Many of you know my own regard for the work of Karl Barth. But I like Dr. Seuss, too.
For a delightful little poem showing the relationship between Barth and Seuss, check this post out:
http://tortoiseofdissent.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/dr-barth-and-dr-seuss/
David Guretzki
I came across these reflections in some reading I was doing today. It is by H. Richard Niebuhr. Worth some contemplation for those wondering about why theologians do what they do.
“Now one task of theology is develop this reasoning in faith [i.e., Niebuhr says that Psalm 8 is an instance of beginning in faith in God and proceeding to the visible world]. Hence it often undertakes to ask and answer, within the context of faith, the Psalmist’s question, What is man in the world of which God is the principle? . . . Such theological theory presupposes faith, but must develop the rational elements in it. As expressions of faith the statements of such theology will almost always be somewhat inferior to the utterances of poets and prophets. A theologian qua theologian could no more have written the 8th Psalm than archaeologist qua archaeologist could have written ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’; yet the theologian’s development of the reasoning in faith is no less closely related to faith than is the Psalmist’s development of the aesthetic form. His work is a work of reason in the context of faith. God is the ultimate object of his inquiry, but, of course, God as present to faith.”
H. Richard Niebuhr, Radical Monotheism and Western Culture (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1970), 14-15.
For more on “the art of theology,” I’d recommend taking a look at Bill Erlenbach’s post on his blog (you can find it listed in our blogroll to the right).
DG
