May 25, 2011

Theology in a (Post)Modern World

Do we still need “theologians,” or do we need them more than ever? At times we hear (even in our denomination) that churches should move away from theology, divine revelation, and particularly eschatology, and emphasize dealing with sociopolitical issues affecting human dignity and well-being. We are living in a postmodern world in which religious and moral views and values are seen as fluid, and articles of faith are viewed as uncertain, out of date and touch, or even as dealing with the unknowable, because nothing is absolute.
 
Science and Absolutes
For the modern mind the only tenets that “really counted” were scientific determinations that could be measured, modeled, predicted, and verified. However, even in this age of the big bang, the exploding universe, black holes, “eleven” dimensions, and billions of galaxies, the facts, scientific theories, time calculations are relative, subject to change, and on the atomic level “unpredictable”—something that postmoderns would (at least) grant. There appears to be little guarantee that current scientific theories praised highly will not, in due course, be “falsified,” that is, shown to be untrue, as has been the fate of so many past theories. Nevertheless, there continues to be an absolute, almost euphoric, support and safeguard of science.
 
2011 1515 page24In response to this emphasis on science, efforts have been made at many institutions of higher learning, all over the world, to move away from traditional “theological studies” to the “science of religion” paradigm (which is also known as religious studies). In other words, there is a move away from theos (God) to logos (science). It must be recognized that the science of religion has a forthright aspect: it aims at openness and candor, at neutrality and objectivity. Its approach to religious knowledge endeavors to avoid worn-out or cloudy apologetics and angry polemics.
 
It tries to travel up and down the road of history and use sound hermeneutics. It is, however, primordial to realize—and this is at times overlooked—that scholars following this route may aim at complete objectivity and neutrality, but they can never claim to be fully neutral. Every human being has blinkers of cultural and family background, education, locality, and predilection. We must acknowledge the limitations imposed by the human genome and the sociocultural environment. That is the reason Adventist theologians must deeply feel the need of the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
 
God-centered Science
Furthermore, while “objective neutrality” in the study of religion can be a useful tool of scholarship, though never fully attainable, it is both impossible and undesirable in dealing with theological doctrine and ethics. It is deplorable, at least from a Christian perspective, to be neutral, without sturdy personal convictions regarding certain issues. These questions include, among others: religious liberty and the right to believe or not to believe; equality of human rights as it affects men and women, race and caste; female and child slavery; crying human needs, such as hunger and poverty; the plan of salvation; the nefarious influences of few (or many) in unbalancing or deregulating economic and other systems and forces. A Seventh-day Adventist cannot be neutral in regard to the Creator and His creation. Adventists cannot be oblivious to the reminding and reviving power of the Holy Spirit and His gifts.
 
In this sense, a Seventh-day Adventist must not be neutral or comfortably indifferent, but has to be a “theologian”—even though most of us will be “minor theologians,” not professionals. Nevertheless, we must search the inspired Word of God and seek, with both modesty and zeal, to discover, experience, and proclaim the twins—God’s redemptive love and His will—and be (at the same time) agents of God’s present truth and mission in this climactic period of human history. Such humble “theologians” will not just think in terms of professional, philosophical, and dogmatic theory, but will lift up Christ, give value to prayer and the Holy Spirit, engage, when called upon, in honest, respectful dialogue, and be generally involved. All this produces revival, which in turn will procure reformation, until the whole world receives a revelation of God’s character and is “lightened with his glory” (Rev. 18:1, KJV).
 
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Bert B. Beach is a retired former director of the public affairs and religious liberty department of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This article was published May 26, 2011.
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