Note: You can enjoy David’s other thoughtful reflections for the Emerging Scholars Network here or his personal blog here. Â
I’ve been contemplating what to write for my first Scholar’s Call post here on the Emerging Scholars Blog. You see, I’m in something of a different position than some of the other writers here. When I contemplate the question(s) how does Christian theology and/or spirituality shape my understanding of my academic discipline and how my discipline in turn deepens my theological perspective I do so as a theologian. So the question can look like this for me, “How does Christian theology and/or spirituality shape my understanding of theology and how does theology in turn deepen my theological perspective?” It can seem a little tautological, or at least it should. It is true, however, that today, and for perhaps the last 60-100 years, the academic discipline of theology has been divorced from Christian praxis. Such people as atheist theologians and a-theologians exist. So perhaps these questions posed by the Scholar’s Call prompt are particularly apposite. Too many theologians of late have seen their work as having little relationship to the Church or the glorification of God. This is something that must be rectified. But how? I suggest that an intentional Christian ascesis based in spiritual disciplines (both corporate and private) and in observing the liturgy and the sacraments (however they are defined by one’s tradition) is the proper way for a theologian in the academy not to lose sense of the purpose of their discipline. This is, of course, too broad of a topic for just one post, so I will limit myself to one of the most foundational aspects of Christian praxis: prayer. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Call: A Theologian Praying