The wind has shifted. People want hard religion, not easy religion. They seek out communities that are demanding rather than permissive. They want truth-based theologies, not outlooks softened with talk of “meaning” and “welcome.” Dialogue, a buzzword for the Baby Boomers, is out. Emphasis falls on conviction and commitment.
Twenty years ago, while teaching theology at Creighton University, I had an experience that foretold this shift. I offered a course on apologetics: “Defending the Christian Faith.” We covered Thomas Aquinas’s presentation of the five arguments for the existence of God and John Henry Newman’s luminous sermons on faith and reason. I added a long chapter on Christology found in Karl Rahner’s Foundations of Christian Faith, an influential book in the years after Vatican II.
