Theology at HTC: Reflection and Critical Thinking, Not Training

This article was written by Innes Visagie and featured in our March 2026 newsletter.

At HTC, we do not “train” people. We do not tell students what to do, nor do we tell them what to think. If we did, we would be training them—and that is not what we do. “Training”, in this sense, means giving instructions about how to act in specific situations. It does not matter whether a student plans to enter full-time church ministry, become a missionary, a chaplain, a religious educator, or pursue another calling—although we educate with vocational outcomes in mind, at HTC students are not trained.

Training is like learning to drive; you are instructed exactly what to do when entering a roundabout, parking a car, or driving on the correct side of the road. Doing the “right” thing is mandatory, and failure can have serious consequences—for example, driving on the wrong side of the road. In Scripture, we find similar examples of this kind of instruction: God told Moses:

“You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.” (Exodus 25:9)

Jesus gave His disciples precise instructions for their mission:

“Take nothing for your journey… stay in the same house until you leave town.” (Luke 9:3–4)

These are examples of training, and training has its place—but this is not the task of higher education. HTC is an institute for higher education, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Therefore, studying theology at HTC is not like training. We do not provide prescriptive instructions such as, “At a funeral, you must walk in front of the hearse,” or “When visiting a patient, you must not sit on the bed.” Practical instructions like these are training; theological education is something else entirely.

So, what do we do? We encourage students to reflect critically on God’s revelation, because even the closest followers of Jesus can misunderstand it. In Matthew 16:5–12, for example, Jesus warns His disciples about the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” referring to their corrupt teaching.

The disciples, however, mistakenly think He is talking about literal bread. Jesus reminds them that He had multiplied the bread during the feeding of the 5,000 and asks:

“Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread?” (verse 11)

This story illustrates how easily God’s words can be misread, even by those who walk closely with Him.

At HTC, students are invited to examine their own interpretations and views of God, engage in dialogue with others, and consider the perspectives of theological experts. Theology is about God (Theos) and what we say about Him (Logos). Yet speaking or writing about God is always in some sense provisional, because no one—even the most learned theologian —possesses a perfect understanding of Him.

God is holy and transcendent, and because of the Creator-creature distinction, He remains ultimately incomprehensible. John Calvin emphasised that we know God only as He accommodates Himself to us in revelation. Karl Barth described God as the wholly Other, stressing His radical transcendence. Yet God has chosen to reveal Himself through creation, covenant, and ultimately through Christ, without compromising His otherness. This is the space for theological reflection.

Therefore, our thoughts and views about God—whether written in lecture notes, expressed in class discussions, essays, or books—are limited, imperfect, and provisional. As the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck wrote:

“There is no name that fully expresses his being, no definition that captures him. He infinitely transcends our picture of him, our ideas of him, our language concerning him.” (Reformed Dogmatics 2:47)

At HTC, we teach students to think critically and theologically about their own ideas and those of the experts, fostering humility in theological reflection. Our goal is not to tell students what to do or to think, but to help them think carefully and theologically, engaging with God’s Word, the riches of the Christian tradition and the world around us with care, rigor, and reverence.

Innes Visagie
Vice Principal Academic