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Some theologians seem to disdain the church as they shine their scholarly light on the church’s triviality, unfaithfulness and banality. Other theologians have the same capacity for critical thinking, but they sit in the pew on Sunday morning, participate in the liturgy, and live out their scholarly vocation in and for the community of faith.

One of the best theologians of the church I have ever known died last month. Walter Bouman, longtime professor of systematic theology at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, taught a generation of students to think theologically.