CHURCH CONSENT FOR THEOLOGY PROFESSORS – AN EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE

The past discussion on the necessity of church blessing for university theology instructors in Serbia has highlighted the legal elements and problems related to this issue. However, there is a theological dimension that is linked to the self-understanding of theology as a scholarly discipline: when theology is understood as a scholarly discipline, the same epistemological and theoretical conditions apply to it as to any other discipline – which does not exclude a special role of the church. Other scholarly disciplines also function in certain social and political contexts and are dependent on them to a certain extent. The role of theology is therefore not that exceptional. It is the right of every church to preserve its theological tradition, but the question remains open how this is best achieved. It is in the interest of theology, as well as of the church itself, to cede control over theology mostly to the scholarly discourse.

This piece is written in response to a previously published article: DEBATE