As Whitehead points out, this concept
of substance mirrors the ordinary concept
of a
thing, according to which reality consists in «
things» that are «simply located,» are isolated from one another, and manifest an unchanged, enduring
essence, their very «substance,» that
underlies their fixed or changeable determining conditions or «accidents.
A third negative moral arising from our literature review is this: Focus on clarifying the end
of theological education, but do not define that end by reference to the «
essence» or «
underlying structure» or «identity»
of faith or
of the «Christian
thing» or
of «the church.»