Surfing around tonight, I saw that Curtis linked to an amazing article written by Scot McKnight entitled Five Streams of the Emerging Church.
While the entire article is chock full of good stuff, I found myself especially drawn to the section discussing Post-Evangelicalism, but more specifically Post-Systematic Theology:
The emerging movement tends to be suspicious of systematic theology. Why? Not because we don’t read systematics, but because the diversity of theologies alarms us, no genuine consensus has been achieved, God didn’t reveal a systematic theology but a storied narrative, and no language is capable of capturing the Absolute Truth who alone is God. Frankly, the emerging movement loves ideas and theology. It just doesn’t have an airtight system or statement of faith. We believe the Great Tradition offers various ways for telling the truth about God’s redemption in Christ, but we don’t believe any one theology gets it absolutely right.
Hence, a trademark feature of the emerging movement is that we believe all theology will remain a conversation about the Truth who is God in Christ through the Spirit, and about God’s story of redemption at work in the church. No systematic theology can be final. In this sense, the emerging movement is radically Reformed. It turns its chastened epistemology against itself, saying, “This is what I believe, but I could be wrong. What do you think? Let’s talk.”
For quite a while, I have adopted this stance in my approach to theology, but I have not been able to express it this well… And as I read through this I can not help but think back to St. Anselm, and his Proslogion…
Therefore, Lord, you who give knowledge of the faith, give me as much knowledge as you know to be fitting for me, because you are as we believe and that which we believe. And indeed we believe you are something greater than which cannot be thought.
I often find myself thinking about what it must have been like for Anselm… Wrestling to wrap his mind around who God was, and in the process realizing the inadequacy of his words, his thoughts, even his mind to wrap itself around the entirety of God…
As I have wrestled through theological discussion I have come to a place where I am comfortable with where I lie… but at the same time, I am not utterly convinced that I am right… Nor am I convinced that there is anyone alive who can rightly believe that they have it all figured out theologically…
While this places me in a precarious position in the evangelical world, I can not help but think back to the end of Job
Job 42
Job
1 Then Job replied to the LORD :
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Surely I spoke of things that I did not understand; things too wonderful for me to know…
Maybe there are just things that we need to wait on the answers for…
Thanks for your thoughts. I always will remember my theology prof, who was a brilliant man, always said, “If, when I get to heaven, I find that I scored an 80% on all of my theology beliefs, I’ll be thrilled! I doubt I’ll get an 80.”