTH, PIXABAY
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This issue of our journal appears ten years after the election of Pope Francis. His first teaching letter, Evangelii gaudium (‘The Joy of the Gospel’), appeared at the end of 2013; it is now commemorated each year in England and Wales on the third Sunday of September. In it he wrote:
A theology – and not simply a pastoral theology – which is in dialogue with other sciences and human experiences is most important for our discernment on how best to bring the Gospel message to different cultural contexts and groups. The Church, in her commitment to evangelization, appreciates and encourages the charism of theologians and their scholarly efforts to advance dialogue with the world of cultures and sciences. I call on theologians to carry out this service as part of the Church’s saving mission. In doing so, however, they must always remember that the Church and theology exist to evangelize, and not be content with a desk-bound theology. (133)
These words both encourage and challenge those of us engaged in theological education; but ten years on both education in general in the UK and theological education in particular are in a parlous state: beset by underfunding, bad industrial relations which have led to strikes, animosity from many politicians and journalists, and for theology (alongside other humanities) many redundancies, the pruning or closure of departments, and the disappearance of many fine institutions. The picture is very bleak indeed. In the midst of this, how do we feel valued in our charism by the Church? Of course, many are suffering in today’s Britain, and those involved in theological education are for the most part not among those suffering the most, but our capacity to serve the Church in the way the Pope intends is compromised. It is as if we don’t know our country any more: ‘O how could we sing the song of the Lord on foreign soil?’ What does it mean to be involved in education in a country where a politician who has been very inf luential in education can say ‘people in this country have had enough of experts’? The picture is not much better in other parts of the world: even in the United States, where the teaching of theology at university level is traditionally well resourced, the same pruning is going on.
