“Theology, as a function of the Christian church, must serve the needs of the church. A theological system is supposed to satisfy two basic needs: the statement of the truth of the Christian message and the interpretation of this truth for every new generation.”
Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, 1.1
I love it. I ran across some Tillich in The Openness of God, and so I ran and picked up Tillich’s Systematic Theology (which we’re reading for Systematic Theology next semester, along with Cone, Gutierrez, Ruether and Calvin’s Institutes, a far cry for last year’s Bonaventure, Pseudo-Dionysius and all the early, dead guys…should be interesting) and have been reading some of that tonight. So I flipped to the first page, and that’s what I see. Theology…must serve the needs of the church. Tillich…a practical theologian. I never knew. I’m sure I won’t be with Tillich on everything, but quite the sentence and quite the way to put a focus to his Systematic Theology – to say that theology must serve the needs of the church. If it doesn’t…it’s just noise, clanging cymbals, worthless.