Justification for Spiritual Theology
Spiritual Theology, a relatively “new” academic discipline, does not find its full acceptance among the circle of Theologians, Pastors, and believers in the Christian community. Some Theologians, such as Dr. Coe, argue in favor of implementing this academic discipline in seminaries, churches, etc. Others, on the other hand, raise their concerns about whether the need for Spiritual Theology is even [relevant] since all theology is spiritual by default. In that context, Dr. Coe’s article justifies the necessity of doing spiritual theology by first removing the anxieties of the Reformer about doing anything apart from the Scriptures–Sola Scriptura.
In the same vein, Dr. Coe clarifies that the true intention behind Sola Scriptura must not deter us from using other material as a source of wisdom and knowledge but to warn, with consistency of the ideas of the Reformers, against any authority that elevates themselves to the same rank Scriptures does in the life of the believer. Dr. Coe asserts that “The Scriptures themselves provide evidence in the Old Testament Wisdom Literature for the secondary task of Spiritual Theology related to discovering wisdom (emphasis mine) from observation and reflection on creation to live well concerning God and others.” Dr. Coe added, “There is an important extra-biblical source of wisdom for living, which God has provided..”
While I agree with Dr. Coe’s justification for doing spiritual theology, His [claim] made me stop and think. I have a problem with the given argument above. To what extent can we embrace or dismiss the extra-biblical source of wisdom for Spiritual formation? Are we, as Christians, [ok] to read esoteric and Free-Mason books for the sake of knowledge or additional wisdom when we know that many teachings of the FreeMason fall in direct opposition to the core teaching of Scriptures -take Universalism as an example, the exclusivity of the deity of Jesus, that men are not sinful but just imperfect. it is clear that Masonry contradicts the Scriptures on numerous core fundamental issues.
As a precautionary measure, it seems to me that it would be more cautious that Dr. Coe, rather than embracing the “extra-biblical” source of wisdom as a justification for the Spiritual formation, instead warns about the danger of being exposed to all kinds of “wisdom” without being truly grounded in the knowledge of Christ. In the hands of an unconventional Christian, extra-biblical material sources could be harmful rather than a tool that best serves the love of God and of neighbor.
Bonhoeffer’s Life Together and Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Leader books in relation to Spiritual Theology
Speaking of specific ways to integrate spiritual theology into my daily activities, two books have captured the coherency of a perfect praxis regarding living a life grounded in sound teachings, well-balanced, and connected to practical directives and spiritual training. For, in Dr. Coe’s words, “What is missing is a Spiritual Theology that both existentially and theoretically connects practice to theology.” Besides, the course content with the lectures, readings, and assignments allows us to dig deeper into the theological aspects while remaining grounded on the practical application as we embrace spiritual growth in the love of God and our neighbor.
Bonhoeffer’s Life Together book gives penetrating biblical insight into the Christian community. His central theme is that communal life is not the construction of men but of God. It is crossed by divine reality. We read in the book’s introduction that “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” (p. 19). Bonhoeffer emphasizes that Christianity means community through and in Jesus Christ. In other words, Bonhoeffer explained that someone is not an island existing unto itself, living in solitude for sanctification, rather I am in the community to serve, to love God and others through my service.
In reverse, Bonhoeffer, speaking of the discipline of silence, reprimands firmly, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community.” This statement stresses the importance of one’s responsibility to fight one’s own battle; training to fellowship with God alone will certainly allow fellowship rightly with the community. As he puts it, “The mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community.” (p. 78)
In the same way, Scazzero’s The Emotionally Healthy Leader’s book takes us from the routine faith journey to a substantial and integrated bond to our inner spiritual life in God, the ministry, and the community. In Scazerro’s perspective, being with God is much more important than doing for God. In that sense, the author also confesses that God opened his eyes to the fact that he is not a human being but a human being.
However, Scazerro admits that first, we must face our shadow insofar as we are willing to discover the deep and transforming life. Scazzero says, “Building a ministry, a church, or a nonprofit is a lot like building a skyscraper. First, you dig down for the foundation and then build up. The transformation, in this case, is your inner life.” One amazing point about this book is that it focuses on the leader’s inner life. Reading this book, one will remark that almost every paragraph leads to emotional health and spiritual maturity. This link is implicit -when not explicitly there- in all the chapters.
Most importantly, Scazzero helps to put the conversation about Spiritual Theology in the believer’s inner life and not necessarily or primarily in the outer. One of his chapter’s paragraph titles is “You can’t live at warp speed without warping your soul.” This follows with deep insights into how the believer should slow down for the sake of being with Christ. He added, “Jesus intentionally moved back and forth from active ministry with people to a desert place of being alone with the Father.” The desert forces the idea that Jesus must indeed have a rule of life to which he committed. A plan that allowed him to find time by going to a particular place to be alone with God.
Both Bonhoeffer Scazzero’s books offer tremendous insight that furthers our understanding of the nature, process, and directives of Spiritual growth. With Bonhoeffer, we have learned that the believer’s number one priority is to be consistent with the commitment to develop his character in both practicing solitude and living in the community, which must be grounded upon the fellowship with Jesus Christ. I find Bonhoeffer’s thoughts consistent with Spiritual Theology’s goal regarding the developmental process of growth and the integration of the believer’s supernatural life in Christ and the empirical experiences in the community to which he belongs.
On the other hand, with Scazzero, we have experienced the true form of leading: from busy activity to slow-down spirituality, the rhythms of solitude, the disciplines of prayer, lectio divina, meditation, and silence. He comments, “Unhealthy leaders are the people who lack or have low self-awareness. Some people put their ministry before their marriage or singleness. In short, these people are on the business side of doing more activity for God [to the detriment] of what their relationship with God can sustain.
Believers -particularly Christian leaders- need to be emotionally healthy. Otherwise, we might not be able to participate in the spiritual formation of other people. Bonhoeffer and Scazzero stress the importance of who you are and where you are with God rather than what you do. That must be precisely one of the holy grail of spiritual formation. It helps us to fill the gap between who we are and who we should be. The wholeness of our being and doing for God is encapsulated in Hall’s thought, “We need to recapture the motion that explicit theology, or reflection on God, Scripture, and the spiritual life, is inseparable from our implicit spirituality–that is, our experiential knowing of God in our lived experience. Explicit theology and reflection provide the parameters for pursuing a deeper relationship with God… Implicit Spirituality is the living out of the mystikos, or “hidden” life in Christ.
Spiritual Theology in Relation to Desire, God’s Image, and Gender
A common denominator in all the seven letters of Revelation is that they all start with an affirmation. The Lord knew that this desire fit well, especially when what follows after is reprimand or criticism. As a desire that often emerges from what we do, it is crucial to remind ourselves that its absence in one’s life can cause serious distortions in someone’s character by making him believe all sorts of false narratives like you cannot do anything right. Good affirmation finds itself in a true definition of God-image. One with a distorted image of God, like not seeing God as relational or loving, would never accept God’s affirmation over his life. As Todd W. Hall suggests, “If God is a relational, loving being, then we can affirm philosopher John Macmurray’s maxim: “I need ‘You’ to be myself.” Given this, the member needs the community to have a correct image of God. It makes sense, then. Knowing that God loves me would, consequently, dismiss any false narrative that goes against who I am or my identity.
In Mere Sexuality, Todd Wilson gives two main reasons for the decay of understanding and the identity crisis in today’s society at such speed. First, Todd argues that it is pluralism and, second, the lessening of moral intuition. Both are tremendous tools that help to establish the fast-growing ideology of the phenomena of same-sex attraction that dismiss the architectural differences between the Male and Female sexes. All the concepts above are consistent insofar as Spiritual formation comes into the picture to help with the implications and enforces the application of Spiritual theology.
