Description

Since the beginnings of Christianity, there has been a fundamental tension between faith and theology. The Reformation, with its principle of sola fide on the one hand and its institutionalisation of a scripture-based academic theology on the other hand, drew particular attention to the tension and suggested new answers to that problem. That effort contributed to a fundamental transformation of academic theology within the faculties of Protestant Theology which emerged as a result of the movement. In the past decades, however, academic theology has come under considerable pressure. [In much of Europe and North America, ] The process of secularization has led to a massive decline in religious education and - partially as a reaction to this - to a trivialization of academic theology. At the same time, one can observe a global proliferation of evangelical and Pentecostal groups. These groups sometimes display a certain indifference towards academic theological training, or even reject it altogether. In view of this development the question arises to what extent the relationship between faith and theology as defined in the wake of the Reformation will in future continue to be religiously productive and may thus serve the churches and their congregations.