Theological praxis extends theology beyond the theoretical
and places it in actual practice amid the context of the mission of Christ and
the Christian community.[1]
It is practical in nature and not only propositional, in other words the
difference between a theology that is based in theory and theology grounded in
real life practices. Summarizing the words of Ray S. Anderson, Senior Professor
of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary, the church is in need
of theology that not only “talks” but also “walks.”[2]
In this blog we will show Jesus’ theological praxis was done amid the community
and the early church followed his modeling. The incarnation placed Jesus
directly amid the marginalized of Judaic society and culture, Flemming notes
Jesus’ context, and “Jesus became one with the weak and the marginalized of his
society.”[3]
His example provides the basis, the very foundation, for the practices and
strategies the church exercised amid the marginalized people. Flemming
elaborates on Jesus’ theology in praxis, “When Jesus did theology he
consistently used local resources. Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God, his
teaching on the law and righteousness, and his use of life specific parables
drew upon language, thought categories and rhetorical traditions from the
Jewish culture of his day.”[4]
Jesus’ model of theology was not just propositional, but was lived out in
community, lived out in culture. Anderson quotes
Thomas Torrance about Christ driving the theological praxis of the church,
The Church cannot be in Christ without being in Him as He has
proclaimed to men in their need and with being in Him as He encounters us in
and behind the existence of every man in his need. Nor can the Church be
recognized as His except in that meeting of Christ with Himself in the depth of
human misery, where Christ clothed with His gospel meets Christ clothed with
the desperate need and plight of men.[5]
Torrance defines theological praxis as
originating in and through Jesus Christ. This is theological praxis where
Christ is in all and through all. Jesus is the source of the theological praxis
of the church amid marginalized people.
Jesus’ theological praxis placed him amid the
marginalized people of society and demonstrated an alternative approach to the
normative theological praxis of his Judaic culture. He demonstrated this
through engaging lepers, women, and outcasts. He demonstrated his praxis by
challenging the traditions and conventional wisdom of his time through the use
of what may best be described as the Positive Deviance Approach.
[1] Ray
Sherman Anderson, The Shape of Practical Theology (InterVarsity Press,
2001), 23.
[2] Ibid., 12.
[3] Flemming,
Contextualization in the New Testament, 20.
[4] Ibid., 21.
[5]
Thomas Torrance, “Service in Jesus Christ,” Ray S.
Anderson, Theological Foundations For Ministry: Selected Readings for a
Theology of the Church in Ministry (Continuum International Publishing
Group, 1999), 724.
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