I finished reading Robert Banks's Redeeming the Routines: Bringing Theology to Life last night. (OK, everything except the appendix.) As I noted last week, the premise of the book is that theology and theological education are in need of being reconceptualized so as to address the daily pressures, responsibilities, and activities that form the patterns of our lives. This is necessary to foster holistic living contrary to the inclination to divvy up our lives into two realms: the spiritually significant that consists of overtly "religious" activity and everything else with which most of our waking hours are spent but about which there is little theological reflection. Some of the things that fall into this category are sleep, work, leisure, popular attitudes and values, communicating and relating, and social rituals and activities.
I think that for many believers God only seems real when they are engaged in explicitly Christian pursuits (e.g., Bible study, devotions, worship, evangelism, etc.). The project Banks contends for is remedial. He is right to stress the necessity of vocation-specific discipleship. Each of us is called to follow Jesus in the midst of specific regularities of life and we need to help each other think about and live out what faithfulness looks like in those contexts.
For years I've had one foot in the world of academic theology and the other in pastoral ministry. Each has elements that delight and frustrate me. I've sat in lectures wondering what relevance the subject matter at hand had for people in my church and how I would begin to convey its importance and application to them. Banks, a theologian himself, says that he has found the work of systematic theologians to be as much frustrating as helpful because: "Once it ranges beyond central doctrinal concerns which, though they could be, are not frequently linked to everyday issues, it tends to focus on philosophical or broader social or cultural issues." Banks properly notes that such theorizing is often necessary and helpful for addressing everyday but laments that such connections are infrequently made.
If theological education and literature can err on the side of being too abstract and conceptual, pastoral and church ministry can make the opposite error of focusing so much on immediate practicality that critical reflection is considered a waste of time that stands in the way of the urgent work of the kingdom.
I would very much like to invest my life in being a small bridge between these two subcultures in the community of faith so I was encouraged and challenged by Banks's call for what he calls "apostolic" theologians:
We need "apostolic" theologians who will leave their desk and lectern for a more down-to-earth kind of life. While there are few theologians who do not practice what they preach in some measure, there are very few who are engaged in similar work, say, to someone like Paul. That is, in apologetic and evangelistic work, in church-planting and pastoring, in pioneering new models of education and training. The apostolic theologian, of which Paul was the first great exponent, places mission first and largely allows theological reflection to be generated by that. Learning goes on as people associate with him or her in that activity-observing, questioning, and imitating. There is no reason why many Christians cannot be involved with such a person and why many of their concerns cannot be dealt with in this setting. The trouble is that taking up the "apostolic" theological life entails a large drop in status and high degree of risk.
I recently started reading Redeeming the Routines: Bringing Theology to Life by Robert Banks. In it, he addresses the need to help Christians close the gap that frequently exists between their professed beliefs and their every day activities (e.g., homemaking, study, employment, leisure, etc.). We often hear about how the Christian faith is relevant to all dimensions of life but aside from admonitions to be morally upright in whatever we're doing, little of the church's disciple-making efforts is devoted to aiding believers to think Christianly about their specific stations in life. Banks illustrates this deficit with the following illustration:
Now if you ask a representative sample of Christians whether faith and life ought to be in harmony, they will answer a resounding "yes." The rub comes when you put the question in a specific way, in relation to a particular aspect of work or area of responsibility. For example, if you are a homemaker and I ask you whether your religious convictions should influence the way you bring up your family and relate to your neighbors, you will probably nod your head in agreement.
But then if I ask you whether those convictions have as clear and direct an influence on the kind of house you have, area you live in, and the means of commuting you use, you will probably pause to think. Unfortunately, we are unaware how much our decisions in these areas are molded by broader social attitudes and have little distinctively Christian about them.
I think Banks's observation is accurate. It is far easier for us to deal with general principles than it is to invest the time and mental energy required to ponder which biblical truths are pertinent to specific situations and how. I just finished a chapter called "The Credibility Gap" in which Banks offers ten theses, half of which explore the gap many Christians recognize between their faith and their routines. The other five deal with the gap between how theology is customarily written/taught and everyday life. It is this half that I found most interesting, especially what he has to say related to the following thesis: "Our everyday concerns receive little attention in the church."
After stating that many Christians regard sermons and church activities as "otherworldly" (in the negative sense) and unrelated to their mundane patterns of life, Banks says this:
Most Bible studies are of little help here. They tend to concentrate on the exposition of biblical books or on the discussion of theological themes. Obviously these are basic concerns, but why is so little attention paid to the proverbial passages in the Bible or to the lives of some of the ordinary figures who feature in it? Doctrinal topics or broader social and political questions, perfectly valid in themselves, tend to squeeze out more everyday concerns in study groups. Even work-based Bible studies and study groups rarely address the specific questions, dilemmas, pressures, and aspirations that arise in the employment situation. In fact, the concentration upon pure Bible study in some of these groups is often an escape from grappling with the real issues of life.
That last sentence really caught my attention. We can use even the Word of Truth to shield ourselves from facing reality. We can treat theology like a sanctified narcotic by which we seek to flee life's pain and discomfort - not only our own but that of others. Remaining at the level of abstraction can keep me at a safe distance from the particulars of another's misery.
In case anyone's wondering, here are all ten theses Banks presents in this chapter:
- Few of us apply or know how to apply our belief to our work, or lack of work.
- We make only minimal connections between our faith and our spare time activities
- We have little sense of a Christian approach to regular activities.
- Our everyday attitudes are partly shaped by the dominant values of our society.
- Many of our spiritual difficulties stem from the daily pressures we experience.
- Our everyday concerns receive little attention in the church.
- Only occasionally do professional theologians address routine activities.
- When addressed, everyday issues tend to be approached too theoretically.
- Only a minority of Christians read religious books or attend theological courses.
- Most churchgoers reject the idea of a gap between their beliefs and their ways of life.
Related Tags: Robert Banks, theology, doctrine, Christian living, church, discipleship, vocation
Restless, I got out of bed and turned the television on expecting to find a continuation of the jubilation I witnessed and shared last night in response to the announcement that 12 of the 13 miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine were alive. When I read the caption, "Surviving miner identified as 27-year-old Randal McCloy," I was stunned. What a devastating turn of events. My imagination is not flexible enough to conceive of the staggering pain, disappointment, and anger that fill the hearts of those who loved these men. Video footage of them filing out of the small Baptist church at which they gathered gives me some idea.
Reflecting on this heartbreaking news, Al Mohler writes:
This tragedy -- and the relief experienced in this rescue -- should remind those of us who work in relative safety that our lifestyles depend upon millions of workers in coal mines, steel mills, and other places who face very real and present dangers.
Those of us described by the late Peter Drucker as "knowledge workers" and by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich as "symbolic analysts" should take this opportunity to pay humble respect to those who, for example, dig coal deep in the earth in order that we might have heat and electricity.
God cares and provides for his creation in part through the labor of people with diverse callings or vocations. All honorable work, therefore, has theological significance. Today is indeed a good time to thank the Lord for people like miners and, of course, to pray for those who hours ago knew unspeakable joy and now experience unimaginable sorrow.
