Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Theory or Practice

I've read some interesting thoughts about theology versus praxis over the last couple of days.

Andrew Hamilton had the following quote at his blog today:

“Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbour or not. We must get into action and obey — we must behave like a neighbour to him. But perhaps this shocks you. Perhaps you still think you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to do. To that, there is only one answer. You can only know and think about it by actually doing it. It is no use asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth.”Oscar Romero


At New Life Emerging, this was in the comments to "Getting Real":
We'll spend an entire lifetime trying to get it(our theology) right, when all the while He was beckoning us to be real. and the 'real' is not found in our cocoons of complacency while we sit on our asses of apathy.
we will never truly be 'real' until we experience God's greatest calling on our lives and that is to serve and love and bring dignity and justice to the least of these. period.
somewhere in the midst of it we'll all find that doctrines and emerging efforts to get it right matter little to the big picture.

The following quote is from Tony Jones at Next Wave:

"...conversation alone leads to paralysis by analysis, which is why we have always made sure that conversations are led primarily by practitioners rather than theoreticians and consultants."


There is obviously a theme about being doers and not hearers only. But how many of us and how many churches in general are guilty of hammering out, discussing, and sometimes arguing over our beliefs, week after week, year after year.

I am most interested in real-life theology. How are you living out your beliefs? What are you learning as you do what is in your heart? I want to learn from those that are doing the stuff.

This kind of theology is learned "in the field" of practice. There is so much we can learn from one another as we attempt to manifest the life of Christ around us in ways that are outside the box of our previous traditions and experience.

5 comments:

New Life said...

Thanks for the plug. :)

I like you comments concerning "doers and not hearers". It seems the church talks much about grace and how grace impacts us personally, but often leaves thinking that all we are called to do is snuggle with Jesus in the privacy of of home.

Thanks for the post.

Oh, Blogger has very detailed instructions on how to add a link. It is really easy. You may want to check out Blogger's homepage, but on the page where you make a "ne" post, there's a liite icon that looks like a "paper clip" clink on it and then add the HTML and then higlight the word or link with your mouse. I know those are funky instructions, so you may check out blogger. :)

Linda said...

Hey adam, I'm not sure if I "get it." I did enjoy the photography.

Linda said...

Rick,
I have enjoyed your blog since I discovered it a few days ago. I'm slowly checking out some of your blogroll also as I have time.

I view grace as the empowerment and ability to become and do the things that God wants me doing.

Thanks for the links tips. I think I'm getting it figured out. This is the techiest I've ever been! :)

Anonymous said...

hi grace,

i'm glad to hear that you checked out www.farfromshore.com. i'm a montrealer and very proud to be from the same city as these guys. for me, far from shore is a dialogue between any contemporary issues in theology all set to poetry in the guise of rock and roll music. its really quite clever when you think of it. sorta picks up where U2 left off, at least on the spiritual side of rock and roll. but, they take it further and include other religious faiths into their dialgue, including everything from buddhism to raelianism. if you didn't "get it" i'd suggest a few more listens and viewings. give it the sort of credit you might give to shakespeare, wordsworth, or blake. read the poetry too. each medium, including the photos you enjoyed so much, sheds light on the others. get back to me if you like. les_gnomes@hotmail.com.

Anonymous said...

grace or anyone interested in cool rock with relevant and expansive themes,

you can also check this blog for more about what people are saying about far from shore:

http://farfromshore.blogspot.com/