Theology and community? What’s this world coming to?
Apparently, Arthur at “The Voice Of One Crying Out in Suburbia” wants both orthodoxy and community. He says so in his post “In Praise of Orthodoxy and Community.”
He writes:
Solid grounding in the great theological truths of our faith and genuine community and fellowship among believers are not enemies. In fact, without both being present the church is naturally weaker. The evidence all around us bears that out. Cold and sterile academic orthodoxy coupled with ritualistic “fellowship†is spiritually crippled as is warm and loving fellowship among believers who cannot discern the core essentials of the faith. I love doctrine and theology. I have no interest in a gathering of the church where the big topics are never wrestled with and studied, where there is lots of talk about loving Jesus with no concept of who He is. I also love the people of God and have no interest in a sterile meeting where a theologically precise monologue is the spiritual highlight of the week and where we love the dead theological giants of yesteryear more than the widow and the orphan in our neighborhood. My desire is to see my brothers and sisters in Christ develop a love for theology and develop a love for one another, that we seek in Scriptures what it has to say about God, about man, about Christ and that we do so in a Scripturally sound community of faith as the adoptive family of God.
Doesn’t Arthur know that only the conservative churches care about orthodox doctrine and only the liberal churches care about community? He can’t have both. Can he?
would prefer a growing love for Jesus, knowing Him better and loving Him more as each shares Christ with one another in love. Knowing Him better does not equal being a theologian. I have seen more often than not the wrestling become more a carnal exercise of knowledge between one another, e.g., who knows more than the other, who’s right and who’s wrong, creating suspicion within the brethren and causing division with a brother or sister as a result. As the saying goes “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” or as Paul would say “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
John,
Well, “theology” was actually my word. Arthur said “orthodoxy.” But, I do think we are all theologians, in the sense that “theology” is our understand of God.
-Alan
Apparently Arthur wants to have his communion wafer and eat it, too! 😉
Alan,
I agree with Arthur.
Maybe you have some thoughts as to why any mention of “orthodoxy” or “theology” causes people to think “traditionalism”?
Surely the Apostles creed is both orthodox and theology,as well as, dare I use the word, traditional, and acceptable to all who claim to be Christian?
Aussie John,
I think, perhaps, that the terms “orthodoxy” and “theology” make people think about “traditionalism” and “conservatism” because many traditional, conservative churches have made statements of theology their standard.
-Alan