Playing with God-Talk: Theology as Verb
(In this paper, I draw upon the way in which I engage scripture, my core faith claims, and the work of Catherine Keller to formulate how I understand theology as a transcendent and, dare I say playful, activity rather than an object which one studies. Check your Fitbit and join me in the activity that is theology.)
Theology has largely been a discipline, in which it is often intentionally left to be solely conceptual. Yet, one does not have to dive too far deep into religious history to find that theology has paramount importance to the material world. Therefore, the main question that drives my theological methodology is how can theology be done in a way that faithfully serves the material world, especially in aesthetics and ethics, while also posturing itself uniquely and distinctly from other disciples? At the beginning of Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology, Tillich asks what he calls the perennial question: “Can the Christian message be adapted to the modern mind without losing its essential and unique character?” For the sake of clarity, I will reframe this question by substituting ‘theology’ for ‘Christian message.’ How can (if it even can) theology adapt to the aesthetic and ethical demands of each context without losing its essential and unique character? In order to adequately address this question, theology ought to, at its core, be a method. It must be active–a verb even. Clark Williamson, in Way of Blessing, Way of Life: A Christian Theology, suggests that theology is a conversational and practical wisdom that involves both ontology and ethics. With Tillich’s, Williamson’s, and my own concern, I believe theopoetics is an important addition to theology. While theopoetics does not have one definition, one possible definition is that it is a theology that actively practices theological exploration with deep concern for material existence, especially in aesthetics (mainly art) and ethics (mainly social justice). Theopoetics considers itself a theology, not a theological method, because it seeks to wholly re-orient theology as an active method itself. Therefore, while theopoetics largely addresses and questions the same paramount question that drives my theological method with its concern for aesthetics and ethics, I do suggest theopoetics is not simply a theological method but a theology itself. In fact, I suggest theology and theological method are synonymous. Theological method is already implied in theology, for theology is an active verb. All in all, my theological method could be described at theopoetic…