***
Geoff Thompson, A
Genuinely Theological Church: ministry,
theology and the Uniting Church, Reservoir: Uniting Academic Press, 2018.
reviewed by Bob
Faser.
I hope you didn’t
groan when you saw the title of Geoff Thompson’s book, A Genuinely Theological Church. I’m afraid that “theology” has become a bit
of a “dirty word” in some sections of the Uniting Church.
In some UCA
circles, whenever the “T-word” (theology)
is mentioned, it’s common to see many people looking rather tense, as if they assume
an all-in brawl will soon follow.
Thinking of the theological brawls our church has experienced over the
decades since Union, particularly over “the Four Bs” (Baptism, Bishops,
Biblical Interpretation, and Bedroom Ethics), this tension is understandable.
At the very least,
Dr. Thompson has given us a book with a provocative title.
This book has had
its genesis in some recent changes in the education, training, and formation
for the UCA’s specified ministries (ordained and otherwise), to the extent
where some Synods are now operating according to significantly different models
of ministry formation than others.
In
examining this situation, Dr. Thompson has broken two persistent taboos within
the UCA that have long needed to be broken.
·
The
first is the taboo against admitting that the ethos of the UCA varies according
to the region of Australia in which we happen to be located.
·
The
second is the taboo against admitting that whichever of the UCA’s parent
churches with which we identify (if any) still has a profound impact on our
understanding of the UCA (and of the Christian faith more generally).
By breaking both
of these taboos, Geoff Thompson has done us all a service.
Dr. Thompson
continues with an exploration of the theological vocation of the UCA in a
cultural context he describes as “post-secular”, “post-liberal”, “post-colonial”,
and (drawing on contemporary politics) “post-truth”. He concludes with a consideration of ministry
education in a “post-Christendom” age.
This is a brief
book, but an important one.
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