Brad East, in an essay on “the ends of theological education,” describing how one end is to “induct” students into the ongoing conversation that just is Christian tradition:

Theology is a conversation, a continuing consultation (in the phrase of Robert Jenson). It runs from Adam to Eschaton, and God’s own entrance in the dialogue through Israel, Christ, and Church is the opposite of a conversation-stopper. The infinite vitality of God’s eternal Word, incarnate in Israel’s Messiah, means our talk with God and about God will have no end, either in this life or in the life to come.

The proximate end of theological education is therefore to induct students into this ongoing conversation. Theological teaching has succeeded, at least in part, when students have learned to speak Christian, at least in part.