James O. Duke

How to Think Theologically has helped me reflect on past conversations with friends and colleagues whom I have seen as wise and thoughtful. Today I would say that they are good theologians—doing theology “in the trenches.” Their theologies have been expressed in choices they have made and guidance they have given that make sense of the Christian faith in the context of problems and situations that arise from ministry. These theologians have not published any formal books on theology, but they have articulated their theology in their sermons, their newsletter articles, their counseling, and in their own life-choices. They have arrived at the place where they are and they can articulate the faith in the way that they do because they have done their homework: they have done their theological reflection, they’ve worked it out with others, they’ve wrestled with ideas they’ve read and applied them to real ministry situations.

As I read the book, I kept hoping Stone and Duke would talk about the nautilus and why one is pictured on the book’s cover. The chambered nautilus is a mollusk and a member of the cephalopod family (along with octopi and squid) which lives in a chambered shell. As the nautilus grows older and larger, it outgrows its chamber and builds a new, larger one directly on top of the older one. Upon completion, it moves into the newer, larger chamber and seals off the older one, which is filled with gas, contributing to the creature’s buoyancy. Thus, over time, a nautilus builds a series of chambers in a spiral fashion, gradually increasing in size. While some people have become fascinated with the shape of the shell (which is a fine example of a logarithmic spiral), I have heard others speak of the process of moving out of one chamber to live in a larger one (while yet keeping the older, previously inhabited chambers intact) as an analogy for learning and personal growth. Perhaps for Stone and Duke, the growth process for the nautilus is analogous to spiritual growth through theological reflection. It represents the importance of moving beyond the answers of embedded theology while yet holding on to that embedded theology in a different form. In other words, while I can no longer “inhabit” the small-chambered world of my 5-year-old Sunday School conception of God (I’ve grown and my understanding of God has grown), I still carry with me some form of that earlier theology (for instance, in the song, “Jesus loves me.”)

I understand that the 1996 edition of How to Think Theologically had on its cover a series of shells (perhaps from hermit crabs) arranged from smallest to largest. Perhaps that image, too, has to do with moving on from a cramped home to a more spacious and suitable one.… (mais)