Because of the height of this doctrine, there is required dignity in those who teach it, which is why they are symbolized by mountains when it is said, ‘from your upper rooms’, and this for three reasons. First, because of the height of mountains. For they are elevated above the earth and neighbours of the sky. Thus the holy teachers by despising earthly things cleave to heavenly things alone. Philippians 3:20: ‘But our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly await a Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Hence of the teacher of teachers, Christ, it is said in Isaiah 2:2, ‘And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountain… and all nations shall flow unto it.’ (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Principium Ringans Montes, 2)

For the mountains are illumined by beams. Similarly the sacred teachers of minds first receive the splendour. Like mountains the teachers are illumined by the first beams of divine wisdom. Psalm 75:5: ‘You came shining with light, powerful, from the everlasting hills. The foolish of heart have been despoiled,’ that is, by the teachers who participate in eternity. Philippians 2:15: ‘You shine like stars in the world.’ (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Principium Ringans Montes, 2)

[…] the doctors of the Church must in defense of the faith stand against errors. The sons of Israel do not put their trust in lance or bow, but the mountains defend them. Ezekiel 13.5: ‘You have not gone up to face the enemy, nor have you set up a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle in the day of the Lord.’ Therefore all the teachers of Sacred Scripture should give high thanks to their eminence of life, that they might be worthy to preach efficaciously, because as Gregory says in On Pastoral Care, ‘The preaching of those whose life is despised will also be despised.’ Ecclesiastes 12:11: ‘The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsels of masters are given from one shepherd.’ For the heart cannot be stimulated or stirred to fear of God unless it is fixed in highness of life. They should be enlightened, that they might fittingly teach by reading. Ephesians 3:8-9: ‘Yes, to me, the very least of all the saints, there was given this grace, to announce among the Gentiles the good tidings of the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all men as to what is the dispensation of the mystery which has been hidden from eternity in God.’ Armed, that they might refute errors in disputation. Luke 21:15: ‘For I myself will give you utterance and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist.’ Of these three offices, namely, to preach, to lecture and to dispute, it is said in Titus 1:9, ‘that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to confute opponents’. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Principium Ringans Montes, 2)

Among the vocations awakened in this way by the Spirit in the Church is that of the theologian. His role is to pursue in a particular way an ever deeper understanding of the Word of God found in the inspired Scriptures and handed on by the living Tradition of the Church. (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Veritatis, May 24, 1990)

Theological science responds to the invitation of truth as it seeks to understand the faith. It thereby aids the People of God in fulfilling the Apostle’s command (cf. 1Pet 3:15) to give an accounting for their hope to those who ask it. (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Veritatis, no. 6, May 24, 1990)

Theology, which seeks the ‘reasons of faith’ and offers these reasons as a response to those seeking them, thus constitutes an integral part of obedience to the command of Christ [cf. to make ‘disciples’ of all nations and teach them, Mt 28:19 f] for men cannot become disciples if the truth found in the word of faith is not presented to them (cf. Rom 10:14 f). (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Veritatis, no. 7, May 24, 1990)

The object of theology is the living God, and the life of the theologian cannot fail to be affected by the sustained effort to know the living God. The theologian cannot exclude his or her own life from the endeavour to understand all of reality with regard to God. Obedience to the truth purifies the soul (cf. 1Pet 1:22), and ‘the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy’ (Jas 3:17). It follows that the pursuit of theology should purify the mind and heart of the theologian [Cf. ITC, The Interpretation of Dogma, B, III, 4: ‘the theological interpretation of dogmas is not an intellectual process only. At a deeper level still, it is a spiritual enterprise, brought about by the Spirit of Truth and possible only when preceded by a purification of the ‘eyes of the heart’’]. (International Theological Commission, Theology today: Perspectives, principles and criteria, no. 93, November 29, 2011)

The task of the theologian at the service of the doctrine about God constitutes, at the same time, according to the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an act of love towards man. (John Paul II. Address to theologians in Altötting, no. 1, November 18, 1980)

In studying and teaching the Catholic doctrine, fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church is always to be emphasized. In the carrying out of teaching duties, especially in the basic cycle, those things are, above all, to be imparted which belong to the received patrimony of the Church. Hypothetical or personal opinions which come from new research are to be modestly presented as such. (John Paul II. Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana, Art. 70, April 29, 1979)

Their [the theologians] greatest care shall be that of being faithful to the truth of the faith and the doctrine of the Church; they shall avoid therefore consenting to the desire of being easy received and of popularity, in detriment to the security of the doctrine taught by the Magisterium, which in the Church represents the person of Jesus Christ the Teacher. (Paul VI. Address to the participants in the International Congress of Theology of Vatican Council II, October 1, 1966)

They shall place their greatest honor in being faithful and wise interpreters of the teachings of the Magisterium, knowing that nothing is so beneficial to the Christian people and to the whole of mankind as the correct knowledge of the truths of salvation, and that these are found with those to whom Jesus said: ‘Those who hear you, hear me.’ (Paul VI. Address to the participants in the International Congress of Theology of Vatican Council II, October 1, 1966)

It is also true that theologians must always return to the sources of divine revelation: for it belongs to them to point out how the doctrine of the living Teaching Authority is to be found either explicitly or implicitly in the Scriptures and in Tradition (cf. Pius IX, Inter gravissimas, Oct. 28, 1870). (Pius XII. Encyclical Humani Generis, no. 21, August 12, 1950)

I answer that, God is the object of this science. The relation between a science and its object is the same as that between a habit or faculty and its object. […] but in sacred science, all things are treated of under the aspect of God: either because they are God Himself or because they refer to God as their beginning and end. Hence it follows that God is in very truth the object of this science. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, I, q.1, a.7)

This is clear also from the principles of this science, namely, the articles of faith, for faith is about God. The object of the principles and of the whole science must be the same, since the whole science is contained virtually in its principles. Some, however, looking to what is treated of in this science, and not to the aspect under which it is treated, have asserted the object of this science to be something other than God – that is, either things and signs; or the works of salvation; or the whole Christ, as the head and members. Of all these things, in truth, we treat in this science, but so far as they have reference to God. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, I, q.1, a.7)

Since the object of theology is the Truth which is the living God and His plan for salvation revealed in Jesus Christ, the theologian is called to deepen his own life of faith and continuously unite his scientific research with prayer (cf. John Paul II, ‘Discorso in occasione della consegna del premio internazionale Paulo VI a Hans Urs von Balthasar’, June 23, 1984). (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Veritatis, no. 8, March 20, 1990)

In a word, ‘where exegesis is not theology, Scripture cannot be the soul of theology, and conversely, where theology is not essentially the interpretation of the Church’s Scripture, such a theology no longer has a foundation’ (Benedict XVI, Intervention at the Fourteenth General Congregation of the Synod – 14 October 2008). (Benedict XVI. Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, September 30, 2010)

Revealed truth must be considered also in connection with contemporary, evolving, scientific accomplishments, so that it can be seen ‘how faith and reason give harmonious witness to the unity of all truth’. Also, its exposition is to be such that, without any change of the truth, there is adaptation to the nature and character of every culture, taking special account of the philosophy and the wisdom of various peoples. However, all syncretism and every kind of false particularism are to be excluded (cf. Vatican Council II, Decree Ad Gentes, 22). (John Paul II. Constitution Sapientia Christiana, Art. 68, no. 1, April 15, 1979)

The positive values in the various cultures and philosophies are to be sought out, carefully examined, and taken up. However, systems and methods incompatible with Christian faith must not be accepted. (John Paul II. Constitution Sapientia Christiana, Art. 68, no. 2, April 15, 1979)

Hence it is that theology through the study of its sacred sources remains ever fresh; on the other hand, speculation which neglects a deeper search into the deposit of faith, proves sterile, as we know from experience. (Denzinger-Hünermann 3886. Pius XII. Encyclical Humani Generis, no. 21, August 12, 1950)

Hence to neglect, or to reject, or to devalue so many and such great resources which have been conceived, expressed and perfected so often by the age-old work of men endowed with no common talent and holiness, working under the vigilant supervision of the holy magisterium and with the light and leadership of the Holy Ghost in order to state the truths of the faith ever more accurately, to do this so that these things may be replaced by conjectural notions and by some formless and unstable tenets of a new philosophy, tenets which, like the flowers of the field, are in existence today and die tomorrow; this is supreme imprudence and something that would make dogma itself a reed shaken by the wind. The contempt for terms and notions habitually used by scholastic theologians leads of itself to the weakening of what they call speculative theology, a discipline which these men consider devoid of true certitude because it is based on theological reasoning. (Pius XII. Encyclical Humani Generis, no. 17, August 12, 1950)

The proper place for theology is within the Church, which is gathered together by the Word of God. The ecclesiality of theology is a constitutive aspect of the theological task, because theology is based on faith, and faith itself is both personal and ecclesial. The revelation of God is directed towards the convocation and renewal of the people of God, and it is through the Church that theologians receive the object of their enquiry. (International Theological Commission, Theology today: Perspectives, principles and criteria, no. 20, November 29, 2011)

As it strives for true wisdom in its study of the Mystery of God, theology acknowledges God’s utter priority; it seeks not to possess but to be possessed by God. It must therefore be attentive to what the Spirit is saying to the churches by means of ‘the knowledge of the saints’. Theology implies a striving for holiness and an ever-deeper awareness of the transcendence of the Mystery of God. (International Theological Commission, Theology today: Perspectives, principles and criteria, no. 99, November 29, 2011)