Theology is Moral Work

One of the most important things for theologians to remember is that they are going to be judged.

I have just finished watching a program about Albert Einstein. His intellect was massive. His all consuming passion to discover the solution to his theory of gravity, of bending light, can be very inspiring to an intellectually minded individual such as myself. Albert Einstein can be admired much the same way as the man I am learning to warily admire these days, Karl Barth.

In watching this television program I could see that there was a judgment day for the Theory of Relativity. The theory had to be tested and either proved or disproved. Luckily for Einstein, it was proved. His discovery changed the way mankind looks at his universe. It was a radical paradigm shift. To be honest, I do not know enough about mathematics and physics to fully appreciate all that Einstein's theory means. However, I could relate to the passion with which he pursued his field.

For the Christian theologian, the situation is comparable. Whereas the scientist works with "general revelation," the theologian works with "special revelation." The natural scientist works with and interacts with what God has made and set in motion. The Christian theologian works with what God has said and done.

All work is moral work. I do not doubt that God will judge Einstein. Perhaps, in the mystery of Time and Eternity, He already has. To read the things that Einstein hypothesized regarding the impossibility of a personal God, I shudder to think of the judgment proclaimed. This is not because I do not think that salvation is by grace but because God grants the "sign for the thing signified." If we are going to be redeemed in eternity, in the New Creation, God will grant us the sign of present day belief in the gospel, and of repentance and obedience. If we are going to survive the fire of judgment, it is because we offered the obedience of faith today. We are saved by grace and given Christ's own mantle of righteousness, and we know this because we believe the good news of His death in our place and of His glorious resurrection.

But still, all work is moral work. Einstein had the responsibility to be correct. So does the theologian. The plumber has the responsibility to do good work and the parent has the responsibility to raise good kids. The secretary is responsible to serve her boss just as the President must care for the country.

If anyone among these people should grasp the responsibility of doing their work well, it should be the theologian. If anyone should be able to draw the connection between ethics and work ethic, it should be the man or woman who dares to speak on behalf of the living God.

"Not many of you should be teachers, for we who teach will be judged more strictly." James 3:1