{"id":3871,"date":"2015-02-04T23:42:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T23:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3871"},"modified":"2015-02-04T23:42:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T23:42:32","slug":"the-praxis-triad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-praxis-triad\/","title":{"rendered":"The Praxis Triad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The list of terms seems endless\u2014contextual theology, public theology, practical theology, pastoral theology\u2014how can we make sense of it all? The three books under discussion (Models of Contextual Theology;<\/em> The Bible, Justice and Public<\/em> Theology;<\/em> and Spirit in the Cities<\/em>) clearly claimed that theology isn\u2019t just for the Academy or for dusty libraries. It must be active in our everyday lives \u2013 made to make a difference. For this post, I\u2019ll focus on the \u201cpraxis model\u201d as a hermeneutical approach to theology.<\/p>\n

Doctor Stephen Bevans writes \u201ctraditional ways of doing theology, theology might be described as a process of \u2018faith seeking understanding\u2019<\/em>, the praxis model would say the theology is a process of \u2018faith seeking intelligent action\u2019<\/em>.\u201d[i]<\/a> Faith, especially in modernity and certainly with the renewal of the reformation, was primarily about \u201cright thinking,\u201d or ortho-doxy. Into post modernity, with a looser grip on reason and a stronger grip on subjective experience, faith has come to be more about action. \u201cShow me your faith by what you do.\u201d Faith is more about \u201cright actions,\u201d or ortho-praxy. The Praxis model takes both orthodoxy and orthopraxy into account; it has a cycle of reflection upon action, and action upon biblical and theological reflection.<\/p>\n

In the Praxis model, both the individual and the surrounding culture are relevant for the approach to hermeneutics. \u00a0For me, this is its strength. However, when cultural relevance and action become the primary points, it is a weakness.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, if theology is irrelevant\u2014if \u00a0it does not unpack on \"Scan2\"<\/a>the streets, if it\u2019s not about real situations, circumstances, context\u2014then it will be void of the power to change. God\u2019s truth systematized and shelved isn\u2019t going to help anyone when the rubber meets the road. But when a hermeneutic pivots on a person, a circumstance, or a cultural reality it will become so fluid that we can make our theology say almost anything.<\/p>\n

The problem is starting with the desired action as the first or primary step. The second step then becomes taking that action to the Bible or to theological reflection, which would finally lead to the third step, intelligent action or praxis. See Bevan\u2019s illustration fig. 4 [ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

It might look like I\u2019m critical of the praxis model; actually, I think it\u2019s essential. As a pastor I\u2019m always trying to make doctrine real and accessible. Much of my teaching ministry is packaged into very practical themes, which are gauged on their potential to affect change. Praxis is a great model that seems two-thirds complete. What\u2019s necessary is another step possibly prior to \u201c1. Committed action.\u201d Let\u2019s call it Ortho-pathy or right-feeling\/right-heart.\u00a0\u00a0 Ortho-pathy is probably dissertation-worthy; for this post I\u2019ll simply define it as a new heart, a heart that belongs to Jesus, an individual who loves God supremely.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider an example of public theology and why I think Bevans\u2019 presentation of the Praxis model can be strengthened. On April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teacher and injured 20 additional people. After the killings, the pair took their own lives. The nation was shocked; school shootings had not yet become common place and people couldn\u2019t get their minds around the horror. This was white, middle- class, Littleton, Colorado\u2014violence and terror belonged elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Everyone tried to make sense of the tragedy. Some in the media didn\u2019t know how to process it: mental illness and depression, perhaps; but at this level of horror those explanations seemed inadequate. Some dared to use the word \u201cevil\u201d to identify a cause. One young reporter sought out a very well-known Christian author, speaker, and counselor who lived near Littleton. She went to his home with a news crew in tow and asked him what everyone wanted to know: how could such evil exist, how could these relatively normal boys become monsters? What can we do to make sure this never happens again?<\/p>\n

After some reflection, the well-known Christian shared that the same kind of evil that was in Harris and Klebold was in him, and was in the reporter. Evil wasn\u2019t simply an aberration that happens from time to time; it\u2019s a part of who we are. And before he could explain further she stopped the interview, told the cameraman to leave, and with contempt in her voice declared that no such evil existed in her. Those boys were monsters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not enough just to be committed to action\u2014\u201cstop the evil,\u201d \u201cget rid of the guns,\u201d \u201cfind better treatments for mental illness.\u201d It\u2019s important that before we commit to the action we start with hearts that are in love with Jesus, in communion with God. Then, when we look at the scope of actions, they\u2019re in tune with what God is already doing. God is in the business of redeeming evil hearts; that wasn\u2019t something the public wanted to hear in the aftermath of Columbine, but that was what they needed.<\/p>\n

In his essay \u201cPublic Theology Through Popular Culture,<\/em>\u201d Dr. Garner quotes Paul Ballard who says \u201cThis particular model of contextual theology, in which Scripture and Tradition dialogue<\/strong> with the experience of material reality of the everyday world, is also know as the pastoral cycle\u201d[iii]<\/a> This is what Stephen Bevans calls the Praxis model and what Dr. Garner continues to describe: \u201cThis cycle continues to bring together orthodoxy and orthopraxy to generate a dialectical relation between the theological positions of faith seeking intelligent action and considered action leading to theological insight.\u201d[iv]<\/a> And while all this reflection and actions sounds great, and I\u2019m all for change, I think we might be getting the cart before the horse if we don\u2019t have ortho-pathy. I love the metaphor of a dialogue; I\u2019m suggesting that we invite a third member to the Praxis conversation.<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology<\/em>, rev. ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002), 66-67.<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology<\/em>, p. 69.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> David J. Neville, ed., The Bible, Justice, and Public Theology (The Bible in the Modern World)<\/em> (Sheffield England: Wipf & Stock, 2014), 184.<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> Ibid.,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The list of terms seems endless\u2014contextual theology, public theology, practical theology, pastoral theology\u2014how can we make sense of it all? The three books under discussion (Models of Contextual Theology; The Bible, Justice and Public Theology; and Spirit in the Cities) clearly claimed that theology isn\u2019t just for the Academy or for dusty libraries. It must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"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":[15,600,596,598,599,597],"class_list":["post-3871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bevans","tag-contextual-theology","tag-neville","tag-praxis","tag-public-theology","tag-tanner","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871","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\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3873,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions\/3873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}