A Prayer for Theologians
by Donald T. Williams
I recently rediscovered a prayer I wrote many years ago that I included in the syllabus of a theology course I was privileged to teach. I wanted the students to approach theology not as a mere “subject” but as holy ground, not as merely an academic discipline but as the science of living happily forever, not merely as intellectual engagement but also as spiritual warfare.
I thought that academic theology, as it has come to be in the modern world, was in great danger of being a merely academic subject by the very nature of the academy, even an intentionally faithful Christian academy. The shift of the primary locus for doing theology from the church to the academy seemed a necessary evil to me at best—bad for theology, bad for the Church, and bad for the academy. I wanted to head off that disaster at the pass in any course I taught.
Whether and to what extent I succeeded, God only knows. But including the prayer in the syllabus gave me and my students, I thought, a better chance at learning to do theology as it deserves to be done, as the Church needs it to be done. Certainly it is still what I personally need to ask for every day. I invite you to join me in that.
Lord, whose Son is Logos and whose Spirit is the Spirit of Truth,
Let thy Truth live in us that we may live in it.
Make us proficient in the technical terms as tools, instruments of understanding, and weapons against heresy. But let us not lose Jesus in the jargon or our faith in the footnotes.
Rather, let us find the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the face of Jesus on every page of Scripture, and eternal life in knowing God as Savior, Father, Friend, Redeemer, King.
In thy Light may we see light—and love and joy and peace.
Enlighten our minds, soften our hearts, fortify our faith, deepen our joy, inspire our service, inflame our adoration.
Lord, let thy Truth live in us that we may live in thee.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen.
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
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