ideas of a proper education. "Even metaphysics and the most abstract theology serve not only an intellectual but a spiritual purpose" (Tracy 2002:20); Secondly, theology needs to remember that it is on the threshold of open, multidisciplinary and interreligious dialogue from where the definition and appreciation of its own traditions may be strengthened and re-established. Christian Theology cannot afford to withdraw into a ghetto theology, or even from the university context into seminaries. (This, however, necessarily means that Theology should involve itself in critical public discourse with the philosophical and scientific presuppositions implied in the ethos of modern universities); Christian Theology has, thirdly, to be connected to the life stories and multiple needs and dreams of the people it ultimately wishes to serve. In order to become centres of authoritative, life-giving knowledge and practical wisdom, faculties of theology may consequently have to reconfigure themselves in terms of other "non-church" careers (such as education, media, caring for the sick and the deprived).However, will these "ideals" be powerful and persuasive enough to carry us through the impasse of secularisation and the new economic dangers of globalisation? There are simply no guarantees. Yet, allow me to invite you to ponder a final possibility.It should be evident that the interactive epicentre of Christian Theology is a surprisingly rich yet complex, noisy and even messy space. If its inhabitants are to be truthful to its nature and purpose, they should first of all experience the silence, solitude, perceptivity, sensitivity and sensibility that will enable them to hear, see and feel, smell and taste, to discern, to make sense of the past, present and future, and to be moved towards imagining new possibilities. In order for Theology to be taken seriously, to be heard, its practioners firstly need to become receivers themselves, to listen carefully and prayerfully to what those ancient canonised texts sought to accomplish, and to pay special heed to their intended functions in various contexts then and now.If such are the sensibilities required at the epicentre of Christian Theology - as requisite for its pathos, persuasive thrust and healing power - it is, according to its very nature, a deeply sacred, sacramental and liturgical subject, utterly dependent on God's grace for its survival in a secular world. I therefore finally suggest that what Christian theologians need most, is a hermeneutic of listening that implies the willingness to hear with openness and receptivity. It includes paying attention to, acknowledging, submitting to the paradoxical, life-giving authority of God's words in human language. As such it would be truthful not only to the nature of Christian Theology's primary texts, but also to the Reformed principle of biblical reading as listening to, as discerning the voice of the living God. A hermeneutic of listening reclaims the transformative potential of the biblical writings as an invitation to accomplish a healed and healing body of Christ. It pays attention to all the voices represented in the epicentre of Christian Theology, refusing to mentally block out the voices that have not been considered important in the past, including the silenced voices within