What sticks out to me is the personal nature of theology–that it’s not just another discipline. And what an exhausting undertaking the “working out of salvation with fear and trembling” is for thoughtful people.

I agree with Willimon that it makes no sense for Christians to speak of “salvation” in terms of other religions. The concept is a Christian invention with a Christian solution. And also highly cultural. I don’t think most life-long Buddhists in East Asia have ever lost a wink of sleep wondering if they will achieve Christian salvation.

Where I find Willimon and most neo-orthodox theologians unsatisfying is in their assertion that we should simply be rabidly dogmatically Christian and dialogue with but never integrate or change our theology based on our experiences with the “other sheep.” (Because God will sort that out in the end–presumably by kindly showing the “other sheep” that reformed Protestantism was the right religion all along.) A God like that is not big enough to embrace the whole diversity of humankind, let alone creation. To borrow from Tillich, if we are all “climbing a different mountain,” as Willimon suggests, our tendency will be to look for a bigger God that embraces the whole mountain range.

Personally, I have been chewing on process theology recently, and the idea that just as we and God may be co-creators of the world, we may also contribute to the “becoming” of God.

Now if I could only ditch that nagging Presbyterian fear that we don’t really have any free will.

Thanks for your comments.