{"id":12882,"date":"2017-05-19T00:03:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T07:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=12882"},"modified":"2017-05-19T00:03:03","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T07:03:03","slug":"iron-chef-battle-implicit-theology-or-why-the-plate-matters-when-all-you-taste-is-the-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/iron-chef-battle-implicit-theology-or-why-the-plate-matters-when-all-you-taste-is-the-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Iron Chef: Battle Implicit Theology or Why the Plate Matters When All You Taste is the Food’"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have never had the pleasure of watching\u00a0Iron Chef<\/em> (in any of it’s many variations) it is a pretty serious cooking competition\/reality show, that centers around a ‘secret ingredient’ challenge each week. \u00a0Once the secret ingredient is revealed – in dramatic fashion, of course – the competing chefs have have one hour to create three dishes for the judges. \u00a0Once completed the judges score the dishes, giving points in three areas: taste, plating and originality.<\/p>\n

One of the judges of the current iteration (Iron Chef America: Gauntlet), Alex Guarnaschelli, an Iron Chef herself, does something that has always stuck out to me as a little strange. \u00a0In her comments about the food the chefs have prepared she almost always has some comment about type, style or shape of the actual plate or bowl that the food is presented on. \u00a0 She usually highlights how the plate\/bowl either adds or detracts from the ‘story’ that the chef is trying to tell with their food.<\/p>\n

I think chef Guarnaschelli’s comments stick in my head, because they have always seemed out of place to me – I thought of the ‘plating’ element that the chefs are judged on solely in terms of how the food looks – the plates and utensils were just instruments or means to an end.<\/p>\n

After reading Martyn Percy’s wonderful work, Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology<\/em>\u00a0I have come to a few conclusions. \u00a0First, chef Guarnaschelli understands something about the power and importance of the implicit that many miss, myself included. \u00a0Second, I think Percy and Guarnaschelli would likely get along very well – perhaps having a conversation about the implicit or unspoken factors that contribute to meaning, culture and community in our lives and, undoubtedly they would enjoy a great meal, on well chosen plates.<\/p>\n

Percy’s book is an attempt to understand, from an ecclesiastic perspective the power and implicit theologies that drive the unspoken – and often unreflected upon practices and positions which add and, importantly communicate meaning to, in and from our church communities. \u00a0Or to continue the cooking metaphor, Percy, wants to explore why pie always tastes better on the fine china than on a paper plate.<\/p>\n

In his introduction, Percy explains:<\/p>\n

The very word ‘implicit’ is suggestive. \u00a0Normally used as an antonym with ‘explicit’, the terms have a complex etymological history. \u00a0‘Implicit’ is derived from the Latin implicitius<\/em>, meaning to implicate –\u00a0a term, in turn, that suggests involvement, interweaving, and entanglement…..’implicit’ means the meaningful folding together and close connecting of a variety of strands…..It is bringing order from apparent chaos and clarity from complexity. (Percy, 2)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The concept of ‘plating’ from Iron Chef is a metaphor that helped me to understand that the implicit things we do as a church and as believers have a theology (or theologies) of their own. \u00a0They add meaning and depth and, when we examine them and understand them, can help us both understand and communicate more clearly the story we are trying to tell of God’s love and grace.
\nThe vessel and accoutrements that come with a dish might not change the taste, but they are undoubtedly part of the experience \u00a0of the meal. \u00a0Likewise, the implicit practices, traditions and norms that surround and accompany our explicit theologies shape our own understanding of our faith and directly effect how and what we are able to communicate about that faith.<\/p>\n

Percy’s insights about the importance and power of our implicit theologies are as original as they are important. \u00a0The four hallmarks of priesthood and a priestly church that he derives from this implicit theology which can be used as a lens to promote and initiate ‘organic church growth’ are, alone, worth the price of the book.<\/p>\n

Appropriately, the understanding of the importance of implicit theology doesn’t feel like a new discovery, but rather a revelation of something that had always been there, a presence that was sensed, but not quite known – a pulling back of the curtain. \u00a0Having now seen what was previously missed or only sensed, it will not be possible to go back to the old way of ignoring the implicit messages, meaning and theology of our lives and our churches.<\/p>\n

The value, for me, of Percy’s work can be summed up by this passage from his conclusion:<\/p>\n

Implicit theology pays attention to the normally neglected and often overlooked dimensions of ecclesial life that are constitutive for belief and practice. \u00a0The realization of a relationship between the gentle framing of faith and belief through structures and practices allows us to ponder the significance of many things we might take for granted, and their theological weight. \u00a0Dress codes, manners, the management of strong feelings, the moderation of the collective emotional temperature – all have a bearing on the emerging vision of God within each congregation and denomination. (Percy, 172)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, a plate is never – just a plate – it always matters, and pie just tastes better on the fine china.<\/p>\n

The coffee definitely tastes better out of this mug<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have never had the pleasure of watching\u00a0Iron Chef (in any of it’s many variations) it is a pretty serious cooking competition\/reality show, that centers around a ‘secret ingredient’ challenge each week. \u00a0Once the secret ingredient is revealed – in dramatic fashion, of course – the competing chefs have have one hour to create […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"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":[964],"class_list":["post-12882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-percy","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12882","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\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12888,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12882\/revisions\/12888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}