I noticed an inconsistency in my thinking last night, which is that– following Nietzsche’s Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben, and perhaps Benedict Anderson– I am fairly philosophical about the various ways that someone– or a people, perhaps– can make use of history, without feeling like Nietzsche’s critical history is the only repectable option. At the same time, I am utterly unsparing in my belief that it is incumbent on every individual to think hard about their theological beliefs– to practice, in some sense, a critical theology, however destructive the consequences of it. I can formulate ways to explain away the inconsistency, but I’m not sure they hold water. I’m not even sure whether it bothers me all that much, but it is an inconsistency.