A theology of the heart

The Conference on Theology in the Caribbean Today (CTCT) held its biennial conference from July 7 to 11, 2025, in Barbados. This year’s theme, Prophetic Responses to Contemporary Challenges, invited participants to present ideas that called for paved paths through the problems of our present time. This theme lies at the heart of theology itself—“faith seeking understanding”—which can never be separated from the challenges of those who theologise, nor from those whom we theologise.

Among the standout contributions was an online presentation by Stephanie Baldeosingh, a 2025 graduate of the Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs (SJVUM). Baldeosingh, who attained the prize for outstanding achievement in Biblical Studies, also serves as a Student Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago (PCTT). At CTCT, she presented a synopsis of her BA Theology thesis, titled ‘A Caribbean Theological response to Pope Francis’ Ad Theologium Promovendum (To Promote Theology)—A search for new Contextual and Liberation Theological methods through investigating Emotional Intelligence in Caribbean Pastoral Workers and Theologians’. Her presentation was dedicated to the late Pope Francis from whom she drew inspiration. Baldeosingh’s thesis offered a prophetic response to this 2023 papal document, in which the Pope calls for a courageous cultural revolution in theology—moving away from what he called “desk theology” toward theology that is missionary, contextual, synodal, and outgoing. Baldeosingh argued that Caribbean theology already strives towards this vision.  The very existence of the CTCT, a body that theologises from within the lived Caribbean context, proves this.

However, she noted Ad Theologium Promovendum revealed gaps between theologians/pastoral workers and the persons in their care. Even in the Caribbean where contextual theology exists, these gaps can persist and can profoundly impact the life of the Church. Pope Francis warned against the evolution of inauthentic theology, and Baldeosingh echoed this concern.

Liberation Theology, with its emphasis on the margins—the poor, oppressed and suffering—often drive pastoral workers to do what they do, in love of service to God’s people.  However, Baldeosingh highlighted theology becomes “inauthentic”, as Pope Francis feared, when it ignores the “internal margins” of those who theologise.

She proposed that the emotional and psychological well-being of pastoral workers and theologians must be addressed. It is in the very nature of pastoral ministry to be self-sacrificing, for the sake of the service (the contemporary challenge). Thus, she argued for a “looking inward” in addition to “looking outward”.  This inward focus, rooted in Emotional Intelligence, can lead to the more authentic theology Pope Francis sought, and inevitably improve the Caribbean theological space.

Throughout her thesis, Baldeosingh investigated both Caribbean theology as it exists, and the role of Emotional Intelligence—a psychological component of pastoral workers’ well-being. Through quantitative and qualitative data collection from theologians/pastoral workers across the various Christian denominations in the Caribbean, Baldeosingh identified the need for systemic improvement of certain components of Emotional Intelligence. These improvements are essential not only for the well-being of pastoral leaders and efficient work, but also for more humane lived experiences in their day-to-day life.

She urged theologians to leave no margin un-theologised; to be brave enough to theologise and preach even the darkest corners of the soul; and to allow the work of God to begin there. If theologians/pastoral workers can bridge the gaps between themselves and their souls, this will lead to a more authentic Caribbean theology overall. This, she calls, “a Theology of the Heart” (the prophetic response).

– By the CTCT Secretariat