Theology between the University and the Church as a “Field Hospital”

This chapter discusses the significance of Pope Francis’ ecclesiological metaphor of the church as a “field hospital” in light of the challenges for the role of theology in the contemporary academic and university system dominated by the technocratic paradigm. It also raises some questions about the possible dangers of interpreting the “field hospital” metaphor in ways that favour anti-intellectualism and a new clericalisation of theology in the Catholic Church. This chapter casts light on the illusion to think that the Catholic intellectual and social tradition – and with it, also the church as a “field hospital” – can thrive or even survive regardless of what happens to Catholic academic institutions and the theology in those institutions.