Topics
The Future of Theology
Without deep faith, which comes from deep and critical learning and teaching, the cultural imagination of our age will consign Christian faith to the nursery with other pleasant fables and fairy stories. All academic research presumes we cannot simply be satisfied and teach the received norms and traditions of any subject, but engage in research which catalyses new ways of thinking, being and doing in the world today. This is as true of Theology as any other discipline. And, if we are to re-engage a society which has more than ever been educated and apprenticed to this kind of thinking, the formation of those who will go on to teach the faith of Christianity to the broader public in their localities should wisely embody the kinds of deep, culture-changing thinking and reflection which is needed for Christianity once again to shape and transform the societies of which we are a part. As the world’s only institute for advanced study dedicated to Theology, our Director has assembled major theological thinkers from around the globe to convene to consider The Future of Theology in terms of the church, university and world. What can and must theologians be working on if we are to bring about the theological renaissance for which CTI was founded?
From Despair to Hope:
Interdisciplinary Theology in the Service of Building Spiritual Capital
Made possible through a $4.5 mil grant from the John Templeton Foundation, this project’s underlying question is: What would it look like to develop and apply new, inter-disciplinary theologies of hope in domains where despair prevails and hope is yearned for? In trying to answer this question, CTI will convene groups of scholars residentially and digitally, host workshops and colloquia, create online resources, chair global webinars, and record new podcasts, among many other ventures. Our new state-of-the art building provides the perfect location and facilities for such an ambitious research agenda.
As Principal Investigator on the grant, Dr. Tom Greggs will be joined in leading the project by a co-investigator, The Rev’d Dr Jonathan Jong (a philosopher and psychologist working between the Universities of Oxford and St Mary’s University Twickenham, and a priest based in the Diocese of Chichester). Dr Valerie Cooper (Duke University) and Dr Amos Yong (Fuller Seminary) will be joining the project as Senior Fellows.
The project focuses on developing theologies of hope in five areas: (1) Technology and AI; (2) Civics and Democracy; (3) Youth and Education; (4) Health and Medicine; (5) Entrepreneurship and Economics. Each area will bring together five fellows from around the globe to work, and adverts will soon be posted for these competitive fellowships. In addition to these areas, and sixty years on from the publication of Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope, several major works of systematic, practical and contextual theologies of hope will be produced by a core team (including Dr Joshua Mauldin, the Associate Director, and the two Senior Fellows).
Scriptural Reasoning
One of CTI’s greatest gifts to the world was a mode of inter-faith engagement called Scriptural Reasoning, pioneered here under our first Director, Professor Daniel W. Hardy. Scriptural Reasoning aims at creating spaces for hospitality and dialogue without any impingement on the particularities and exclusive claims of faith. Our aim is not to agree but to learn to disagree better and virtuously. Using our Scriptural texts as the very basis of our means for dialogue, Scriptural Reasoning encourages healing in a world in which cheap faith presumes the only options are either an oppositional fundamentalism or a lowest common denominator spirituality. Through deep engagement with each other’s Scriptures, we seek to foster new ways of thinking which reach beyond tolerance, and which acknowledge the fundamental differences which exist between our faiths without presuming that these need to lead to violence. Scriptural Reasoning has had global ramifications for the good throughout the world since its inception at CTI. Bringing together some of the founders and leading thinkers in this mode of inter-faith work, this investigation will seek to delve deeper into how our different Scriptures with their exclusive claims can be sources of healing and reconciliation in a divided world.