Monday, December 9, 2013

Beauty in Theology?

Theology is thought of as many things; systematic, boring, dull, archaic, optional, secondary, intellectual, pompous, abstract, doctrinal etc, but it is seldom if ever described as beautiful, especially within the Church. Why is this the case? Why do we treat the Trinity as simply a statement or creed to be checked off on and placed on a shelf to collect dust? Surely there is a basic idea of the Trinity that is the bare necessity and basic foundation of the Orthodox teaching, but is there more to it than this? If so, why have we neglected such truth? The answer is simple, Christians have been obsessed with a defensive war against secularism. We frame doctrine in defensive terms; “The Bible is inerrant, it contains NO errors!” “Salvation is by faith alone NOT by works!” or “God is sovereign and CANNOT fail!” meaning that we have “Assurance of Salvation, we need NOT doubt!” It is clear from reading popular books on salvation, the church and God that our theology is being developed from a position of fear and defense. We fear committing heresy, so we keep our theology simple, we fear the objections of skeptics and outsiders, so we keep our faith sheltered, we fear our own doubts and failures, so we assure ourselves of the basic truths of the gospel. It seems to me the Church cannot continue like this, theology, in order to be effective and carry the powerful message of Christ must be considered from a position of beauty and standing in awe of the God we worship, not only fear of what our theology might become. We must boldy go where popular Christianity refuses to go! We must once again find beauty and elegance in the truths we defend and proclaim! If we do not, what is left to defend?