The Need for Theological Creativity
September 16, 2005
You’ve been there. Perhaps at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, Pike Place Market in Seattle, the streets of Boston. There are places all over the world that seem to be breeding grounds for artists, creativity and exploration with the arts. You can walk through any major downtown area of big cities in the US and see large groups of people surrounding 2 homeless men playing guitars and singing country songs, a group of Gospel-singers, artists drawing caricatures of passing tourists, or the occasional spray-paint artist who is drawing those space-age landscapes.
And what is common about all of them?
There is always a crowd. People are hungry for creativity. People are thirsty for exploration, for the experiential and for a chance to be communally involved in creation.
And if it’s new, or outside-the-box, or a bit pushing the edges, the bigger the crowd, because someone is laying aside perceived thoughts of what is necessarily the “right” way to do something, and seeking a different path.
Basically my question is, if our culture is so wired this way - so interested in the creative exploration of arts and music and theatre and…why all of a sudden does that stop with theology in the church? Where is the creative theological exploration in the church today? Are we so bound to the “Reformed” thinkers’ way of doing theology? Are we listening to Ecclesiastes’ “there is no new thing under the sun” so much that we’re afraid that there really will NEVER be any new theological ideas and dreams that may speak to our culture in new, exciting and faithful ways? Let us open the door for the creativity and exploration to enter the church…
Or are we afraid of what might come? Are we afraid that some “untrained” theologians may come up with un-orthodox belief, some possibly “heretical” thoughts…?
I think it’s time to put aside our fears, to trust the work of the Spirit in the lives of those who are seeking (whether they know it or not) after God, and trust the Spirit to lead us into all Truth…Truth on the edges, on the borders; Truth found in the creative exploration of theological reflection…
Tags: Creativity, Emergent, Theology
Posted in 
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
September 16th, 2005 at 3:22 pm
fact: clowns eat people.
September 16th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
I think there is plenty of creativity in reaching people with the Gospel message….take a look at the Northpoint thread….there is a lot of creativity in the church today. Maybe your just a bit impatient with the pace of that creativity?
I’m not sure if I’m understanding you when you say “creative theological exploration” meaning new ways to share the gospel or make it relevant in peoples lives? or in discovering/uncovering some new biblical interpretation of a given passage(s), etc.?
Don’t we seek a more personal, deeper relationship with Christ rather than just stuff our heads with more “Theology”? What good is head knowledge alone unless it is directly connected to the heart….to Christ?
September 16th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
Tim, it is VERY true. Thank you for mentioning that. I had hoped to keep the comments theological here, but thanks for taking it there. But you’re right: Clowns DO in fact eat people.
September 16th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
what exactly do you mean by creativity in church? Are we not to abide to what is written, how it was written. The Bible is an example, with specific instructions, why would we and to differ and sway, just so that we can be amused. Its been ‘working’ for God forever, he hasn’t made any changes to his Word, so why would we want to ’spice’ it up? Are we not faithful enough to continue as it is written, and work with what we have. Just MHO. Then again i am a member of a conservative church.
September 16th, 2005 at 5:06 pm
Adam, I think that there is lots of room for creativity and I think it should be encouraged. Where I draw the line is when change is pushed on established congregation or group. I know many people who take comfort and draw strength from the quieter, “typical” type of worship and we need to respectful of their needs too. But should the creativity be embraced - by all means - as a way of making the Word meaningful to those who are not drawn by the traditional.
September 16th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
Tracy, thanks for your comment. I wasn’t actually speaking about “worship” per se, although that does play a part into this, I’m sure. I was more using the art/music/theatre as simply one example of arenas in which people are okay with creative exploration. I don’t see that same open acceptance when it comes to theology.
September 16th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
“I don’t see that same open acceptance when it comes to theology.”
And nor should there be. I know, Adam, that you believe theology is nothing more than “God-talk” or just “stuff we say about God.” I certainly disagree with you on this point, as would the historic Christian community. If, in fact, our theology is actually an attempt to correspond to the reality of God’s person, then unbounded creativity in theological reflection is a non-starter. God has revealed specific aspects of his person to us, and we are bound by that. Within those bounds, yes, creative theological reflection can be a good thing, but by necessity and reality, such reflection cannot be done in the same unrestricted fashion as art/music/theatre.
Even from your position, though, I expect that you engage in your own kind of boundary-making when it comes to theological reflection.
September 17th, 2005 at 2:05 am
Wow, Adam. I am surprised by the reaction you are getting to this post. I think what you are suggesting isn’t some new “postmodern” philosophy that could undermine orthodoxy, but rather a return to the sacred vocation of art that has been a significant part of the “historic Christian community”. Well done for posting this. We need to hang up our iconoclastic hats.
I posted on something similar to this at my blog recently, but wasn’t met with this kind of resistance, which tell me one thing: you get much more traffic than me (wink).
Peace,
Jamie
September 17th, 2005 at 10:48 am
Would you know what whorthwhile theological/liturgical creativity looks like if you saw it? Serious question.
September 17th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
“Where is the creative theological exploration in the church today?”
Well, you could go here, but I don’t think you’d think it’s all that creative, even though I do.
September 18th, 2005 at 3:10 pm
How about starting with the Biblical prophets…creativity, boundary pushing, out-of-the-box thinking, challenging interpretive assumptions, undermining “presumed” orthodoxy…its all there.
September 18th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
Jim, that is helpful - but then, where are today’s prophets? Must we consistenly look only to what is found and displayed in the Bible…? Does God’s Truth “solely” reside there…?
September 18th, 2005 at 5:28 pm
Must today’s “creative theologians”/prophets be in/of the “church”? Maybe they’re outside the “gates” of our sacred “compounds”.
God’s “Truth” may be more dynamic and “rebellious” than we are taught to think; not constrained by the written Word but rooted in it. If so, our understanding of the dynamic between God’s Word and our context might benefit from trying to grasp how the prophets “exegete” history from God’s point of view.
September 19th, 2005 at 10:54 pm
i like your blog. really! check out mine. http://www.theuprising.typepad.com
September 20th, 2005 at 12:50 am
There are some great thoughts here. I’d like to say that I, for one, don’t think that God’s truth is contained “solely” in Scripture. I believe that God is constantly revealing God’s truth in many and varied ways. Was it Luther or Barth who compared the Bible to the manger, in that it holds the Word and bears witness to the Word, but is not what is worthy of worship? Whoever it was, I like that. I mean, when I’m being honest, I admit that the Bible just doesn’t address every single aspect of human existence in 2005. Jesus didn’t say anything about speeding. Jesus didn’t say anything about my dog dying. Scripture doesn’t say anything about hurricanes in New Orleans. In the end, I think we all have our canon within a canon.
the discussion of whether theology is simply words upon words is interesting as well. I’m not sure how it applies, but I’m reminded of a scene from East of Eden by John Steinbeck, in which Samuel Hamilton tells Adam Trask that he has to act as if his life will turn out OK, even when it doesn’t seem/feel like it will. I wonder if there are times in our lives when the words of the saints who have persevered before us seem empty and times when those same words feel full of life. In the midst of new encounters with God, is it so bad to look at those who have gone before us? Sometimes I find that Augustine, Luther, Barth, Neibuhr, or others already wrote what I’m thinking/feeling. Maybe the old school reformed theology could serve as a foundation and reference point rather than as a constrictive box.
September 20th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Great blog and thoughts. I wanted to give a specific example of creative theological exploration.
I attend All Saints Episcopal Church (http://www.allsaints-pas.org/) in Pasadena, CA. It is a thriving church with a mix of people in terms of race, sexual orientation, economic class, etc.
Our litergy is fantastic and draws crowds. Our litergy isnt stuffy and rigid. It is rooted in tradition and yet every Sunday it is exactly the same and yet different. Sometimes we have a full jazz band playing along, sometimes a choir, sometimes a Baroque orhcestra, sometimes South African or Native American spirituals, sometimes segments are different languages. Some weeks it includes the creed other weeks it includes something different.
Another example would be Barry Taylor’s “alternative worship gathering” in Los Angeles that I occasionally attend or another “alternative worship gathering” called Tribe that I have only met members of but not attended.
I dont have much of a point other then within its context my church has found a way to use creativity within a traditional structure that appeals to a broad specturm of people from the diverse demographics of Los Angeles. In other contexts some have seemingly chosen to abandon all tradition and tried to create something “new”.
Peace,
-Josh
September 26th, 2005 at 5:52 pm
I’m another of those ‘conservative’ types (though my conservative friends often wonder). There is an analogy that has helped me think theologically: the monkey bars. Monkey bars are a solid stable framework upon which one can swing and play with abundant creativity. I see the core theological truths as a set of monkey bars. Those truths are a steadfast framework upon which we can swing and play with abundant creativity.