Far-fetched as it may at first appear, there are some interesting parallels between the troubled American financial picture and the state of theological education in the United States. T he financial scene during the past two years, as we all too painfully know, has been chaotic: the dollar has twice been devalued ; the price of gold has soared. T he administration has tried price freezes and interestrates have risen sharply, but inflation rages unchecked. The stock market, reflecting this uncertainty, has gone up and down like a Yo-Yo. Economists are perturbed and the men on Wall Street are uneasy. Not surprisingly the present mood of Wall Street, according to Time magazine, is, in the words of the Ivory Soap commercial, "Back to basics." Time adds that because of this very unstable situation, trust deparments are rethinking their whole investment philosophy. In periods of upheaval and uncertainty, there is the temptation to tinker with the machinery, change personnel, try new approaches—do almost everything but go back to the drawing board, to the basics, and reflect seriously and critically on the veryfoundations and principles of the organization in difficulty. ln the realm of theological education, the worst may be over, but we have gone through a decade which has been marked by radical curricular change, student unrest, shake-up in faculties, financial crises, the relocation and closing of seminaries, and at times apparent confusion as to the very nature and purpose of theological education. Hence this may well be the time, the "kairos," for going back to basics, for a reexamination of our foundations and goals. The question ultimately is not so much a pedogogical as a theological one, and it is to that question that I feel I should address myself today. This, as I see it, is not a backward perspective, but a forward look, not an attempt to avoid the concrete, practical issues involved in theological education today, but rather the desire to put first things first, for the future depends on how well we ...