Are we living in a period of paradigm shifts in christian theology and church dogma and doctrine? It is my opinion that we are. A word of caution: I am not a theologian and make no claim to either originality of thought or academic rigour in my writing.
For many years I accepted the notion that the bible was the infallible word of God, albeit written by humans inspired by God. I went along with church dogma and, for example, believed in the literal truth of the Nicean Creed. I was content with the wider doctrines of the denomination I 'belonged' to. It was all very comforting and simple to understand: keep to the teaching of bible and church and your place in heaven was assured.
Then doubt set in. I came to consider the bible to be simply the writings of people of judaic communities (Old Testament) and the New Testament of what were to later be known as christian communities. The books of the bible were attempts by people in those communities to understand the nature and working of 'god'. The bible is specific to those times and not a statement of absolute, unalterable truths to be applied to current society. Cloak a human concept with the veneer of the infallible word of God and you have the framework for the guardians of truth to impose their beliefs on others and to exercise discipline on any who demur.
There are those who believe the words of the bible to be literally those of God and to be applied accordingly. Over time other schools of interpretation emerged to take the 'edge' off literal interpretation. Neverthess for many the centrality of scripture and the various creeds remain at the core of church teaching and application of christian faith and belief.
Major influences of my theological thoughts have been the ideas of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jacques Derrida, John Robinson, Don Cupitt and Richard Holloway. Slowly I have been weaned off bible literalism and cosmic creeds and moved in the direction of applying myself to the task of assisting others. The influence of Gustavo Gutierrez, Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu, Leonardo Boff and Jurgen Moltmann has been decisive. (As an aside there are philosophical, political and economic writers who have influenced me: as they should as one should not consider theology in a silo but recognise and embrace the interplay of many disciplines. Thus Karl Popper, Tony Benn and John Kenneth Galbraith among others, have coloured my thinking.)
The influence of postmodernism on my thinking has been profound. Should one accept the idea that there are no over-arching, absolute, metaphysically determined, unchanging concepts then the basis of belief in the bible as the infallible word of God is shot through. It follows that the truth of dogma and doctrine is demoted (or deconstructed if you prefer) to subjective concepts of human origin.
And yet..doubt remains. Those who embrace liberation or feminist theology or other expressions of fairness and equality often seek to express concepts within the old framework of biblical interpretation and church dogma It's all a question of interpretation of scripture we are informed. But, is it?
I do not consider there to be inalienable human rights. Rights, powers and duties are of human origin and rely on assent to be followed, often accompanied by peer pressure and in some cases political enforcement. It follows that there is no requirement to follow the teaching of religion in order to ascertain metaphysical human rights. And yet...many state that their desire to assist others is the working out of the commandment of Jesus to love your neighbour. Let's be brutally clear, everyone is capable to loving neighbours. It is not the sole preserve of religion.
I consider the teaching attributed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels persuasive as an indication of how we should behave. It does not matter if Jesus actually said what is attributed to him or if the text is a melange of myth, other writings, custom or folklore. It is the message to be ascertained from the text that matters and how we understand its relevance and application (or not) today.
It may strike you that all this is frightfully humanistic and a long way from christian biblical understanding and church dogma. It is, nevertheless once we have deconstructed the accretions of dogma and literalist interpretation of scripture (a paradigm shift personal to us) we can reconstruct our ideas on a new platform.
It is my opinion that we should show love and kindness to our neighbour. But what source triggers us to act in such a way? Is the call from a source beyond name, description, symbol or metaphor? The new paradigm rejects understanding bible literally and church dogma to secure our passport to heaven. The new paradigm supports neighbours with love, aimed at poor, excluded, and marginalised individuals.
No comments:
Post a Comment