The Disparity Between Word and Deed

After reading Halden’s post and a counter-post here, I am beginning to note a common theme of disparity between the word and deed of those who claim to be “leaders” in the Christian church.

Halden seems to be saying that it’s not necessarily a bad thing for there to be a disparity between theologians and their theology because we need to be able to write about what is possible, and not just about what is.  I would agree with this in the sense that a major job of a theologians is to try and show the church not only what is possible, but how to get there theologically.  I worry, however, that this makes theology something that lives in the “fantasy world” of the theologian.  Theology cannot be separated from the theologian, in only because their moral, social, spiritual, and physical realities are defined by their surroundings and their cultural constructs.

Adam’s counter post seems to be saying that the job of a theologian is twofold: (1) Exemplary reflection on the gospel, and (2) Exemplary criticism of the church.  Adam also says that the theologian should not set their judgments before church authority.  This gives the theologian a certain amount of freedom, but it also seems to make their endeavor seem extremely individualistic.  Perhaps that is not what Adam intended by his post, or perhaps they can find solace and community within the University and other theologically minded thinkers.  I do, in a certain sense, know the isolating nature of the thinking theologically.  Most people just don’t do it, or they have never been taught how.

I would argue that the main issue at hand is the disparity between word and deed.  It is something central to the Biblical narrative, and a central theme in Christianity today.  How do we live out what we believe in our contexts?  Our contexts are often in conflict with everything we believe.  I have read numerous posts on capitalism (including this good post at NextReformation), and I feel inescapably linked to the system (especially with so much school debt, which, in a capitalist system, is used a kind of intellectual capital that will “pay off” more in the end).  The conondrum, however, is that I would have never been exposed to my distaste for capitalism and other seemingly “anti-Christian” ideologies (or at least in their extremes anti-Christian) without going to school and accruing all that debt.

The only way out seems to be pulling an Into the Wild, but this would be breaking from the command honor my father and mother (as they would foot the bill in my absence).  Perhaps the trick is to teach my children the things I have learned and hope they fare better than I?  Perhaps it is, if I ever get a job teaching history in this horrible California job climate, to help students see beyond the capitalist infrastructure that so often entangles us?

Let me know your thoughts.  It appears that theology is not often so black and white.