CHAPTER 2: A PRACTICAL THEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY 65 These insights have generally been adopted by theology in the broader sense, for instance, in liberation theology and other contextual theologies. Stephen Bevans argues: “The more inductive approach recommended by Vatican II allows the witness of Scripture, the wisdom of the tradition, and the reality of human experience to take the lead in theological reflection.”165 Moreover, theologians have since come to acknowledge that “the only kind of theology that exists is ‘contextual theology’- theology, in other words, that is specific to a particular place, a particular time, a particular culture.”166 This implies that the classical sources of theology – Scripture and tradition – are complemented by adding present-day experience as a genuine locus theologicus.167 This does not, of course, downplay the significance of Scripture and tradition, but it implies “that our experience in the present – interpreting and interpreted by our biblical and doctrinal tradition – is what ultimately validates that experience of the past.”168 Annemarie Dillen recognizes this dynamic in certain approaches to empirical theology, two of which acknowledge the generative nature of human experience as genuine contribution to theological thought. She notes that the experience of non-theologians can contribute to the development of theology, noting that “the underlying theological view contains an open and ongoing concept of revelation. New experiences can criticize classical theological views. Theology does not refer to a fixed body of truth that cannot change or be questioned.”169 Even though contextual theology as way of doing theology is generally accepted nowadays, many argue that, in reality, this additional source still lacks proper recognition and is not sufficiently consulted. German theologians Heinz-Günther Schöttler and Johannes Först, following Hans Joas, argue that at some point “philosophical idealism has become one of the basic 165 Stephen B. Bevans, An Introduction to Theology in Global Perspective, Theology in Global Perspective Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009), 139. 166 Bevans, 165. 167 Already in his influential posthumously published book De Locis Theologicis Libri Duodecim (1563), Melchior Cano added three loci traditionally alien to theology: reason, philosophy, and history. Bevans acknowledges that the contribution of the Nouvelle theologians and Vatican II is not so much innovative, but a rehabilitation of principles that can be traced back to theologians like St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas, cf. Bevans, 139. 168 Bevans, 165. 169 Dillen, “Lived Religion,” sec. 21.
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