Brian Hebblethwaite

"There is a tendency these days towards treating every aspect of religion, including the theologies of the different religions, under the single, all-embracing heading of 'religious studies'. This creates a fundamental problem for theologians in any particular religious tradition."

"I argue that such disciplines must be related to theology in its primary meaning, if their presence in a single 'theological' faculty is to be defended. But I do not suggest that theology is for believers only. I discuss the question, in what sense it is possible for atheists to be theologians, and suggest a way of thinking of theology as consisting of serious, open questions, well worth studying for their own sake in the university, with all the critical and scholarly tools available there. Theology, then, is neither a closed, in-group activity for believers, nor just an intriguing aspect of the history of religions."