Guidelines for Healthy Theological Discussion

When I was asked to speak on the subject of guidelines for healthy theological discussion, the story of Michael Wyschogrod's meeting with Karl Barth came to mind.* As a little background, Michael Wyschogrod is an Orthodox Jewish theologian who lives in New York City. Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian and one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century. Michael Wyschogrod writes of his meeting with Barth: On a sunny morning in August 1966 I visited Barth in his modest home on the Bruderholzallee in Basel. He had been told that I was a "Jewish Barthian," and this a