Levels of Theological Reflection

"The way to understand this - and this is what Milbank is after - is that theology1 should position all theoretical reflection, including philosophy. To put this slightly differently, theology1 should function as queen of the sciences but is not itself a science (as is theology2). What, then, is the relationship between theology1 and theology2? Dooyeweerd fails to appreciate the degree to which the biblical ground-motive and Christian confession are informed by theology2, even if the biblical ground-motive is not itself theology2. The creeds and confessions of the church - take uncontroversial examples such as the Apostles' or Nicene creeds - are pistically qualified claims of pre- and supra-theoretical confession and practice, but they are the fruit of theological1 reflection that has been appropriated and 'ratified' by the church as articulating its fundamental confession. Theology2, therefore, ought to be undertaken in the service of the church, and when it is fruitful, it will inform the church's confession articulated in theology1. "

James K.A. Smith, Introducing Radical Orthodoxy, p. 178