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13. A Theology of Self-Emptying for the Church
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94 13. A Theology of Self-Emptying for the Church T heologies always involve the weaving together of God’s story and one or more human stories. In Christian theologies, Jesus’ life and teaching play a central role in the resulting narrative. We’ve explored in more general terms what theologies are and aren’t. It’s time now to consider a very specific example of how a theology is discovered , constructed, and applied. Given all I’ve said, I have no choice but to keep it personal. The theology you’re about to read is also my theology. The idea is simple: we have been talking about the Seven Core Christian Questions. These are the questions to which, in one form or another, the Christian church has come back again and again. When I ask future pastors to prepare their Credos, their statements of faith, I ask them to give sophisticated responses to each of these seven questions: Who is God, and how is God related to the world? (the doctrine • of God and the God-world relation) Who is Jesus Christ? What was his life, teaching, and mission? • (christology) Who is the Holy Spirit? How is the Spirit related to the Father • and to the Son (the question of the Trinity)? (pneumatology) What is humanity, man and woman? How are we like the other • animals, and what is the “image of God” that distinguishes us from other animals? (anthropology) What and why is sin? What is salvation? What is Jesus’ role in • bringing it about, and what is our role? How is salvation linked to discipleship and sanctification? (soteriology) What is the church? (ecclesiology) (It’s only a four-word ques- • tion, but there is much, much to be said here.) 13. A Theology of Self-Emptying for the Church | 95 What is the Christian hope? What occurs after death, and • what is heaven? And what is the role of Jesus Christ in this all? (eschatology) One must also pay attention to the roles played by all four of the different sources of theology in answering each of these questions for him- or herself: What does Scripture teach? How does it help us to answer each • question? What has the Christian tradition held? What must be retained • and what may have been mistaken in the traditional answers that were given to these questions? What role does reason play? (This might include science, phi- • losophy, other academic disciplines, and other world religious traditions.) What role does experience play—both individual experience • and the corporate experience of the church—in answering each question? There is no briefer, clearer account of the emerging theologies of our day than Doug Pagitt’s The Emerging Church and Embodied Theology. In fact, Doug’s assumptions about theology are so insightful that I repeat them here, as a sort of test for the reflections that you’ll be reading in a moment. Among his guidelines are: Theology is meant to be temporary • Theology is meant to be profession • Theology is always contextual • Theology is to be particular • Theology is a Spirit-led practice • Our theology is taking place in an age of tremendous change • Theology is for unity, not uniformity • Theology is to be participatory • Christendom is not the goal • 1 One caution: this experiment will only really work if you read it side by side with other theologies. If you take my example as the only framework for a genuinely transforming theology today, it would invalidate the entire message of this book. Ideally I would write a chapter each on four or [44.222.194.62] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 11:16 GMT) 96 | Transforming Christian Theology five different practical theologies for our day, in order to encourage you to develop your own Credo, your own statement of belief. There’s not enough space to do that here. But the least I can do is to encourage you to read some of the other great new theologies that are being written. Read a post-conservative theologian like Roger Olson. Read a clear process theologian like John Cobb, or Marjorie Suchocki’s God, Christ, Church (Crossroad, 1992). Read the theological reflections of an emergent thinker like Brian McLaren. Read Scot McKnight’s A Community Called Atonement (Abingdon, 2007), where Scot (in the final part) interprets atonement as a form of praxis, as something we actually do in the world. In his account atonement as “missional praxis” takes on many forms: fellowship, justice, baptism, Eucharist...