I was reading an article on Indian theology and found an interesting morsel to chew on.
One of the problems with Christianity of late is that we've followed the modern mindset into believing that Theology is just like anything else that you might study in college. You have a text book and you discover or learn faith by studying your textbook and finding the truth.Eminent Indian theologian Felix Wilfred, who heads Chennai's Department of Christian Studies, emphasizes the indispensability of dialogue in contextual theology. Indian theology is "faith seeking dialogue"... modifying St. Anselm's classical definition of theology being "faith seeking understanding."
Someone having trouble? You need to study your Bible and find out what it says for your problem. We have reduced the Bible to nothing more than a book full of answers to our questions/problems. Don't believe me? Check out a guy named Hank Hanegraaff.
I'm glad that in many places the idea is shifting back to a theology of "faith seeking dialogue". Does this mean that you and I ultimately decide what is truth and what isn't? I guess my unlearned answer is that for me, theology shouldn't be determined by a text book that applies to everyone everywhere. Theology is something that is lived out in context. So, the people that live in that context are largely responsible (through the power of the Holy Spirit) for deciding how our faith gets fleshed out in our context. Are we really deciding what is truth for us and what isn't? Not really. Although that is the claim from the fear mongers who are trying to protect and preserve and outdated and broken model. For me it is a matter of trying to figure out how to apply the Biblical narrative in the context that God has me in. Nothing more nothing less.
2 comments:
While I mostly agree with you, I'm not sure dialogue is the be-all-end-all either. We all got excited and immersed in the modern mindset of cause/effect, and searched the scripture for formulas. Now we're all into post-modern stories and dialogue. Maybe the really cool part is that Scripture is multifaceted enough to connect through whatever angle you are viewing it from.
As for me, my most recent lens is in looking for the character of God in the scripture. Who is He? And what are we that he would even notice or care for us.
I guess before I can make up my mind on what to think about this I need to ask some pretty simple gramatical questions. Is it faith [that is] seeking dialog, or is it dialog that is "faith seeking"? Is the dialog being sought or is the faith being sought?
If it's faith [that is] seeking dialog (ie the dialog is being sought), then I think that is pretty useless because dialog is always a means to an end. Dialog that is not the means to some kind of understanding is a cocktail party.
However if it is dialog that is "faith seeking". Then I think that is a great end. Meaning that you humbly enter into the conversation assuming that you don't have all the answers and look for the dialog to bring forth some understanding and thereby strengthen faith. And as a Christ follower, the faith that I am strengthening is the faith that enables me to understand what it means to follow the Christ that is revealed by scripture.
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