Hur man vinner en teologisk diskussion

Sitter just nu och förbereder föreläsningar inför grundkursen i Systematisk teologi på Örebro Teologiska Högskola. Vi har precis bytt kursbok och jag måste därför ägna den lite mer uppmärksamhet än vanligt. Boken det handlar om är William C. Plachers "A History of Christian Theology". I kapitlet som handlar om treenighetens framväxt kommer Placher med en tes om hur man vann teologiska debatter på 200 och 300-talet. Jag tror att de kriterier han menade var verksamma kan lära oss något i dagens teologiska diskussioner.

"Three principles guided the debate:

1. Do not contradict the Bible. Christians continued to debate just which books belonged in the New Testament, but they recognized the general authority of Scripture and tended to reject theories that seemed to contradict it.
2. Do not interfere with the liturgy. Christians will generally leave theologians alone, considering them harmless enough, but theologians who tell them to stop praying as their parents taught them risk instant unpopularity.
3. Do not threaten the means of salvation. As already noted, early Christians affirmed Christ's divinity and humanity in part because saying that Christ had only seemed to be human or had not been truly divine, had threatened their confidence in salvation. That concern continued to shape subsequent debates. To understand its impact requires a digression on how Christians thought Christ had saved them." (s 56)