Theological Empathy

In yesterday's post I observed that our worries pull our theology. For example, if you worry a lot about theodicy those worries will pull you hard in certain theological directions. If, however, your worry is about, say, the proper Trinitarian understanding of God, your worries will pull you in different directions. And on and on. What you worry about pulls your theology.

And as I also mentioned yesterday, I'm sort of a theological nomad in that I wander around the theological landscape never settling down into one theological camp. And a part of this, as I mentioned, is that I often see everyone's theological worries as legitimate. At the very least, I can empathize with the worry. I see why people worry about theodicy. And I also see why people worry about the Trinity. I see why people worry about penal substitutionary atonement. And I see why people worry about throwing the baby out with the bathwater by rejecting penal substitutionary atonement.

All that to say, I wish we'd work harder to cultivate more theological empathy for each other. Sure, those people might be heretics, but they are worried about some important stuff, and rightly so. And sure, those people might be rigidly orthodox, but they are worried about some important stuff, and rightly so. I think if we worked harder to validate the worries we all have we might find some room for common ground and perhaps for a more civil theological discourse.