Exploring Ecumenism

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Analytical Theology: Three Elements of Religion

To make a start at evaluating the contribution of analytical theology to ecumenism, I will introduce a model of religion. This is taken from Gerard W Hughes God of Surprises, chapter 2, although what follows is mostly my interpretation of his model.

Hughes identifies three stages of human development: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Each of these stages is associated with one of three elements of religion, namely institutional, critical and mystical in that order.

So, this is a model of faith development. I will examine each of the three elements in detail in future posts. First, I want to examine the relationship between the three elements. They are a progression in the sense that an adult who remains at the institutional stage lacks something. But on the other hand, the later stages contain the previous stages. So, the critical stage is dependent upon and grows out of the institutional, and similarly the mystical grows out of the critical.

This sort of progression is often found in religious experience, so for example in the Church of England, someone on the way to ordination must be a deacon before they are ordained a priest. They do not as a priest cease to be a deacon. In Methodism, similarly there is a progression from local preacher to minister and the minister is still a local preacher. Of course, the Church of England has a third stage, bishop. The bishop is still a priest and a deacon.

So, is it true that someone who is at the adult mystical stage, still holds elements of the institutional and critical? Or to turn the question around, can you become a mystic without experience of the institutional church? I've no idea. Even if I had I'm sure it would take more than one post to explain it.

What I will do to complete this post is to broadly outline the relationship between the three. I think it is simply of the logical pattern of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. The institutional is faith as it is taught to children in the churches. The critical is the negation of that faith in adolescence. The mystical integrates the first two into a third stance, quite different from the other two.

The tragedy is some people get so far and stop. This is perhaps the fault of the institutional church, to some degree but also we all must take some responsibility for the state of our own faith. Sometimes it is too convenient to blame the churches for our own failings.

Posted at 09:41 PM in Religion, Theology | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Ivory Tower Pendant. Image by SelenaAnne via Flickr

This is the first in a series of posts exploring the role of analytical theology in ecumenism. It seems to me there is a problem and I aim to work out its exact nature as I write.

I remember, many years ago in 1981, I started the study year at the Urban Theology Unit. We were warned of the dangers of the type of theology studied by theologians in ivory towers. Urban theology is the theology done on the streets. Anyone can do it and indeed everyone has a theology.

Urban theology is not as chaotic as this might sound. Whilst everyone undoubtedly has a theology (irrespective of whether they know what it is), it does not follow they actively do theology. Doing theology requires discipline, possibly the most important of which is accountability. As we express our theology to others, as we share our stories, those stories and insights are validated through the Christian community. Academic theology sets certain standards but its purpose is best seen in the uses made of it by Christians engaged in living their lives on the streets, or wherever they are.

Central to urban theology (or more generally 'contextual theology') practice is the 'pastoral cycle'. I remember attending a conference, during the early nineties, where I found myself in a workshop with a group of male academics. The other members of the group were all women and the meeting was dominated by the academics. Indeed I was the only non-academic to speak. The theme had been introduced by James Fowler and we had been invited to discuss the pastoral cycle. It seems the academics were setting exam questions about the pastoral cycle! After about two thirds of the time I interrupted and suggested there is a problem. How, I asked, do you select the biblical passage to compare with your experience? I was shouted down for questioning the wisdom of James Fowler. In the dinner queue the women told me they understood my question but found the academics impossible to relate to (they had their backs to us!).

I wish I could say this behaviour is atypical of academic theologians but in my experience it is impossible to break into their world except by the route of study in academic theology, through first degrees and further degrees.

Before I finish this post, I want to make a point in recognition of the contribution analytical theology, a branch of academic theology, has made to ecumenism. I intend to be critical of this approach to theology and the way it dominates the ecumenical scene (in future posts in this sequence). However, I have written before of academic theologians' successes in ecumenism. They have contributed a great deal. Possibly, the best example of their contribution is to the recognition by mainstream churches of one another's validity as Christian traditions. Not so long ago, churches were prepared to go to war for their beliefs.

(I have added a couple of papers at the end of this post, making the case for academic theology. Not all academic theology is analytical. (I will define analytical theology later.) I have sat at the feet of some excellent academic theologians but I have not found analytical theology anywhere near as helpful as other branches of academic theology.)

However, it is time we recognise analytical theology has made its positive contribution to ecumenism because of pressure from local churches doing the spadework, building relationships despite the barriers erected by church hierarchies. Without this pressure I'm not convinced analytical theology would have made the progress it has. Indeed it is not unfair to note that it is academics, in service to church hierarchies, who consistently apply the brakes to relationships that would otherwise blossom without constraint.

What I want to do over this sequence of posts is to attempt to identify the problem the analytical theologians present to the ecumenical movements and the Christian faith as a whole.

November 2011