Hang on to the ecclesial nature of the theological task

Hang on to the ecclesial nature of the theological task
I will grant that the theological task of forming both seminarians and college students requires a degree. It is also the case that the point of a liberal education is to learn how to learn. That means that you can be a systems or test engineer without an engineering degree, as my father was, although he did need a license to be a broadcast or an amateur radio operator.

You can be your own lawyer, although if it is a criminal procedure, you have a fool for a client. You can be a paralegal with training or no training. Indeed, I have written both work product and drafted briefs for lawyers to file as an amicus. One can be a journalist without a journalism degree. Note that the Apostles do not have theology degrees, nor does Garry Wills - a historian and the premier scholar on Chesterton (he had access to his notes).

The early apostles, male and female (they traveled in married pairs) were not theologians, they were witnesses to the Resurrection. We all are, although the bishops especially so (but not exclusively). Much of what theologians work on is natural law. Everyone has the right to study it. Indeed, no one mucks up natural law reasoning more than the Curia. By definition, natural law is based on Reason, not Authority. Indeed, arguing from authority is a logical fallacy.

The reality is that much theology is actually sociology, whether it is the anthropology of the Old Testament or the Early Church, the Medieval Church and especially the modern Church. Some encyclicals, from the Syllabus of Errors to Veritatis Splendor are about who can do theology. They got the answer wrong.  Authority and Dogma are not the same thing. Anyone with a management degree (like me), can pick these screeds apart, as I have in The Illuminati Respond to the Papal Anachorinists.

Having a theology degree did not give Pius IX or St. Pius X the right to challenge evolution. This went on until Pius XII. Benedict XVI even rejected random selection, not realizing that God works through Chaos rather than teleology. At least Francis is an actual scientist, but loyalty to the organization prevents him from calling out his predecessors. That is good organizational loyalty, but it does not serve the interests of Truth.

Humanae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae  are an attempt by asexuals to write about sex. They have no idea about even their own sexuality, let alone the rest of us. This is especially true with understanding that sacred continence is misogyny and directly leads to these encyclicals.

The Holy Spirit speaks through all of us. Saying so is not Protestantism. The Protestants are not dissenters. They started their own sects rather than staying and fighting. I won't leave. My baptism is as good as Benedict XVI's and I can recognize that papal forays into infallibility are actually relativism in vestments.

So, no, you don't need a union card to do theology. It helps not to have one.