A THEOLOGY OF RESPONSE

Doctrinal construction in mainstream Christian theology is predicated on the assumption that the Bible is to be read as a source of timeless doctrine. This premise is itself undergirded by a particular way of interpreting statements by Jesus to the effect that his is a religion which declares truth for all time and historical context. Here is an exercise in constructive theology that revisits the idea of the Christian community and by implication Christian theology as a whole as excluding viewpoints not explicitly endorsed in the Scriptures, and as stating with utmost lucidity what God is and does. We conclude through our study of the Christian Scriptures that the doctrine latent therein is itself highly contextual. Such a dynamic and nuanced conception of the Bible does not leave believers without a reliable guide to faith and conduct, but indeed affords us a limitlessly flexible and protean view of the divine in relation to all of life that is able to address disparate situations and marginalised communities and persons traditionally and customarily thought to have little in common with, if not be outright opposed to, the goals of the Christian faith.