Renewing Dogmatic Theology

I enjoyed the article “Renewing Dogmatic Theology” by Bruce D. Marshall (First Things, May 2012). Marshall is interacting with Catholic theologian Matthias Joseph Scheeben, and looking for virtues for contemporary dogmatic enterprise. Lots of good things therein, my summary: With “supernatural focus, sympathetic learning, and humility,” the dogmatic theologian disciplines himself to be drawn into the “mysteries of God revealed only in Christ.” Once revealed, he meditates upon these mysteries (Dogmatic theology has its own “domain”–not being Natural). A dogmatic theologian is not a “virtuoso intellectual,” rather, he is a humble man. Humble because of “love for and gratitude to God,” who has exalted mankind beyond our wildest dreams. Therefore, “Dogmatic theology is most creative when it is most genuinely submissive.”