Our churches need some theological help!

The description of theology that Dr. Tom gives in his Glimpses:

Theology: organized, rational reflection on ideas and practices pertaining to the Divine, God and Ultimate Concerns, evaluated from within the boundaries of a chosen circle of faith, is a more satisfactory and complete statement of definition in comparison to the simplistic, Theology: the study of God, that I grew up with. In looking at the six functions of theology as given by Dr. Tom we have the following purposes ands meanings:

One) Ongoing re-interpretations of the faith. One arena where it is easy to see the importance of the reinterpretation of accepted ideas and theories and the practices that stem from those is the arena of science. And science practiced true to its nature is tasked with the objective of discovering what is really true, regardless of any prevailing theory. Theological reflection provides the same ongoing interpretation, and shows us we must be open to and available to learn what is actually true regardless of our prevailing spiritual understandings, doctrines, and cherished beliefs. In the churches that I have attended I found that re-interpretations of the faith were supplied by the method of contrasting traditional Christianity against New Thought, and there was no mention or concept of re-interpreting New Thought itself. It seems that for so many people New Thought religious beliefs were newly encountered, such that most of us were beginners, and probably even if asked would not have been able to sustain any real discussion or new interpretation of New Thought itself. I myself was too busy trying to understand it in the first place. And even after many years in the movement, the trainings I received and the class and experiential work I was involved in was designed to deepen my experience and understanding of the current beliefs and introspection to better prepare myself to be of service to others.

Two) Provide critical analysis of religious ideas. Simply put theology certainly includes religious analysis, or as Dr. Tom purely put it, "in short, effective theology is critical." Theological analysis looks at religious ideas in a different way; that is, not in a devotional or inspirational way, but in a practical critical (in the non-negative sense or analytical meaning of critical) methodology. This particular function of theology is one that has been severely limited at the churches that I have attended; in that the analysis or presentations of religious ideas that I experienced have been trainings to further the understanding of one's own religious tradition (in this case New Thought). Where I did find this function was in the process of contrasting and comparing our religious beliefs against other traditions in a way to determine what was most useful (with an embedded bias to New Thought). I guess one might say that the process of deepening my understanding involved analysis in that I was applying my understandings of the beliefs onto my experiences, and sifting through the wheat and chaff to embrace and hold onto what had value to me personally, but I didn't think of it as re-interpretation. For me it was application of principle and introspection, but through utilizing my newly minted lens of thinking theologically (albeit a novice lens), I now see that I was actually engaging with and employing the tools of theological reflection and theological analysis.

Three) Integration of religious ideas with everyday life. It is important that our religious ideas and traditions have a worldly effect and are applicable to our everyday life. We may use theological reflection to help with that process and to look at areas of everyday life, such as healing and prosperity, in addition to the older traditions applications of religious ideas as pastoral care giving and comforting and compassion. This is an area in which all of the New Thought churches that I have been involved with over the years emphasize, for is a strong part of the heritage of metaphysical Christianity. It is one of the aspects of the Unity movement that I first admired and embraced as helpful and life-sustaining practical information on my spiritual journey.

Four) Establish dialogue within the theological circle. It is important for practical Christians to engage in theological dialogue with other Christian traditions. As Dr. Tom says, "we have much to learn from each other," and the way to facilitate this exchange of ideas is with mutual respect and openness to new understandings and religious perspectives and beliefs. I have seen a growing evidence of this through interfaith services and local interdenominational activities, yet I have not experienced anything that truly meets the definition of theological discussion and reflection fostered in the churches that I have been involved with. This may be occurring at the minister peer-to-peer level at Interfaith councils, but I have not been party to these.  At a distance, they appear more focused on fostering cooperation and establishing better relations rather than fostering theological dialogue.

Five) Interpretation of symbolism. Lao Tzu in his poetic language of the Tao calls God "the name that cannot be named." Thus are all of our mental constructs and the language used to structure and convey them symbolic and an attempt to bring the Infinite into finite symbol in order to facilitate understanding. A favorite way that New Thought practitioners ‘interpret’ symbols or ideas is through the process of creating new acronyms, such as saying that when one hears (or certainly feels) the word fear, one should know that it just stands for false evidence appearing real.  This ‘artistic license’ application of New Thought principles to current and embedded ideas has been a regular feature of many of the ministries that I have known.

Six) Raise new issues and suggest answers. "Theology carries a divine mandate to seek, understand, and speak the word of God to each new generation" says Dr. Tom. There must be enough openness in our practice of living as the divine to allow for new answers and new attitudes and even the re-emergence of ancient attitudes, and an openness to seek, find, and implement new answers. At my home church in Beaverton, Oregon, there is a large congregational emphasis on the earth and on environmental concerns, and a very active Earth Care team has been in service there for many years.  This team has its own defined Earth Care covenant, actively promotes and facilitates restoration and maintenance work in the local city parks, and offers sustainability education and resource management information to the congregation and its team members on a regular consistent basis.

Overall, in the ministries that I have been involved with, some of the functions of theology have been applied and are in mainline use, yet there are still too many gaping voids that need to be filled with more profound and sharper applications and understandings of today’s practice of theology.