There is an urgent need for more debate and discussion in our churches because the integrity and credibility of our faith is at risk. Our integrity is at risk because it is not clear that we understand what it is that we profess. Our credibility is at risk because we seem unable to communicate it. We need to engage more actively at the intellectual level and to be willing to examine the fundamentals of our faith more critically. And such discussion must start with a human rather than a divine perspective. It is as human beings that we are embodied as persons, it is as human beings that we engage with the world around us, and it is as human beings that we form relationships with the rest of the created order. And it is as a human being that that which we understand as God was embodied in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, thereby placing humanity at the pinnacle of creation and giving humanity the responsibility for the stewardship of the created order.
