Is this really So?

One of my seminary professors, the late Dr. John E. Hartley often wrote this simple phrase on my papers. Is this really so? Knowing his love for truth and scripture this simple phrase was both a kind response and an invitation, an invitation to question, to think deeper, to research and study more intensely.

I continue to ask myself, Is this really so? Easy answers are insufficient and understanding requires suffering the angst of this perpetual question; Is this really so?

After arriving at the place where the question ‘Is this really so?’ is satisfied, I attempt to articulate my thought and ask myself a different question; ‘How can I say this with clarity and the fewest amount of words?’

Writing a theological statement is one of the most important tasks of theological work.