Rethinking Faith: A Constructive Practical Theology

Introduction

1 What is the nature of God as revealed in the communities that follow Jesus Christ and what practices best express faith in God? This is a question of practical theology. In this book, I respond to this question on฀three฀levels:฀fi ฀rst,฀as฀a฀practical฀ theologian; second, as a baptized member of the Christian church; and, third, as a follower of Jesus Christ in solidarity with those who have suffered violence in their lives. In the following section, I address these three levels of theological reflection about the nature of God: (1) Practical theology and the nature of God; (2) Christian life and the nature of God; and (3) Surviving violence and the nature of God. ThREE lEvElS OF ThEOlOgICAl REFlECTION 1. What does practical theology contribute to the theological disciplines and the church about the nature of God in Jesus Christ? Practical theology is a discipline of theological reflection that gives sustained attention to the movement of God’s Spirit in the everyday lives of contemporary Christian communities for the sake of more Introduction What is the nature of God as revealed in the communities that follow Jesus Christ and what practices best express faith in God? 2 Rethinking Faith faithful practices. In dialogue with biblical, historical, and systematic theological reflection, practical theologians ask questions about God’s ongoing self-revelation through the witness of faithful believers. Out of this reflection comes wisdom and programs that inform the church and the theological conversations among scholars and church leaders.1 In recent decades, practical theologians have written many essays about the methods by which we understand religious experience and God’s actions in human lives.2 As a result, practical theology has gained recognition as a branch of theology alongside biblical, historical, and systematic branches. However, establishing practical theology as a method of theology appropriate for academic research does not answer some important questions: What do practical theologians have to say about God in Jesus Christ? If God speaks through the practices of communities of faith, what do practical theologians have to contribute to the doctrinal content of the theologies of the churches? As a practical theologian, I believe that everyday practices of following Jesus Christ lead to revelation about the nature of God. That is, persons and communities who believe in Jesus Christ and dedicate themselves to following “the Jesus way” in their lives will be touched by God’s love and power so that new witness emerges. This new witness will have continuity with the long history of God’s self-revelation through Scripture, history, and theology . But it will contribute new ideas and new practices as part of the ongoing conversation about God and God’s will for humankind in the present and future. I believe that while God’s character is consistent with past self-revelations, God’s interaction with the world continues today and tomorrow. Given the limits of human faith and understanding, the scope of God’s revelation is far beyond what we know, and novel forms of revelation are always happening if we pay attention. The idea that God’s revelation is ongoing and not completed in Scripture is a contested idea among believers and theologians.3 As a believer in the Reformed Protestant tradition, I believe that the Scriptures are the necessary revelation of God in Christ, and that the history of reflections of Christian communities in creeds and doctrines are authoritative for Christian life. I also believe that the reformation of What do practical theologians have to say about God in Jesus Christ? Introduction 3 the church continues because God has more to say about the nature of love and power as humans are ready to hear it. Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda—that is, “The church reformed, always reforming.”4 Every day is a new challenge for believers to understand God, and God is actively฀trying฀to฀reach฀us฀with฀new฀understandings฀that฀fi ฀t฀our฀changed฀ situations. Within this project, my dialogue partners outside of practical theology will be in biblical and systematic theology. I focus especially on narratives of the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels as informed by feminist and liberation theology. Within systematic theology, my home is in process theology, an American theology that has grown in conversation with the philosophical perspectives of Alfred North Whitehead and other process ฀philosophers.฀The฀reader฀will฀fi ฀nd฀frequent฀references฀to฀writers฀and฀ ideas from these perspectives...