A Beneficial Model?

Ok, I've been out of it for a while. Not that anyone cares, but I at least miss posting; it's therapeutic. There's so much to blog on: politics, the brewing war with Iran, Al-Qaeda's #2 reportedly killed, a rumor that Al-Qaeda's #1 was killed, etc. To get myself up and running again, however, I'm going to cross-post here my latest entry on my other blog. This may seem like a self-indulgent rant, but it's really a reflection on some ideas propounded by Kevin Vanhoozer in his book, The Drama of Doctrine. Most of you probably don't read the other blog (though you're welcomed and encouraged to do so, even if you haven't read the book; we want reponses to the ideas), so here's a flavor of what we're discussing. To set the stage (so to speak):Vanhoozer argues that we should envision theology (and doctrine) as a dramatic endeavor. Chapter three rounds out Part 1 on "The Drama" (Part 2 is about "The Script"). My post below is the second in a three part response to some of his ideas. Specifically, I'm referring here to the benefits Vanhoozer associates with his model. Hope you enjoy or have thoughtful insights or critiques to offer up.

The benefits V suggests accompany his dramatic model are insightful. Others have touched on the first, at least related to art—reinvigoration of the Christian imagination. I don’t have much to add at this point, mostly because I myself need such renewal or rebirth, as it were. I will say, however, that we as a Christian community in the West have shut ourselves off from creative endeavors. Unless a Christian singer, for instance, sings in a Christian band, for a Christian label, and to a Christian audience, we won’t have anything to do with him or her. If a claimed Christian artist performs in a “secular” band and writes and sings lyrics not overtly about God, we look at her with great suspicion if not disapproval.

[I remember at an earlier point in my life, having heard that Bono of U2 was a Christian, being disappointed that more of his lyrics weren’t as distinctly Christian as I imagined they should be. More and more, though, whether I always “agree” with what he sings, I find myself impressed by the way in which “spiritual” themes permeate his “secular” songs, sometimes to the point that it’s difficult to ascertain whether he’s talking about life here (e.g., love relationships) or there. The point is that in much of his music life “there” is really here, and life here—all of life (see benefit #2)—looks different when conceived of as part of a larger stage.]

Benefit two is huge for me (See the inaugural post on my other blog). Knowing that life here and now is not only consequential but involves interacting with God “in new and complex situations in a way that corresponds to the gospel” imbues life with a more lasting significance than often appears the case in our formulations of the Christian life—and, more important, such a picture of life would seem to be reflective of the God we know.

[Watts’ reminder to us of the way God acts within our culture, as seen in the creative composition of Genesis, demonstrates this point, I think. This is not to say just that God is accommodating our limitations in speaking to us in our own cultural language, but much more significantly he is disclosing his life by living it out through us. As seen in Genesis, sometimes this involves affirming cultural forms and assumptions; sometimes it involves transforming them; and sometimes it involves radically circumventing those assumptions. The point is that our day-to-day life in this cultural environment is an existence into which, in which, and through which God speaks. Attempting to escape these realities through a cloistered existence won’t do.]

Benefit three promises much. Perhaps most challenged—in appearance if not in reality—by this dramatic rendering of “doing theology” is biblical authority. By this I do not mean that V’s ideas violate biblical authority, but rather that they involve a reconsideration of the nature and locus of authority. Performance is presented as cementing the relationship between text and interpretation. Conceptually I can begin to imagine what this looks like, but I have yet to understand how in practice this looks different from our current application of biblical precepts. I look forward to seeing this fleshed out in subsequent chapters.

Part 3 to come.