The Samuel Ferguson Lecture, 'People Matter Too' on Thursday was given by a black theologian and took a well known theme of liberation theologians, namely that of voiceless people groups finding a voice.  Good stuff, well presented (if at breakneck speed in a Bratfoot (Bradford) accent) but not everso new, so far as I could see.

Earlier I'd been discussing hermenuetics of, and implied readers within, Baptist history writing and parallels with Bibilcal studies.  It was noted that one of the problems with historical-critical approaches to the Bible was that, in extremis, they rendered it essentially voiceless, it became an object, incapable of speaking.  Thus, whilst the insights from such approaches are are useful, and valid, in order that scriputre may speak - be given voice - other approaches are needed too.

It seems to me that history is seen by most people as 'dead', they don't expect it to 'talk to them' - either about human ideas or Divine involvement in human affairs.  So maybe part of my task is in some way to help Baptist history to find a 'voice,' to help it learn to 'speak' to its real readers as the story of God's people in times past resonates with our own lives and can 'inform our present and shape our future.'

I am, I think, quite excited about the work I intend to do this year - though whether your average practical theologian would call it practical theology is another matter - no social analysis or 'doctrinal earrings' (great phrase nicked from Sean) in sight!  But then, this will be, eventually, practical theology done well, not badly.    I hadn't really conceived what I'm doing as liberation theology (and I would be loathe to use such a term to describe it) but I suspect that the blurriness of boundaries and the resonances that occur between/within/across strands of theology are part of what makes it 'real.'

Wouldn't it be exciting if we really did find a way to give 'voice' to these old stories, listen to them and learn from them so that our future might be more hopeful?  And wouldn't it even be a step in the right direction if Baptist ministerial students didn't just see the 'history essays' as a hoop to jump through?  Well, I hope I might take a step along this road this year... time will tell.