What is ‘Applied Theology’?
A choice question since this is the title of the MTh I am currently reading for!!
But not so obvious as it seems at first…
Surely there is no such thing as ‘pure’ theology – is there! Can we really talk about GOD outside of our interpretive cultural framework of time, language, space, hope? I don’t think so. But if that is the case then is all theology ‘applied’ in the sense that it is what we say today.
My first systematic theology lecturer had a phrase – ‘all theological statements are interim statements’. What I say today might be different tomorrow, but on what criteria are they allowed to change. Just because I feel good today and bad / depressed tomorrow does that mean I can change my theology? Just because we are current in boom but when tomorrow comes we find ourselves in crash, does that mean we can change our theology?
What is the process of discerning our theology?