The Word in the World: Then and Now

Abstract

The celebration of the Centenary of the Melbourne College of Divinity generated an occasion for reflection on one of the reasons for the existence of Christianity: the restless and never-ending proclamation of, and response to, the Word in the world. In the “then” of the not-too-distant past the major Christian traditions of Catholicism and Protestantism faced this challenge with a renewed enthusiasm. The Catholic Tradition entered a new era with the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), and the Protestant Tradition was urged to rediscover Luther's overwhelming concern for the Word in the World, especially in and through the lives and work of Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann. Where are we “now”? This study suggests that both of these movements from the Twentieth Century have “run out of steam”. Reflection upon our new context, if the first decades of the Third Christian Millennium, requires new strategies and ever-deeper convictions to render the Word relevant in the contemporary world