I’ll be finishing my dissertation soon. In just a few months I will complete the
process of researching a particular area of theological discourse, with the
goal of establishing myself as a professional theologian. But what sort of theologian am I?
By definition, a theologian speaks from within a
particular religious tradition, and I can certainly say that I think and work
within a Christian framework. Most
theologians speak from a particular ecclesiastical community as well – Catholic,
or Reformed, or Orthodox. Here, I fit
less well. I was raised in the Roman
Catholic Church, spent some very fruitful time as an Episcopal priest, and now
belong to an independent neo-monastic community. We have some wise and thoughtful theologians
among us in the Lindisfarne Community, but I don’t know that the wider world
would recognize us as a ‘school’ or ‘movement’ quite yet.
