Map-makers use a lovely word to describe the essential discipline of checking the map they are making, however perfect and satisfying it seems, against the uneven ground of the earth it pictures: ground-truthing.They get away from the table, outside the car, and walk across the earth, which is always bigger, richer than the map. Maps are useful guides. But we need to keep checking them against the bumpy ground we walk on. The intertwined pleasures and dangers of maps are especially good to be aware of in a school of Christian theology…[or any parish]: for theologies too are maps\u201d\u201dhuman worlds imposed on the mysteries of God\u2019s action. It is all too easy to become overly comfortable with our world of necessary maps. Perhaps, then, theological students\u201d\u201dand pr ofes s or s \u201d\u201dmust , more than anyone, cultivate the discipline of ground-truthing.<\/p>\n