I participated in the Urban Theology Unit study year in 1981-2. Six of us, who between us were on the study years between 1979 and 1982, met for the first time during 1983 and have met 2 - 4 times a year ever since. We have met for study and support for over 25 years and call ourselves the Christian Praxis Group. At first we saw ourselves as a continuation of the study year but have long since stopped reporting to the UTU AGM.
I'm trying to remember why we used the word Praxis in out name. It is a word that is used where both action and reflection are deployed in a mutually interdependent way. To act without reflection is known as activism and to reflect without action, verbalism, is a sterile activity, and perhaps a mark of academic theology.
The word is Greek and seems to have been used by Marx and, through the reflection on Marxism which was a facet of Latin American Liberation Theology, the word seems to have found its way into general reflection about contextual theology. However, the word is deployed in the New Testament, most prominently in the title of the 'Acts of the Holy Apostles', Praxeis ton Agion Apostolon.
Over 25 years the group has covered an immense amount of ground and regularly studies the New Testament in the original Greek as well as exploring community development and adult education. The category 'Praxis' in this blog is linked to posts that are related to the work of the Christian Praxis Group. So, unlike other categories, 'Praxis' will include posts which are not themselves about Praxis but relate to matters the group has discussed over the years.
Ecumenical theology has developed in the context of the growth of radical or contextual theology during the last few decades. I wonder to what extent it has responded to this movement in theology. Often ecumenical theological conversations seem to take place remote from the local practitioners of ecumenism. Contextual theology implies the conversations which take place locally, where ecumenism is done, are at least of equal value to the conversations between church leaders. The practical implications of this emphasis, were it taken seriously, are profound. Maybe the insights of small groups of Christians seriously discussing their theology would be of value here.
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