Posted: 01/13/2005
I was raised a Baptist, learned to love the liturgy and the Lord's
Supper among the Lutherans, and was taught to think theologically
by American Evangelicals and Methodists. I became an “evangelical
catholic” reading Braaten, Jenson, Pelikan and Neuhaus, and they
in turn led me to the theologians whose works have decisively
shaped my Christian and ecumenical vision: de Lubac and Congar,
Lossky and Schmemann, Newman and Pannenberg. For most of my adult
life, historical theology and the praxis of Christian faith in
the church have been vocation and avocation rolled into one. Martin
Luther has been the steady conversation partner with whom I attempt
to make sense of it. Teaching theology is for me simultaneously
a professional expression of that continuing conversation, and
a vocation of service to others. When teaching undergraduates,
respect requires that I model the life of theological engagement
in an open and inclusive way, aiming not at converting but at
enabling my students to think better about the myriad theological
questions they will face in their own life journeys. Among graduate
students, I try to show the same respect— cura personalis
. But I also encourage them to engage theological questions
armed with both intellectual tenacity and confident faith. My
faith seeks understanding, and I expect theirs to do the same.
I believe this is consistent with the mission and self-understanding
of Marquette University as a Jesuit, Roman Catholic institution
of higher learning, one that takes seriously its grounding in
faith and tradition and seeks at the same time to expand the frontiers
of human understanding. My ongoing work at in Christian ecumenism
also complements the ecumenical posture and membership of the
Theology Department. Together, our “real but imperfect” communion
embodies in a small way the worldwide dialogue that is global
Christianity today.
