Rod Dreher over at Beliefnet wrote an interesting column about the role of and interplay between doctrine and community in his religious life. Dreher's column resonated with me. For context, Dreher took as his starting point this quote from Peter Steinfels at the New York Times (not, ordinarily, a publication which I bother to notice):
Second, religions encompass claims about truth and rules of conduct but cannot be reduced to doctrinal propositions or ethics. Religions involve orientations toward reality handed on in stories, rituals and paradigmatic figures as well as in creeds. Religions are embodied in communities and shape distinct ways of life.
Why does it resonate with me? As I've blogged before, I abandoned my Lutheran roots when the national church organization failed to stand up for and adhere to 2,000 years of Christian history, tradition, teaching, and doctrine on the subject of homosexuality, Christian marriage, and how these are addressed in both Scripture and tradition.
It struck me, though, after reading Dreher's column that I also left Lutheranism because the life and faith taught and demonstrated in the creeds, doctrines, stories, and paradigmatic figures were no longer present in the church teaching them. My own local congregation, Zion Lutheran Church in Brentwood, Pennsylvania, certainly had the deeds to match the creeds, but the larger church of which Zion was part no longer did. As my pastor remarked on more than one occasion, "My church left me behind."
I burnt out as a Lutheran because my church sold me out for cultural relevance. When that happened some of the fire of my faith burnt out, too. Or, to put it another way, my zeal for Lutheranism consumed some part of my faith. I've struggled since then to find the heart to jump back into a religious community. I just realized this while reading Dreher's article.
This is actually a good thing insofar as it also threw me back on faith and faith alone, removing the trappings of religion which might have served as a crutch and to obscure That Which is Really Important ©. I remain convinced that faith grows in community and that a mature faith is one that evolves while retaining a strong connection to its fundamental roots. If I don't live out my faith and beliefs in the presence of and company of others, that "faith" is merely intellectual assent.
At least that particular mystery is solved. Now to do something about it…
Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:23 2009-12-20 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Liberty and Tyranny (Politics)
We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other mean, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name—liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names—liberty and tyranny.Abraham Lincoln, address in Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864. From The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Roy P. Basler, vol. 7, pp. 301–2 (1953).
Posted by Kurt Wall at 12:44 2009-12-06 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)