Intellectual as it is, their theology is always addressed not to “intellectuals,” but to the whole Church, in the firm belief that everyone in the Church has received the Spirit of Truth and was made a “theologian” — i.e., a man concerned with God. And the lasting truth of their theology is that in it ideas are always referred to the “practical” needs of the Church, revealed in their soteriological significance, whereas the most “practical” aspects of the Church are rooted in their ultimate theological implications.
For us in America to recover the pastoral dimension of theology means then not a change of level (“write on a more popular level”), but, above everything else, a change in the inner orientation of the theological mind, of the basic theological concern itself….
It is not accidental, of course, that patristic theology is rooted in a healthy apologetical purpose, in the defense of the faith against its external and internal enemies. As for us, we fight with great wit the battles the Fathers have already won, but politely smile at the truly demonic implications of some of the modern philosophies and theories. We are unaware of the obvious fact that under the influences of these philosophies even some of the basic Christian terms are used in a meaning almost opposite to the ones they had in the past…
We must begin, therefore, with what patristic theology performed in its own time: an exorcism of culture, a liberating reconstruction of the words, concepts and symbols, of the theological language itself. And we must do it in order not to make our theology more “acceptable” to the modern man and his culture, but, on the contrary, to make him again aware of the ultimately serious, truly soteriological nature and demands of his faith…
