Death and resurrection of Theology

The Aula Magna delivered by Raimon Panikkar in the Superior Institute of Religious Science in Vic, in 2002, analyses the problem of irrelevance to which the theology of the present times, the marginalization of the theologian and the faculties of theology are condemned. The text tries to investigate the causes of this lamentable situation and asks about the possibility of changing this state of affairs. Organized as a reflection on these three points, the text diagnoses the straying from the evangelical pathway as one of the possible causes of this loss of relevance of theology. Investigating the internal relationship between philosophy and theology, the present text reveals the distinct aspects of this union. On one side, it calls attention to the confusion of the dominion of each discipline and on the other; it reaffirms the necessity of an urgent reuniting of the body and the soul, philosophy and theology respectively. Besides abandoning the divorce from philosophy, in order to resurrect Christian theology as an expression of the religion of the Word, it must also become increasingly the listener to the Mystery, opening itself to the symbol, avoiding the conversion of faith into ideology.