When my own Ordinary speaks of changing the institutional structures to enable mission, I am reminded of Karl Marx's foundation dictum, `The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; what matters is to change it' And if the good doctor, as a cleverer man than I, agrees with the bearded one, might not I be falling into the same trap? Changing the world: it is a universally acceptable justification for the modern Church, but such activism makes for dubious theology, and it certainly makes for poor philosophy.
What matters is not
to change the world (everybody is doing that), but to interpret it. If we have
anything distinctive to offer a confused, postmodern age, it is not more
activism, it is clear, stable interpretation, based on the accumulated wisdom of
the Christian Church. A way of understanding that can be trusted, and which may,
by the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit, be true.
Our task as preachers, as it should be for philosophers, is to describe the
world, not to prescribe the actions to change it. In an age of ill-digested
activism, what is needed is description, not prescription. Before putting the
diocesan missives into the not-just-yet pile, analyze them for serious theology
and interpretation, and when they do not pass the test, apply that same test to
your own preaching and pronouncements.
Whether Marx was
right does not matter; he is wrong now. Our task, as `moral scientists' (as
philosophers used to be called) is to interpret the world. It is not the simple
task so often supposed: it takes much labour, much prayer and a practice of
thinking that is hard work. Get the description right, and the action may
follow, but get the description wrong (as we believe so many in the Church have)
and no action will compensate.
NT
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