In the contemporary existential climate, the study of historical theology may appear to some to be an immersion in the past. In my assigned role as respondent to Carl Bangs' paper, I assume more the task of complementing his analysis than critiquing it. Historical theology is theology carried on by persons in historical time and place, informed by particular assumptions and shaped by particular norms. If theology issues from faith, theology will participate in the humanness of the response. For that reason it will always be historical, that is something that participates in a specific historical situation and community that has emerged through a particular history and which bears the mark of that history.
Theology is always historical, never purely biblical nor purely systematic.
It is history and, it is theology, but it is more. The historical theologian may treat theology in a largely phenomenological manner, describing its structures and variations throughout history. But, when the historical theologian is participant, creating theological models and offerings for Church, society, family, or even for himself, or, when faith is seeking understanding, the normative dimension surely enters. Considerations of worth, of significance, of integrity, or truth, will be weighed by the scholar's own heritage, philosophical stance, mind-set, etc., etc. It is difficult to see that this can be carried off if the historical theologian is a theologian of and for the Church.