71. Establishing, as theology is called to do...

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Establishing, as theology is called to do, what is and is not the appropriate Christian claim in no way relieves one of the decision of faith either to accept this claim and to allow one's existence and praxis to be determined by it, or else to reject it.

Likewise, establishing, as theology is also called to do, that the presuppositions and implications of this claim, both metaphysical and moral, are credible also in no way relieves one of the decision of faith.

In the one case as much as in the other, theology's proper business is not to relieve one of the decision of faith, but only to clarify it, thereby relieving one of all that stands in the way of making this decision -- in short: to remove all the false stumbling blocks, so as to allow one to confront the true stumbling block.

June 1988; rev. 1 February 2002