Just a quick thought here - I just finished a Reading Week and have been slogging my way through Evangelical Theology, an introduction to theology given by Karl Barth, in 1963, near the end of his life.
Barth's prose is what I'd call "turgid," and I'm glad that this book is nowhere near as long as his four volume, Church Dogmatics. But there are more than a few nuggets packed into this book, including a chapter called "Wonder" that, should I ever have my own pulpit, I intend to return to.
"If anyone should not find himself astonished and filled with wonder when he becomes involved in one way or another with theology, he would be well advised to consider once more ... what is involved in this undertaking. ...as long as even a poor theologian is capable of astonishment, he is not lost to the fulfillment of his task. He remains serviceable as long as the possibility is left open that astonishment may seize him like an armed man."
We tend to like and feel comfortable with what we can explain. But is that what we worship? I think that is what Barth is getting at. Theology is - or should be -more about awe than it is about quantifying and categorizing the Ineffable.
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