294 - Vision and Discernment: An Orientation in Theological Study

Vision and Discernment: An Orientation in Theological Study
By Charles M. Wood
Atlanta, Scholars Press, 1985. 98 pp. $15.95 ($11.95 paper)

This book is concerned with the range of disciplines that constitute Christian theology-biblical studies, systematic theology, church history, and the like-and with the study of these disciplines, which constitutes the enterprise of theological education. Throughout the study, Wood is searching for the unity of Christian theology as well as for the coherence of the process of theological education. He hopes the

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work will contribute a sense of wholeness to students engaged in theological education as well as to persons at more advanced levels of theological scholarship.

In establishing the context for his inquiry, Wood traces the development of the four-fold organization of Christian theology: biblical, historical, theological, and practical. He helpfully indicates how Schleiermacher sought to reorganize the theological encyclopedia in light of the emergence of historical-critical studies, but largely failed in the effort.

The author believes there are grounds for assuming that a new effort to discover the nature and unity of Christian theology can succeed. To this end, he proposes that Christian theology be understood as critical inquiry into the validity of Christian witness. Focusing on the validity of Christian witness and using criteria intrinsic to that witness distinguishes the enterprise from other inquiries.

Three primary sorts of questions must be pursued. First, is the witness a witness to Jesus Christ? Is it truly Christian? This major inquiry Wood labels historical theology, which includes biblical studies. Second, is the witness really true? Does it claim to be the truth? This endeavor is called philosophical theology. Third, is the witness fittingly enacted, appropriately related to the context? The effort to ascertain whether or not the witness is a deliberate, purposeful activity bearing a distinctive concern is called practical theology. There is then the task of integrating in a comprehensive and constructive fashion the three previous efforts. This he calls systematic theology. Finally, one must raise the question of the validity of the Christian witness related to human conduct or moral theology. Moral theology assesses the conduct of the Christian witness as conduct; practical theology assesses conduct as witness.

While acknowledging that no such disciplines now exist, the author believes there are reasons to assume that they might emerge from the current context. For example, the movements of the past century that pushed theological disciplines to become "secular" freed the disciplines from tradition so that radical faithfulness to the tradition can again be found.

By selling his first three primary questions as dimensions of the same inquiry, Wood hopes to overcome the separation of disciplines as well as the split between theory and practice. There are two moments or aspects of theological inquiring that belong to all three dimensions, and it is in the quest for their realization that the three find their unity in the mode of reflection called systematic theology. The two moments are vision and discernment. Vision points to a general synoptic understanding; discernment points to the difference, particularity, the individual. Theological reflection involves a dialectical relationship between the two.

The author argues that theological inquiry, as he defines it, can include habitus, theology as disposition, subjective conformity as well as theology as objective knowledge. Such understandings are necessary for

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church leaders as they wrestle with the questions of a sermon as a valid form of Christian witness, or any given act by an individual or group. Thus, all courses in theological schools are to be seen in a different light. The exercise of theological inquiry to the end that persons might be able to make judgments is the purpose of the process.

A person in the local church or a theological seminary who has a sense of belonging to God, a commitment to God based on a religious experience, or the sense of the lively presence of God or even of God as the ground of being might well find Charles Wood's proposal exciting and spiritually promising. This is the reviewer's way of raising the question of the theologian's existential involvement in what is called "Christian witness." Some words need to be added about worship, prayer, social action, not as to their adequacy as Christian witness (a second order enterprise) but their place as first order activities in the life of the community of faith.

The fact that Wood has joined Edward Farley, John Cobb, and Joseph Hough in producing a book on the subject of theological inquiry is encouraging, for it suggests that theological professors are turning their minds to their own enterprise as a subject for scholarly debate and publishing. This has been needed for a long time, and this book constitutes a splendid contribution to the ongoing task.

Neely D. McCarter

Pacific School of Religion
Berkeley, California