Doctrine as Discipleship
A Preview of My Forthcoming Book
What is theology for? As it turns out, there are more wrong answers to this question than right ones. Some treat theology like a hobby. People get “into” theology in much the same way they get into World War II history or baseball stats or sourdough bread making or working out. It becomes a part of their personality more than a part of their persons—their character. Other people pursue theology for merely polemical reasons. We study theology to fight. Our theology marks us out as distinct (read: better) than those who reach different conclusions or those whose spirituality is more emotional than intellectual. We study, not to show ourselves approved unto God, but to show ourselves accurate in a battle of ideas. Theology becomes less about conforming our lives to God’s word and more about confronting the errors of others. For others, theology can become a way to prop up a religious false self. Ironically, theology can become an easy place to hide from God. We comfort ourselves that our pursuits are divine, even as the “sanctification gap” between what we know and what we practice grows wider.
What then is theology for? In my forthcoming book, Doctrine as Discipleship: Theological Foundations for Spiritual Formation, I argue that theology is already always oriented toward practice, that is, toward our worship, work, and witness in response to God’s self-revelation in Christ and by his Spirit.
