I went to the rheumatology specialist with my wife recently, and was well impressed by her knowledge of the subject, compared to the registrar who saw us the previous week. She had some students with her, and was explaining to them how to diagnose the disease and distinguish it from other inflammatory arthritis forms, and how to medically describe the deformities in my wofe's hands and what their impact on the diagnosis is. And loads of stuff like that. i am always fascinated by biology, and drink in all that information.
But all that information was bonus - what we really needed to hear was "take these pills", "have this injection". That is the root of the matter. That is how theory is translated into healing.
Back home, sitting on the loo is the only chance I get to read and I was dipping into McGrath's Historical theology and his bit about Baultmann (spelling?), and it twigged - theology is just the same. We can have all the knowledge in the world about the Bible, the great theologians and their ideas, etc etc, but when people come to us what they really need to hear is "take this bread", "drink this wine".
(apologies to my evangelical theology of sacraments)
Ha! Glorious.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to squirm and wriggle like an Evangelical worm on a Catholic hook.
ReplyDeleteI don't think a doctrine of the Real presence is necessary for my post to be true - if Jesus's "this is my body" was metaphorical, then my post is equally so. But if Jesus was being literal, then so is my post. I wanted to explain this in the body of the post, but it was more important to let it stand alone.
A generous approach - what a wonderful example of how an idea and practice can be greater than any individuals understanding of it. You dont have to pull up a tree to show that it has roots...
ReplyDeletesorry just read your intro - 7 kids - are you sure your not a catholic :)
ReplyDeleteHi Bob
ReplyDeleteYep, i'm sure! And I recognise the humour of your comment in the context of the post.
Other people ask if I don't have a telly, if I am going for a football team, or if I have a people carrier.
I do believe in contraception, or else I would have 14 kids. But I have also used it prayerfully submitting the success of using/not using it into God's hands. I believe each of my children is individually planned by God rather than by me.