From William C. Placher’s review of Christian Wisdom: Desiring God and Learning in Love, by David F. Ford:

Theology should operate in all five moods: indicative (affirming what we believe), imperative (calling to obedience), interrogative (struggling with hard questions), subjunctive (exploring possibilities, as Jesus’ parables do so well) and optative (desiring in hope). Theologians have too long limited themselves to the indicative and the imperative.

— “Wisdom makes a comeback” (The Christian Century)