I stepped into the classroom and immediately realized the enormity of the moment. For you see, Christian Theology marked my first official “religious” class. Of course I have been apart of small studies, attended workshops, even taught a little myself. But to sit in a classroom, to intentionally study and read not just for personal development but for a grade, was a situation I had yet to encounter. The development of my faith has always been a personal pursuit and not something which could be qualified in a percentage of excellence. How will this change things? I wondered to myself, or Will it really change anything at all?
To study theology is to study God, not necessarily to know God; it is to learn about and not necessarily to live out. I could learn and memorize the doctrines of the Trinity or recount the implications of evil and ace a test. But what value does a systematic knowledge of God have unless it shifts my understanding or relationship with God? I believe an intellectual pursuit of God is fruitless unless transforms what we care about, how we worship Him, and why we relate to others. For the content of theology to be distilled down to a test question is to be disingenuous to the power of its Source. As James states in chapter 2:14-26:
14 What use it it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing an in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder… 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
In the pursing the relationship between an understanding of faith as a science and the role it plays in our actions, I have come across the work of missional anthropologist Paul G. Heibert. It was his insight on the Set theory and it’s application to Christianity which impacted me most this semester as I sought to connect the dots between faith and action. Based on a mathematically concept, the Set theory allows us to understand what numbers belong to a group or a set. There are three main types of sets: bounded, fuzzy and centered.
The bounded set is composed of things which share common characteristics. The category is defined by a clear boundary and objects within the bounded set are most often uniform in their essential characteristics. Although there may be variances, it is usually obvious what things are in or out of this boundary. Determining whether something is in or out becomes the central question of the set and most of the effort is spent on defining these inclusion propositions.
The fuzzy set, on the other hand, has no sharp boundaries or set of definitions. The fuzzy set can be defined either by what the members are or how they relate to each other. There are levels of inclusion within the set and members may belong to multiple sets at the same time. Not defined by “either-or” logic, the fuzzy set is a continuum which runs from one set into another.
The centered set lies theoretically between the bounded and fuzzy set and is considered extrinsic rather than intrinsic. The primary focus is not on the boundary but on the relationship to the center of the set. Members may be far from the center but if they are related to and moving towards the center, they are part of the set.
To know is not enough; the study of theology finds it value after it leaves the classroom and works itself out in life. I have tried to translate understanding into action, knowledge into reverence, and concepts into conversations. I have begun to see theology not as an opportunity to clarity the boundaries of my faith identity or the boxes by which God is defined, but rather as the articulation of my faith’s center and establish the direction by which I move towards it.
