A friend writes to you as follows:
‘I can’t understand why you have to study Christian doctrine in order to be a minister. It is too abstract, not related to practical Christian living, and destroys simple faith. My advice to you is keep your head down, and make sure you don’t let any of this study affect you.’
A letter in response.
Dear Friend
Thank you for your letter, but on this occasion I think we are going to have to agree to disagree. You see I thoroughly enjoy Theology and I really enjoy trying to get my head around what we believe as people of faith.
I have always believed that we have a responsibility to make sure we understand why we believe what we do. The writer of the book of 1 Peter writes: ‘Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you’ (1 Peter 3:15). So without making to fine a point about it, it’s important that I understand what we believe as people called Christians.
There is another point I need to make. When I started the process of candidating for Presbyteral ministry, I was asked by my Superintendent minister why the Methodist Church puts so much into training its ministers. The answer took me by surprise. He felt that the reason why ministers went to institutions like Queens was to help us understand what we believe. By challenging us and pushing our theological boundaries, it is hoped that thinking through what we believe, we will be able to help others do the same.
I’ve used that word ‘Theology’ again and perhaps I’d better explain why I’m using ‘Theology’ instead of ‘Doctrine’. Thomas Aquinas was said to have described Theology as ‘Speaking of God’. I love this definition. It frees us to discuss and learn and debate about who God is. Some may say God is unknowable. I’m not so sure but that speaking of God often leads me to a sense of wonder and I cannot help but come before God in prayer and worship. In his book ‘Why bother with Theology’ Alex Wright quotes Maurice Conchis, the young school master in John Fowles’ novel ‘The Magus’. ‘In a terrible flash of light, all our explanations, all our classifications…appeared to me like thin net…reality, was no longer dead, easy to handle. It was full of a mysterious vigour, new forms, new possibilities’ (Quoted by Wright, 2002, pg. 60). Doctrine may seem dry and boring but I can promise you if you allow it to, theology or doctrine (take your pick) will take your understanding of God to places you can only dream of.
Some would say that theology and doctrine create boundaries and stifle us. I think it’s safe to say from what my comments above that I don’t believe that’s true. Neither do most theologians. Mark McIntosh has writes that theology is at risk of ‘getting carried away from a respectable discipline, manages by theologians to a mysterious sharing of God’s way of life, God’s talk, God’s knowing and loving of Godself’ (McIntosh, 2008, pg. 7). I think we put the boundaries up. We relegate doctrine and theology to the realm of the academic and the library. But when we open ourselves up to understanding God we are doing theology and we are developing our own doctrines.
Kindest Regards
Ray
McIntosh, M. 2008. ‘Divine Teaching: An introduction to Christian Theology.’ Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Wright, A. 2002.’Why bother with Theology?’ London: Darton, Longman, Todd.
