{"id":12798,"date":"2017-05-18T10:46:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T17:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=12798"},"modified":"2017-05-18T10:46:46","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T17:46:46","slug":"percy-shaping-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/percy-shaping-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Percy: Shaping the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book, Shaping the Church<\/em>, Martyn Percy introduces us to the concept of \u201cimplicit theology,\u201d the idea that hidden, often unreflected practices, habits, and culture are not simply \u201cbenign and innocent,\u201d but offer a great deal of value to understanding the ecclesiology of a particular expression of the church (both local congregations and broader denominations, and even, I imagine, para-church and mission organizations). [1]<\/a> The idea of implicit theology is not simply an extension of folk or popular religion or even a portrayal of the \u201cexcluded middle\u201d popularized by anthropologist Paul Hiebert,[2]<\/a> but a reflection on how the practices and identities of a particular community of believers reveal their theology. In other words, we can ask the question, \u201cWhat does \u2018x\u2019 imply about how we understand God, the church, and the world?\u201d with \u2018x\u2019 representing all manner of things, concepts, and practices, beyond the explicit theologies expressed in doctrines, statements of faith, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For example, we might notice that a congregation has a coffee time between two services, allowing participants of both services to interact and chat casually with each other over coffee and snacks. What does this practice say about how that church understands God, the church (themselves) and the world? As they reflect on this practice, they might realize that they value time spent informally with one another and recognize it as a spiritual practice. Upon deeper reflection, they may recognize that they haven\u2019t done all they can to honor God\u2019s creation and God\u2019s people, as the coffee is served in disposable Styrofoam cups and bought as cheap as possible. Because they are a church who reflects on their being and doing, they may decide through this process to switch to washable mugs and fair-trade coffee, which costs more but allows them to better honor the people who source the coffee. As Percy recommends, a church that seeks to be vibrant and growing should adopt a strategy to make \u201cthe implicit far more explicit, and [learn] to celebrate varieties of growth and transformation.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

This practice of reflecting on our implicit theology is an outgrowth of a community that seeks to ask the question, \u201cWhat are the ways God uses to shape us for being and doing?\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Percy states it this way, \u201cIf action flows from identity, then a community with a close-knit sense of itself may find its religious expression more \u2018productive\u2019 than a more disparate community.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

In many ways, I\u2019ve found Dr Percy\u2019s text to be a companion book to Dr Emma Percy\u2019s book, What Clergy Do: Especially When it Looks Like Nothing,<\/em>\u00a0almost as if the two of them have had long conversations together on these themes. Like Martyn\u2019s exploration of implicit theology, Emma recognizes that \u201cbeing and doing are interwoven. There are plenty of tasks to be done but a list of tasks cannot adequately define the role. Both mothering and ministry are relationships and activities: the relationship shapes the activity and the activity enhances the relationship.\u201d[5]<\/a> And while Martyn challenges churches to reflect more on how implicit practices shape our theology, Emma contends that, like in mothering, \u201creflective thinking is developed and honed through conversations: through the kind of chatting that may well be dismissed as idle talk.\u201d[6]<\/a> It is what happens in the spaces that shape us.<\/p>\n

I see this discussion on implicit theology connecting, as well, with what I\u2019ve been looking at for my research problem, the connection between the communion table and the kitchen table as places of sacred hospitality. Martyn Percy suggests that the importance of implicit theology lies in \u201ca conviction; namely that what is natural, given and ordinary is also imbued with meaning and value that is a form of theological currency.\u201d[7]<\/a> In other words, implicit theology is a \u201cquotidian mystery,\u201d ordinary yet holy.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Martyn Percy, Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology<\/em> (Surrey: Ashgate, 2010), 2.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> http:\/\/hiebertglobalcenter.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/29.-1999.-The-Flaw-of-the-Excluded-Middle.pdf<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0Martyn Percy, 91.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 96.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Emma Percy, What Clergy Do: Especially When it Looks Like Nothing<\/em> (London: SPCK, 2014), 22.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 56.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Martyn Percy, 3.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> cf. Kathleen Norris, Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and \u201cWomen\u2019s Work\u201d<\/em> (Paulist Press, 1998). I\u2019d add some delightful quotes from this, one of my favorite books, if it weren\u2019t packed. You\u2019ll have to imagine them, instead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book, Shaping the Church, Martyn Percy introduces us to the concept of \u201cimplicit theology,\u201d the idea that hidden, often unreflected practices, habits, and culture are not simply \u201cbenign and innocent,\u201d but offer a great deal of value to understanding the ecclesiology of a particular expression of the church (both local congregations and broader […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[967,965,963,966],"class_list":["post-12798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-emma-percy","tag-implicit-theology","tag-martyn-percy","tag-mothering","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12799,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12798\/revisions\/12799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}