by Will Cohen
In a 2015 address at the University of Munich,
Metropolitan John Zizioulas observed that “[t]he agenda of Theology is
set by history.” By “history” he meant the concerns and questions
particular to a given age, as he underscores in adding, “This was known
to the Fathers of the Church who were in constant dialogue with their
time.”
If the Church’s theology must accept the questions of history in
order to be vital and serve humanity, the same is not true of the
conclusions history may hurriedly reach. Christians have sometimes not
readily enough accepted history’s questions and sometimes too readily
accepted its answers.