For 'just as surely as there is a "priesthood of all believers" in God's church, so too there is a theological prerogative belonging not only to an elite academic priesthood, guardians of the sanctuaries of learning, but to all God's people. For the task of responsible thinking about God, about faith, of faith seeking to understand itself and to articulate that understanding, is the essence of Christian theology. In this sense of course "Every man, woman and child who thinks about God engages in theology." No one is excused! All are called to participate in the theological task as part of the community of faith and witness.'
That root meaning of theology is echoed in Hart's book about Christian theology called Faith Thinking. There he points out that far from being an elitist activity, theology is expected of all God's people.
Reflecting on the involvement of all of God's people in doing theology, Hart quotes from the Church of England's Doctrine Commission's 1976 report Christian Believing, which says that 'Theology is not undesirable, it is unavoidable. What matters is that it should be good theology.'
Hart, Trevors. Faith Thinking: The Dynamics of Christian Theology. London: SPCK Publishing, 1995. pp.2-7.
