Sedmak, Clemens - Doing Local Theology: A Guide for Artisans of a New Humanity

[Marsha Lynn]

Has anyone read this book? I discovered it on my son's bookshelves yesterday. (He has somehow slipped in a minor in theology while majoring in political science at the University of Notre Dame. I'm guessing he bought it for a class.) Thus far, I've only found time to read the intro, but if the rest of the book is as good, I'll be back in a while with a rave review.

I see from Google that the author is a youthful-looking professor of theology and religious studies at King's College in London.

There are 50 theses explored in the book. The first two are in the intro:


Theology is an invitation to wake up: to be mindful and attentive.
Theology is done locally. In order to be honest to the local circumstances theology has to be done as local theology, as theology that takes the particular situation seriously. Local theology can be done with basic theological means. It can be done by the people, and it is done with the people.


Here is the stated purpose of the book from the intro:

This book wants to contribute to the growing awareness that theology is not the privilege of those who are formally trained. On the other hand, we do not want to level the differences between those who keep their nose "to the painful grindstone of study" (as George Tyrrell put it) and those who do not engage in this conversation with the tradition and the scholarly community. However, the one way of doing theology is not superior to the other. The most important thing is to see that these two cultures of doing theology are in need of each other and have to strive for solidarity.

As a 'people theologian', I love it. It seems to address some of the issues that have cropped up on NazNet from time to time. I'm anxious to see what comes next.

Marsha

[Marsha Lynn]

When it comes to deep books, I'm a slow reader. I wish that I could do an update from the end of this book, but I'm not quite halfway through it.

Some observations:

1. My son bought it for a class at a Catholic university and it definitely comes out of the Catholic tradition.

2. The first and strongest evidence that its roots are in Catholicism come to me through the quotes and examples. Many of them are drawn from areas where neither American nor British English is the primary language - South America, Korea, South Africa, Australia, Austria, etc. Does a tradition that respects the work of theologians from such diverse areas perhaps have something to say to all of us about fitting theology to such areas? Perhaps there is much we can learn from a tradition that doesn't revolve around North America and the British Isles and yet has piled up centuries of commonality.

3. This book is looking at a global picture. What does Jesus look like in Korea? In Latin America? How do we extract Christianity from one culture and live it in another, doing theology "as though people matter"?

4. I'm also reading The Safest Place on Earth by Larry Crabb. It's interesting that both authors, coming from vastly different traditions, are taking quotes from Jean Vanier and Henri Nouwen (perhaps the source of the Jean Vanier quotes for both of them).

Here are some quotes from Sedmak:

(Page 1) Theology is about waking up. It is amazing what a person who is fully awake can do... (Page 5) We would not give a dangerous tool to a person who is half asleep - whereas those who are fully awake can make their own tools.

(Page 2) Being a theologian is more about who one is than about what one knows.

(Page 64) There are many trees in the Christian garden, many different trees with many kinds of fruit. Each tree grows on a special soil, a soil that is shaped by local history, local social situation, local cultural expressions, and local beliefs, a soil that is shaped by the struggle of individuals to go beyond the limits of their culture, to become prophetic voices in the wilderness, and to be messengers of the good news. Each tree needs these special conditions to grow and bear fruit.

An example the author gives concerns places of great suffering in Latin America. Scott Cundiff recently wrote in his blog and on NazNet of how the book of Job is not about why bad things happen to people but the question of whether we will trust God even when suffering comes. Sedmak describes the work of a Latin American theologian who brings out the importance of that side of Job for the suffering people he serves.

The point of the book seems to be about forming the gospel to fit local situations in diverse cultures while remaining true to the recorded life and teachings of Jesus (who spent his time out amongst the people). However, I'm also reading Present Future by Reggie McNeal (there's a reason why my progress in any one book is so slow) and find interesting parallels between what I'm mining out of both these books along with what God has been teaching me over the past 20 years. McNeal asks how North American Christians can "deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity". In his discussion he states:

Deconversion will require a disentangling, an intentional self-differentiation from church in order to gain perspective, a willingness to abandon church club member mentality for the sake of following Jesus.

As one who grew up equating the voice of the church with the voice of God, I have been on a journey of disentanglement from the church for years, slowly, often painfully, separating my relationship with God from my relationship with a dying church structure. What that does is put me out in the community to live out my faith while enjoying spiritual kinship in a struggling church that is looking for help 'in all the wrong places' without the baggage of having my faith dependent on its survival.

What I like about Sedmak's book is that while addressing the issue of how to fit the teachings of Jesus into diverse cultures, it speaks to me of integrating my faith into an emerging North American culture that is no longer receptive to the call of the established church. The question of what Jesus looks like in South Korea and the Philippines is not all that much different than the one of what Jesus looks like in 21st-century rural America. The challenge to "do theology as if people matter" speaks to me where I am. I'm looking forward to what comes next. (Are we allowed to review books as we read them or is finishing them a prerequisite?)

Marsha

[Marsha Lynn]

This was a worthwhile read. I suspect that the name of the class for which my son bought it includes the words "religion" and "sociology". (I think I saw such a combination on one of his class schedules.)

When Jesus walked the hills of Galilee and said, "The kingdom of heaven is a like a man who sowed good seed in his field," he was doing local theology, using locally-relevant object lessons to illustrate spiritual truths. It required stepping outside the temple and synagogue and mingling with the common people. He spoke in their language, of things with which they were intimately familiar, to illustrate the less-familiar characteristics of the kingdom of God.

This book has been a good companion for Reggie McNeal's The Present Future, calling the church out of the 'clubhouse' onto the streets to mingle with the people.

A quote from Sedmak:

The first reaction of theologians has to be: You talk, we listen! Let the culture with its many signs and expressions talk. "Theologians must first be listeners and discoverers. Only in this way will they both find out the real questions being asked by the people and deal with the real issues alive in the socio-cultural context. (quote from And God Said 'Bahala Na' by José de Mesa)"

Another:
We need to live with people in order to theologize for them, and we need to live for people in order to theologize with them.

The book ends with an Epilogue entitled, "A Culture of Hope". Sedmak quotes Juan Luis Segundo (Capitalism-Socialism: A Theological Crux):

"A theology worthy of the attention of the whole human being is not the outcome of abstract scientific or academic interest. It stems from a pre-theological human commitment to change and improve the world."

and goes on to say:

We do theology because we see that people suffer and out of the conviction that new life can blossom. We do theology in order to make people's lives better. The good news is a story about good life and about new life....

New life has small beginnings. Theolgoy asks for the humility to embrace small beginnings. It asks for the courage to make mistakes. A few people can make a difference....

Theology is an invitation to become part of the solution rather than remaining part of the problem. Our hearts, spirits and intellects need to be awakened. They need to be nourished and touched. Mindful people are awake. They see the people around them. They discover their capacity to give hope to others, to instill the love of life in others.

Good stuff from an Austrian Catholic professor of religion at a British university.

Marsha