{"id":4813,"date":"2015-05-06T21:33:43","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T04:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4813"},"modified":"2015-05-06T21:33:43","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T04:33:43","slug":"theology-from-below","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/theology-from-below\/","title":{"rendered":"Theology from Below"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last fall, I was first introduced to Simon Chan through his book Spiritual Theology<\/em>. For my essay on theology, this core text summed up much of my own understanding of God.\u00a0\u00a0 With a contextual theology to be in a \u201cconscious, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ,\u201d[1]<\/a> Chan applies his systematic understanding about God to the \u201clived reality\u201d[2]<\/a> of spirituality. In that pivotal book, Spiritual Theology<\/em>, Chan quotes many of ancient fathers to describe the reality of and living into faith. With his use of Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical influences, he acknowledges the value of traditions while laying the foundation for the added dimension of context from Asian culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheology is an exact tracing of the glory of God.<\/em>\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0Diadochos, 5th<\/sup> century Greek bishop<\/p>\n

\u201c[Theology] is the doctrine of living unto God<\/em>\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0William Ames, 16th<\/sup>-17th<\/sup> Century Puritan theologian<\/p>\n

\u201cSpiritual theology\u2026can be defined as the science which decides from revealed principles what constitutes the perfection of the spiritual life and how man can advance towards and obtain it<\/em>.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0Joseph de Guibert, Jesuit father of the late 19th<\/sup> Century<\/p>\n

After Spiritual Theology,<\/em> Chan\u2019s foundational thesis in Grassroots Asian Theology<\/em> comes as no surprise, other than providing even more Asian context. Chan offers that theology \u2013 both Western and Asian – is meant to be lived out in \u201cthe encounter with God\u2019s revelation of himself in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit.\u201d[6]<\/a> With the unique blend of contextual-systematic theology, Chan expresses how to understand God within traditional Christianity along with an Asian lens that remains consistent to what he wrote nearly 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

In summary of the chapters, first, the Trinity reminds us, especially in the communal culture of Asians, that God operates with others in mind. Secondly, God wants to heal us, emotionally and physically, as reflected in many of the Asian Pentecostal grassroots churches. Thirdly, the family as central to Asian culture connects us to the understanding of our identity with the \u201celder brother\u201d (Jesus Christ). Fourthly, Asian cultures respond readily to the work of the Spirit through personal encounters with God. And finally, Chan demonstrates the value of integration of grassroots and ancient tradition. Both are necessary, and easily accessible within Asian churches, and from which Western churches can benefit.<\/p>\n

The point that resonates most deeply comes as a result of his use of \u201cgrassroots\u201d for a descriptor. From the World Council of Churches, Chan states their assessment: \u201c[Ecumenism] must touch the life of people in all its layers and dimensions.\u201d[7]<\/a> The lived out reality of theology, as in the unity of and purpose of the church, emanates from what it means to understand the prayers \u2013 the liturgy \u2013 of the people. As people pray and interact with God, that’s where faith and understanding reside. Quoting a student of Augustine, Chan reminds us that the \u201crule of faith should be based on the rule of prayer\u201d (Prosper of Aquitaine).[8]<\/a> People, within their context, live out theology. Can we not learn from them, rather than having to rely on elitists who proclaim the way God operates?<\/p>\n

Now to my point \u2013 how does \u201ctheology from below\u201d or a \u201cgrassroots\u201d theology inform us as we live our faith? From Chan\u2019s contribution about Asian culture, the understanding of God seems to provide a way to hold God in his mystery and grandeur along with the reality of God\u2019s work on earth. Rather than explaining everything, the encounter becomes informative. Rather than relying only on an academic understanding of God, we can learn also from those who respond to God in \u201camazed recognition.\u201d[9]<\/a> With this posture of recognizing what little we know, yet with a deep desire to connect with God, we can live in both the transcendence and immanence of God. From that place, we have the opportunity to hear what God has to say about the hard places where there seems to be no formula or academic solution.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest. I\u2019m not one to best articulate the value of starting with \u201ctheology from above\u201d as Barth would argue to \u201ctheology from below\u201d as Grenz proposes. But I do know that I understand God best in my experiences of him, whether in scripture, encounters with others, through service, or simple silence and solitude. And that\u2019s where I hold Vanhoozer\u2019s doctrine as drama close, \u201cDoctrine is not merely a proposition, or an expression, but a prompt: a spiritual direction for one\u2019s fitting performance of the script.\u201d[10]<\/a> The purpose of theology \u2013 to understand God \u2013 is knowing God. Chan appears to believe the same with his exhortation: \u201cThe whole created order will participate in the eternal liturgy of glorifying God and enjoying him forever.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology<\/em>: a Systematic Study of the Christian Life<\/em> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1998), 9.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, 16.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 16.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 17.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 17.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Simon Chan, Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up<\/em> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 50.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid, 28.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid, 7.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Quoting C.S. Lewis, Ibid, 17.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid, 13.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Westminster Shorter Catechism, Ibid, 204.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last fall, I was first introduced to Simon Chan through his book Spiritual Theology. For my essay on theology, this core text summed up much of my own understanding of God.\u00a0\u00a0 With a contextual theology to be in a \u201cconscious, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ,\u201d[1] Chan applies his systematic understanding about God to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"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":[634],"class_list":["post-4813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chan","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4813","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4814,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4813\/revisions\/4814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}