Interesting answers are coming in to Kester’s question. Kester Brewin asks this question on his blog, and also inside a group chat that i am involved in.
What Are The ‘Grand Challenges’ for Theology for the 21st Century?
Grand theological challenges?
I wonder, first, what would be considered the grand theological issues addressed in the 20th century? That aside, a critical issue I do not see being discussed ANYWHERE is one of soteriology; how do we change? How do we “grow spiritually”?
Modern Christianity equates spiritual growth with an accumulation of doctrinal and scriptural data. It is information based. If the end 20th century marks the end of the “information age” and the 21st century marks the beginning of an age of connectivity, or “relationality”, than spiritual growth may rightly or wrongly be equated with the quality (or quantity) of our relational network. We see this on Facebook (friend counting) and blogging. This is neither good nor bad inherently. However, instead of trying to super-size everything we see peacemaking, reconciliation, and new monastic communities – positive “signs”.
We have learned so much and still know so little about how people really change. How do we break free from addictions, racism, and mental illness? How do we combine the wisdom of monasticism and theosis, Frued’s psycholanalysis, and Dean Ornish’s work?