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As much as it is a good time seeing people freak about @masonmennenga thread yesterday there is something disturbing about what it reveals. (thread)
Beyond the questioning of mason's christianity and claims of heresy etc. and even beyond the assumption that being right about these things is the most important thing (its not), there is an underlying understanding that it is beliefs that are the primary concern of the faith.
When this is understood these kind of freak out and defensive, fear-based reactions, and all-encompassing-world-shattering-stress-inducing arguments are the natural result.
Instead, theology is a lived discipline, not simply a thinking and or believing enterprise. It is about how your thoughts and beliefs make their way into your embodied existence, your habits, your attitudes, your 'way in the world'.
Theology at its best allows for a more faithful engagement with the world as we find it. That, by necessity, will look different across time and place. It is also not done alone, it needs a community to be worked out.
Faithfulness comes in many varied forms, from different communities who hold different beliefs. If a person holds different beliefs from me but is living in a way that is kind, loving, pursues justice, etc, etc. whether I disagree with their beliefs is relatively unimportant
Part of why theology is so important, is there are certain theologies that make faithfulness more or less likely given the context of the world. We must interrogate our own theologies to assess how the beliefs we hold are being lived out in our social and physical contexts.
So whether you hold a substitutionary atonement theory or reject the cross as salvific in and of itself, if that makes you more selfish or more of an asshole, it is bad theology.
We need somehow to get beyond the simplistic versions of what theology is, and how it gets done and practiced in public.
So I think @masonmennenga does a good job of publicly posing questions that are important to be asked, with a great sense of humour and a wonderful twitter sense. The whole dang mess that follows needs some work. fin
