Topic :Today’s Need of Theologians

Objectives: 

Identify the present situation adopting the See-Discern-Act Approach to appreciate the need of
Theologians.
 Appreciate the presence of God and develop a deep relationship with Him by writing a
reflective journal.

Let’s begin!
SOCIAL ANALYSIS: SEE –JUDGE –ACT Process
    Description: A simple method which helps us to stop, stand back from a situation and
reflect on it before we jump in and take action. This process helps us to develop critical
judgment about situations, events and structures. Often the three stages overlap
and intermingle. Retrieved: ( https://bit.ly/31QBVlj )
Directions: Answer the following questions in a form of paragraph. Follow the format below:

See
1. Look around and see what is happening in our society, our world?
2. Who are the people involved?
3. Who gains from this situation? Who loses?
4. What is the situation doing to people?
5. Why is it happening? Why does it continue?

- It was a world of oblivion citizens which blinded by reciprocating veil of ignorance. Our
society unveil such vulnerabilities itself that made them a prey to a corrupted politicians
or people. Only those who have power has societal opportunities to access economical
hands down yet the benighted citizens are merely incognizant for their downfall. Hence,
our economical process abuses the economy people by presenting/giving subnormal
balance of salary to solitary workers. It only happens considering the majority of our
citizens are unacquainted to economy, businesses or political affairs that made cozened
power continuously corrupted.

Judge/Discern
1. How do you feel about this situation?
2. Have you ever behaved or acted like anyone in the situation? If so, 
     what happened? Why? How did you and/or those involved feel?
3. What do you think should be happening?
4. What does your faith say about it?

- A picture itself are inconsolable as I’ve felt or imagine. It was a crestfallen situation
conceiving a wide-range citizen deceived by fellow people. Unfortunately, I was once a
victim that walked to the oblivion of humanity. I lost the track of having human rights to
a certain economical argument which I have been derogated by an upper-class man and
ended up futilely human incompetency. I felt my existence was an outcast to society as
my rights has been diminished as a part time job worker and ended up nescience to a
market prices or its process. It should be done by fair marketing process without using
power or insinuating ones’ life for extortion. Thus, it must have equality for any position
of a human living in our society. For that matter, I must say our society would be highly
conspicuous in enriching equality/equity. So that God will give blessings to all humanity.

Act
1. What can we do to bridge the gap between what is happening (the reality) 
    and what should be happening (the ideal/what our faith says)?
2. What action are we going to take?
              3. Who can we involve in our action?

- As reality are contradicted to my ideal as an individual. Our coping mechanisms are; a

prayer of action, that God will guide those people who have lost or abused and use those
people who have power for good. It should be a world of coequality which
citizens/people coalescing all-spheres of opportunity to access economy, political rights
or justices. And thus, we will try to unite by using basic liberty such as freedom of speech
for equality/equity to society. Hence, people have rights to fight for their authority as a
person living in a state or humanity. A fair opportunity for people or rather a fair accord
to everyone.

Please Read this!

A. Today’s Need of Theologians
1.  Today’s Need for Theologians 
“This world desperately needs theologians.” (Walter J. Burghardt, SJ)
This world is filled with paradoxes:  a little world but with billions going hungry; a world of love
and hatred, of despair and hope, of skepticism and faith, of tears and smiles, of people dying for
one another and killing one another- all at the same time. Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes (no. 4)
also speaks of the hope and anguish of the world: 

"In no other age has mankind enjoyed such abundance of wealth, resources and economic well-
being; and yet a huge proportion of the people of the world is plagued by hunger and extreme
need which countless numbers a totally illiterate…" 

PCP II tells us of the "lights and shadows" of the Philippine experience in the areas like
economy, culture, etc (see Appendix 1 of PCP-II Document, The Contemporary Philippine
Situation):
"Appalling mass poverty is undoubtedly the most tragic aspect of Filipino life.  It is a social
problem…But if the economic situation deals death, we are encouraged by life-giving
developments.  A growing awareness of the magnitude of poverty is mobilizing more middle -
income people into cause-oriented groups many of whose leaders are positively influenced by
the social teachings of the Church.  The poor people are banding together into self-help
organization.

…social scientists have alerted us to the ambivalence of certain Filipino values, and the
negative consequences (such as bahala na, utang na loob, pakiusap, palakasan, etc.). We have
also, in our recent political history, precisely at EDSA in 1996, witnessed heroically to the values
of healthy nationalism (such as pagsasarili, pagkakaisa, pakikisama, pagbayani, etc.)."    

This is man's experience with the world: absurd yet true.  Despite its being absurd, however,
this world has been addressed by God:  God has reveale himself in this world through His Word
(Jesus Christ) and is still manifesting himself today through his word in the Church.

Thus, the need for theologians: people who will interpret these bitter-sweet experiences- on the
one hand, to struggle to give expression to all these that happen around us, and on the other
hand, to search out where God has spoken, interpreting what God has said and what is saying;
to take the word of God from wherever it is spoken, wrestle with it, feel its fire and fling it out to
let people live with new life and fresh flame.

2.  Today’s Theologians (The Four Levels of Theologians)

 
One can speak of four levels of theologians, namely, the believer-theologian, the minister-
theologian, the teacher-theologian, and the expert theologian.  They theologize at different
levels, but all related and needing one another.

a.  Believer-theologians 

Believers can be considered theologians in the first level.  Their articulation of faith is
fragmentary and even unconscious.  Their source for theological reflections is the everyday life
experience where they probe the meaning of life or the sense of an event and explain it to
others.  But their theologizing, fragmentary though, is vital. It even makes up the expression of
the faith of the Church and is at the basis of theology, attuned with the world and the
contemporary man’s experience.  This theology is the basis of the so-called indigenization of
theology where one finds the hopes, aspirations and fears of men and women making up the
signs of the times (providing us matters to reflection).

b.  Minister-theologians  

For the sake of the whole Christian community and for the surer, deeper and more rapid growth
in the expression of faith, a greater systematization of the community’s faith is called for. 
Ordained ministers of the Church- the second level theologians- do this for the community of the
faithful.  Catechists and other church ministers share in this task.  Their sources include
the Scripture, Tradition, Magisterial pronouncements and the faith-experiences expressed by
the Christian community.
c.  Teacher-theologians  

There are those who help train ministers for the Church. These theologians on the third level
function both as mediator and initiator: responsible for providing  the future ministers with a view
of the Bible, Tradition, Magisterium and the discoveries of the experts, presenting data relevant
to the students’ present and future ministry and for bringing the students to personal
consciousness so that in turn they might become more aware of  the consciousness of others,
systematize it and put it side by side with  Tradition,  Scriptures, Magisterium, and theological
reflections. Their sources of theologizing include the Bible, Tradition, Dogma, and ancillary
disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, literature, etc.

d.  Expert -theologians  

There are those who contribute something new to theological discipline. They attempt to
articulate as accurately and creatively as possible the faith-experience of the community:
providing scientific confirmation to the intuition of the first level theologians; nourishing the
ministers with their works by helping them discern the content of the experience of faith;
and providing the depth out of which theology teachers will be able to perform their function as
trainers of future theologizing ministers.  They make use of all possible and relevant sources,
collaborating with as many disciplines as possible, engaging in in-depth analysis of the data
available.

Let’s go deeper!
After doing the SEE-JUDGE-ACT Process, what is your Plan of Action? (As a student, what
challenges you to do?)

I presume creating a small group organization for young citizen in my community would be
such highly recommended for the country or society. The members of the organization (that
includes myself) will lead young citizens for acknowledging corruption. It would be an
auspicious program to young citizens to criticize a putrid power. Consequently, my small
group organization as a student would have a fruitful outcome by the cognizance of people’s
amenability. And thus, building a concrete knowledge from a small group will be pass to a
generation, so that day, all people have an authority for their rights to access or has an
opportunity to economy, politics, and businesses.

 Let’s reflect!
Compose a Reflection Paper from the process you have gone through. Share your new learning
and realizations with the see-judge-act format. How does this process relate to the context that
there is a need for theologians?

Most of the citizens are not focus on having a good intuition to some abusive countrymen. In fact,
power itself is not necessarily a bad thing with a variety cases producing positive or negative results. It is
when power is combined with abusive act and having hard time in dealing towards his/her colleague or
workers. As my SEE-JUDGE-ACT included a contumelious occurrence in our society, it demonstrated how
the cycle of status we had are unbalanced which made us discriminated or isolated as our desires and
pride covered ourselves. It made other citizens lost their sense of humanity instead of being benevolent
to individual including economy people whose trying to make a living.

As our society existed with the same unbalance process. We cannot blame others for their malevolence
action. I presume it is just a process of a true balance society – if there are good then a bad also existed.
It is more alike human divinity such as; God created good and evil yet in a reality it made us isolated in
diversity. It elucidates the natural phenomenon of being a human degrading itself or others.

In conclusion, the abusive power of an individual is insuperable when it comes to bad people. It is an
abstract situation when scurrilous power insinuated its fellow citizen. For some matter, it is sometimes
okay to be treated that way as long as we didn’t degrade anyone in our entire existence. We only lived
ourselves through the message of God. We will live as an economy people doing our purposes in life
with contentment in our journey to aim our goal and happiness.