Starting theological reflection on Scottish Independence

Theology is:

the discovery, understanding or interpretation, and transformation of the convictions of a convictional community, including the discovery and critical revision of their relation to one another and to whatever else there is. (McClendon)

The starting point for Baptist theological reflection on Scottish Independence is not Scottish Independence, nationalism, democracy, economics etc. but the faith and practice of the people of God as a convictional community.

This is the recognition that the Church should reflect the ways of the Kingdom of God as that which lives explicitly under the rule of Christ and that the world is not the Church.

This is not a two kingdom theology where Christians are allowed to act one way in the Church and another in the World because they belong to different spheres e.g. in the Church we are peaceful but in the world we use violence because well 'that is the way of the world'.

Rather it is a theology that starts with the convictional community of the Church its practices and teaching as being that which determines Christian behaviour. From this position Christians consider how they can bear witness to the world in the world as to the life of the kingdom as lived out in their own practices. In biblical language Christians seek to be salt and light through their corporate and scattered lives.

Some cautions:

To be effective witnesses the Church has to be living authentically under the Lordship of Jesus Christ - this is frequently quite simply not the case. Without this the rest falls.

The Church should not seek to 'force' on non believing people its own views which are derived from their faith in Jesus Christ - the world is not the Church. In a democracy Christians will participate in democratic processes but even here will have caution to enforce on minorities religous convictions. It is ironic that in the Church we can talk about being saved by 'grace through faith' in Christ but then want to use the secular law to enforce on other people our behaviours!!! This, however, should not prevent Christian sfrom being actively involved against situations of discrimination, violence, poverty etc. where people are being crushed: Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King etc. This is quite different from arguing for self interest. The active evangelical left and evangelical right are not operating out of the same position.

In bearing witness the convictional community which is the Church will have to use 'thin descriptions' to share its 'thick convictions' for example in bearing witness to non-violence it will work with all those who are working for violence reduction evenalthough this may not come from the same basis or go to the same extent that they as Christians would and do in their own lives. To illustrate John Howard Yoder would advocate Just War Theory as preferable to indiscriminate violonce evenalthough he himself was a committed pacifist.

The starting point for theological reflection on Scottish Indepenence, therefore, is the life and teaching of the Church.

 

 

 

 

and its teaching and looks at how and in what ways this can 'season' and 'shine light' to use biblical imagery in the world.