Back when I lived in Pasadena, a friend and I wandered into the bookstore at Fuller Seminary . We were impressed by the rows upon rows of theological knowledge, and stayed to browse. Suddenly, my attention was caught one small shelf labeled "practical theology". I looked at it, then I looked at the entire room full of other theological books, and asked "If that's practical theology, then is the rest of it impractical theology?"

Of course I realize that practical theology is just the name for one of the main branches of theology (others being systematic, historical, biblical, etc.). But the question still bothers me every time I get drawn into a theological discussion, since (at least in my family) such discussions tend to generate more heat than light!

What I think has happened is that we've lost sight of the reason theology was originally developed. I believe the purpose of theology is to enable us to fully manifest the Image of Christ. Brilliant and devout men (sorry, almost no women) did a wonderful job identifying the key theological truths necessary to lift up the cross of Christ against the temptations and heresies of their day. The problem (IMHO) is that they did such a wonderful job, it is easy (relatively speaking) to spend our time honoring and defending their work -- rather than the difficult, painful, and controversial work of trying to figure out and solve the theological challenges of our day. Because our day is as different from Calvin's as Calvin's was from Thomas Aquinas, and the relevant threats are very different.

That is why I believe our primary focus needs to not be on historical theology (as important and useful as that may be), but on manifesting the image of Christ -- Imago Christi. The term isn't used very often; I only found one book and one movement , and less than 10,000 Google Hits . But I believe the next great challenge of the church is learning to realign all our hard-won theological, psychological and organizational lessons under the Image of Christ.

Who's with me? :-)