Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.01.2007, Qupperneq 60

theological enterprise.21 And if theology is a practical science, in the Aristote-
lian or any other sense, it cannot be detached from ethics For theology to be a
practical science in the classical sense first developed by Aristotle it must be a
form of phronesis, which is ‘a reasoned and true state of capacity to act with
regard to human goods’.22 The person of practical wisdom is able to deliberate
well on what is good for the individual, and on the good life in general.
If Theology is wisdom or knowledge orientated towards action and ac-
cordingly inevitably pervaded with the ethical, it is important also to affirm
that it is theology. If theological discourse is primarily about religion, it is
always in danger of dissolving into study of the context, and becoming a kind
of sociology or psychology of religion. But if theology is discourse about God
in the presence of God, and discourse with God, we are engaged with some-
thing totaliter aliter. We cannot talk about God or talk to God while setting
aside, even temporarily, the question of practice: What is God calling us to
do? How should we respond? We are also involved simultaneously in doxol-
ogy: ‘or the praise of God.’
If Alasdair Maclntyre is right - and I think he is - that the modern uni-
versity is fragmented and lacks the resources to deal with the questions which
confront it, partly because it has become incapable of coherent and rigorous
moral enquiry, is it possible that a Theology effectively related to other disci-
plines might have a major contribution to offer towards a renewal of academic
integrity and responsibility? For this approach the ugly ditch between ‘is’ and
‘ought’, fact and value, has been bridged, in however tentative a way, in order
to enable reflected and effective practice. Could this be part of our gift to the
whole academy, in its post-modern disarray and uncertainty?
4. Theology and Multiple Practices
A theology of practice and of practices must first ask questions about God’s
activity, and consider other agents’ practice within the horizon of the divine
21 On this see especially W.Pannenberg, Theology und the Philosophy ofScience. London, Darton, Longman and
Todd, 1976, pp.231-241 & 423-440.
22 Aristotle, Nicomathean Ethics, vi.5 - p.43 ofD.Ross edition, Oxford, 1954.