"those texts which must be heard"

"There is always too much to read, and there are always too many avenues of fascinating thought to travel down; theology needs to make certain that it has created a space, a conversation in which those texts which must be heard are actually heard.  From this style of attention theologians will then be better able to speak to and in new contexts, and answer the particular questions and concerns of each generation."

     Lewis Ayres, "Seven theses on dogmatics and patristics in Catholic theology," Modern theology 38, no. 1 (January 2022):  59 (36-62).  From p. 42:

     These problems [with the term 'systematic' theology] become worse when . . . those identifying as systematicians have expertise mostly in—using again Cyril O’Regan’s language—those who have remembered the tradition badly.  In such cases simulacra of Christian doctrines may be argued over with great intelligence and sophistication, but that which should be remembered is still constantly missed. . . .  [Given] the linking of systematic and modern theology, it becomes [all too easy] for the trainee systematician to set sail on a sea of opinions without useful knowledge of where the tradition has been badly remembered, and without sufficient attention to where many things floating on that sea comprehend the nature of theological thinking in ways inimical to Catholic principles.