{"id":464,"date":"2013-12-27T13:54:50","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T13:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=464"},"modified":"2014-08-13T20:40:42","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T20:40:42","slug":"ford-a-theological-hello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ford-a-theological-hello\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford_ A Theological Hello"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Theology: A Very Short Introduction<\/em> author David Ford defines theology as \u201cthinking about questions raised by and about the religions.\u201d (16)\u00a0 As a theologian himself situated in the context of the university, Ford further clarifies his definition through adding some specifics and focusing his attention on the academy\u2019s involvement with the topic, \u201cTheology deals with questions of meaning, truth, beauty and practice raised in relation to religions and pursued through a range of academic disciplines.\u201d (16)\u00a0 The author\u2019s initial definitions of theology suggest the difficulty that arises in dealing with the subject overall.\u00a0 Its breadth is staggering.\u00a0 There is not much (anything?) of which theology does not ask questions and\/or offer answers.<\/p>\n

Right at the outset of chapter two, Ford acknowledges that setting\/place\/context affects beliefs and practices.\u00a0 One might think such a point hardly worth mentioning due to its obviousness.\u00a0 Yet, on one hand, many people continue to not recognize that differences in form do not necessarily connote differences in meaning.\u00a0 To use a popular colloquialism, \u201cyou can\u2019t judge a book by its cover.\u201d\u00a0 And then, on the other hand, many people are still reluctant to admit that where\/how we experience life changes how we think about it.\u00a0 Many people like to be right \u2018in all possible worlds\u2019 (shades of Voltaire) and recognizing that context shapes understanding makes it much more difficult to be universally correct.\u00a0 Lack of an easy, readily available, ubiquitous correctness requires listening and humility.\u00a0 Listening and humility (due to taking a lot of time, effort and requiring ego-balancing) have historically not performed well when pitted against universal correctness and the power it accords in the popularity poll of history.<\/p>\n

I found Ford\u2019s discussion of modernity & postmodernity to be an excellent lead-up to his discussion on the idea of context\/setting.\u00a0 The discussion of change in the first chapter offers a smooth mental introductory avenue for readers as they encounter a second major shift in reshaping thinking coming from this text in chapter two.\u00a0 Ford lets us know that place matters, but not solely for itself. \u00a0Rather, place matters as the area in which we are in the process of being formed\/shaped for the sake of caring for others.\u00a0 That is, in a sense theology teaches us that it is \u201cnot all about you,\u201d instead \u201cyou are to be all about others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford sees hope in the combined drive(s) that modernity offers (e.g., Protestant Work Ethic\u2026) coupled with the freedom(s) that postmodernity suggests is our birthright.\u00a0 Sustained effort and breadth of understanding theologically sit well together for Ford.<\/p>\n

Ending the divide between \u201cconfessional\u201d and \u201cneutral\u201d theologies\u2026moving from observance\/distance into practice \u2013 not narrow, rigid, blinded practice, but informed, welcoming, hospitable practice\u2026this is Ford\u2019s idea of an \u201cecology of responsibility.\u201d (18)\u00a0 Ford suggests that to forge such an ecology of responsibility with theology (or any field of study for that matter) discipline, long-term self-commitment, and trust are needed. (47) I would add \u2013 as I have in other places \u2013 that trust must be a \u201ccritical trust.\u201d\u00a0 That is, it must be a trust that is \u201cfaith-full\u201d to\/with\/in the process, but that allows for and, in fact, requires full engagement of the mind\u2019s faculties\u2026bringing to bear all of its understandings, reasonings, doubts, wonders [amazement] (\u00e0 la Abraham Joshua Heschel) \u00a0and queries.<\/p>\n

In the midst of all of Ford\u2019s reflections, there were a few things that especially resonated with me.\u00a0 One \u00a0idea was that theology is meant to accompany us and assist us traversing life\u2019s \u201coverwhelmings.\u201d\u00a0 Ford uses the term overwhelmings<\/em> to basically describe all that life hurtles our way in Olympian quantities.\u00a0 However, because theology aids us in important and sometimes dire conditions it therefore takes on a sense of ultimacy for us which we become willing to live and die to uphold.\u00a0 This can of course lead to all kinds of good through the purpose it offers to our lives, but it can also lead toward great harms when not wielded well.\u00a0 From this understanding, Ford offers an old phrase from the Latin near the beginning of his text, \u201cThe corruption of the best is the worst.\u201d \u00a0Unfortunately, how many times have we seen this to be true?\u00a0 Well, in reading the phrase, it brought two things to my mind.\u00a0 One, it brought to mind William Butler Yeat\u2019s phrase from his The Second Coming<\/em>, \u201cThe best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.\u201d\u00a0 And second, it brought to mind the flight of Icarus.\u00a0 We would do well to remember that theology is not meant to primarily get us to gaze into and long for the hereafter; it is not meant for us to seek to \u201cfly higher\u201d than others and hold this over them.\u00a0 Theology is meant to guide us in the process of living well now while we place ourselves with and among others; nothing fancy, but faithfully day-in and day-out.\u00a0 As this one guy one time said about faith and practice, \u201cOn earth as it is in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Theology: A Very Short Introduction author David Ford defines theology as \u201cthinking about questions raised by and about the religions.\u201d (16)\u00a0 As a theologian himself situated in the context of the university, Ford further clarifies his definition through adding some specifics and focusing his attention on the academy\u2019s involvement with the topic, \u201cTheology deals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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":[2,197],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-ford","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1797,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}