For those of you who enjoy reading theology as long as its spoken in a human language still surviving today then John Frame’s latest book, Salvation Belongs To The Lord, is one you won’t want to miss. Theology can at times look like a game of cat and mouse, the cat being the ferocious Cheshire historian and the mouse being a loaded lexeme that only Ivy Leaguer’s can trap. For many the difference between principia and principium makes as much sense in life as that blue fluid that keeps our car windows from iceing up in the winter. But ever so often you find a person who’s gifted in bringing that specialized conversation to the modern joe in a life changing way and John Frame happens to be one those strange theological Potter’s.
One of the statements that’s just caught my attention tonight was his remarks on theology’s relation to ethics, listen in;
…all theology is ethics. Throughout this book we have been studying what we ought to believe. That ought is an ethical ought. Certainly if it is this important to know what we ought to believe, it is equally important to know what we ought to do. Indeed, doing is a wider category than believing. Belief is one of the things we do. (pg. 315)
The way Frame situates belief in ethics, and latter acknowledges that ethics and theology are ‘equally extensive’ meaning that neither are broader categories than the other, relieves some of the tension between Christians who say they are more focused on practice than theology and those who say they are more focused on theology than practice. For Frame, theology while being ‘equally extensive’ to practice is also a subset of practice, its an ethical ought-ness.
What does this mean? It means that every Christian practice has a theological framework that it works itself out from (you can’t say if you’re still alive and breathing, theology doesn’t matter to me, it does and must), and every theological tradition has a living ethical social and cultural context that it works itself out from (you can’t claim that you’re always and only just being influence by Scripture alone, the church and world have their part on what and how you belief). Ever Christian finds him or herself in what I call “Theo-Ethic Spirals“, something like Grant Osbourne’s hermeneutical spiral.
Reflections, comments, responses to this….
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January 12, 2007 at 3:22 pm
rickbennett
Ethics and social justice seem to be a hot button issue within emerging conversations. Do you think this stems from a particular theology?
January 12, 2007 at 5:07 pm
setsnservice
I’m not sure if its a particular theology, some within might argue its from a particular theological model like “embodied theology” Pagitt or “incarnational theology” Burke or “Biblicist theology” Driscoll or “communal theology” Ward or “missional theology” Kimball. (Watch out for a new bok coming out to help with this, Listening to the beliefs of the Emerging Church) Partly its from past missiologists concerns, for example those of Bosch, Allen, Newbigin, and Guder. I think the social context question plays a role, many emerging churches are in cities and the ’social justice and ethics’ question’s are particularly more pressing in those kind of environments. One other thing it might be Rick is their Kingdom focus…not sure buddy. Part of the problem in answering a question like this is that there isn’t one ‘Emerging Church’ thing out there you know. For instance I saw Dan Kimball do a post on the trendyness of social justice awhile back.
Whatever the answer may be I think its healthy. Most missionaries are more caught up with social and ethical questions than hamering out fine points of historical or systematic theology. What gets problematic though, is when some in the Emerging Churches or Emergent suggest that we can be praxis focused and not theology focused, the two are always together – part of John Frame’s point above. Thoughts, comments…
January 17, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Laurence O.
I too love Frame’s readability, sensibility, and palatability. His gifted, loving writing flows from his huge teddy-bear heart (you’ve got to meet him in person to know what I mean…).
Once you start reading Frame, you begin seeing the world in triangles! His perspectival epistemology (normative, situational, existential–what I like to call head, hand, and heart) is powerful and brings a world of sanity to the often insane world of theologizing.
I think you are right on, Tony, with your assessment of what Frame has to say to groups who overemphasize one aspect (i.e. practice) of Christianity over others (i.e. theology). To borrow Richard Pratt’s spin on Frame’s perspectives, the full, rich Gospel is always one of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathos. You can’t have one without the other two–they are each interrelated.
Perhaps one way EC and Reformed folks can help each other “Frame” each other’s theology is to be humble enough to learn from the others’ (perspectival) strengths: Where one is stronger in orthodoxy, the other can humbly learn. Where the other is stronger in praxis and pathos, the other can sure use some help….
Also, your bit on noticing the importance of context when evaluating the EC’s focus on social justice reminds me of the richness of Frame’s situational perspective. I think it would do everyone (including myself) more than a bit of good to pause before firing up the critical blog fingers to tromp someone else’s theology and to ask, “What situational factors influence the beliefs, practices, and feelings of my bro/sis in Christ, and how is his/her situation different than mine?”
January 17, 2007 at 3:11 pm
setsnservice
Teddy Bear, I keep hearing that from different people and I believe it. Thanks for the Pratt proverb, ‘the Gospel is always one of orthodoxy, orthopraxy,and orthopathos
‘, I hadn’t heard that before brother.
I’m also hoping that we learn how to deal with people in light of their situations and not just their preconceptions or theologies, Frame is on point as is your advice LO.