Restructured on love

About two weeks ago, while the world was marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Diana Butler Bass used a Twitter thread to discuss what happened to theology during and after the war. Well known theologians of the 20th Century, such as Paul Tillich, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Karl Barth, Rev. Giuseppe Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII who convened Vatican II), and Rabbi Solomon Freehof, were all deeply involved with WWI as a soldier or chaplain. Several developed PTSD as a result of their experiences.

They struggled over who God was or what he represented. They had seen evil and their previous understanding of God was shattered. Their writings were about universal ideas, about justice and a global community.

All these visions emerged from the horror of gas and mud and bullets and bombs and the uselessness of a hideous war. The theologies were more honest about human nature and doubt, more attuned to the suffering of the world, appreciative of freedom, restructured on love, and emphasized the authority & voice of regular people, the "laity," as God's body.

They set a theological table for much that would come later -- the theologies of liberation and ecumenism and liturgical renewal -- by either opening new theological conversations or inviting argument with their shortcomings.

Bass asks us how has our theology changed in this century? We’ve experienced 9/11 and two wars, one we can’t get out of. Women have been shouting Me Too. Students are crying over slain classmates. Immigrants are oppressed. Are we examining our theology in the wake of these events?

Let us work with passion and heart, taking our experiences seriously, re-reading and wrestling with our ancient texts, searching for paths of love, hints of beauty and grace.