Barnacle theology
The 2006 Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly has passed, thank goodness. There are so many issues that this gathering touched on, but the one for today has to do with theology in general. I slogged through the Report of the Peace, Unity and Purity commission and the 40 page paper on the Trinity, "God's love overflowing", just to name a few, and as I read them I find myself more convinced than ever that one of the best analogies for what makes for real theology is barnacles, or more precisely, removing barnacles. I don't think the primary task of theology is 're-imagining' God or Jesus or anything else for that matter. The task of theology is to remove the barnacles of human tradition and culture that attach themselves to what God has revealed in His Word. Now I don't think theology is just a matter of doing Bible commentaries and leaving it at that. There is thinking and praying and studying that must be done to get the big picture of what God has shown and what it means for us. I do believe, however, that the most important task is to scrape off the elements of the sinful world that we live in that inevitably attach themselves to our deliberations and thinking and communicating. Its not a matter of going back to some golden age when the church was doing everything right. In the early church you have neo-platonism, misogynism (is that a word?) and other isms to watch for, as you do for every other age.
Now as an artsy kind of person I am all for creativity, but I think the place for creativity in theology isn't coming up with something brand new but discovering how to communicate God's truth in a way that is meaningful to the culture that you are adressing yet doesn't compromise the truth that it is seeking to communicate. It may not be as sexy as strapping the gospel on the procrustean bed of feminism or capitalism or marxism and being trotted out whenever the TV networks want something juicy to say about Jesus, but it is closer to what God calls us to.
The 2006 Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly has passed, thank goodness. There are so many issues that this gathering touched on, but the one for today has to do with theology in general. I slogged through the Report of the Peace, Unity and Purity commission and the 40 page paper on the Trinity, "God's love overflowing", just to name a few, and as I read them I find myself more convinced than ever that one of the best analogies for what makes for real theology is barnacles, or more precisely, removing barnacles. I don't think the primary task of theology is 're-imagining' God or Jesus or anything else for that matter. The task of theology is to remove the barnacles of human tradition and culture that attach themselves to what God has revealed in His Word. Now I don't think theology is just a matter of doing Bible commentaries and leaving it at that. There is thinking and praying and studying that must be done to get the big picture of what God has shown and what it means for us. I do believe, however, that the most important task is to scrape off the elements of the sinful world that we live in that inevitably attach themselves to our deliberations and thinking and communicating. Its not a matter of going back to some golden age when the church was doing everything right. In the early church you have neo-platonism, misogynism (is that a word?) and other isms to watch for, as you do for every other age.
Now as an artsy kind of person I am all for creativity, but I think the place for creativity in theology isn't coming up with something brand new but discovering how to communicate God's truth in a way that is meaningful to the culture that you are adressing yet doesn't compromise the truth that it is seeking to communicate. It may not be as sexy as strapping the gospel on the procrustean bed of feminism or capitalism or marxism and being trotted out whenever the TV networks want something juicy to say about Jesus, but it is closer to what God calls us to.
posted by Pastorjeff | 9:02 PM
1 Comments:
Well Said Pastor Jeff. Barnacles do indeed slow down much of our theological work. The UCC likes to say "Our faith is 2000 years old, our thinking is not... God is still speaking," and I often ask myself "Could it be that God is still speaking but saying the same things?"
It seems to me like the merry-go-round of heresies never stops... the same ones just keep coming up over and over again.
Thanks for your post and don't be offended when I "steal" your phrase barnacle theology.
Post a Comment
<< Home