If you hang around church circles long enough, at least the kind of church that adheres to a systematic theology, you're bound to hear someone say "I find theology gets in the way of my relationship with God".
I have always dismissed this statement out of hand. I have always considered theology vital to a life of faith. Maybe it was my upbringing. Maybe it's because I am a cerebral person. I understand things by trying to think them through logically. Systematic theology seemed natural. Of course you are going to sit down and try to make everything hang together. This desire fell in line naturally with being of a scientific inclination. The creation runs along logical (if strange and incredibly complex) lines, why should this order not be a reflection of the creator?
Lately, while I still love systematic theology, I can't help but wonder if there comes a point where systematic theology becomes too...systematic...and begins to obscure the transcendence of God by wrapping it so tightly in carefully woven and laid out arguments. After all, systematic theology is man's attempt to understand that which is ultimately beyond our understanding. All of creation is our plane, and I see no reason we cannot plumb its depths to its very foundation. But can we possibly think that we, who see through the glass but dimly, can wrap up any part of God or his thoughts in a nice little package?
Please don't misunderstand me. I think theology is critically important. And I enjoy the study of systematic theology. But I sometimes wonder if it isn't our tower of Babel, trying make God or at least God's plan of salvation try to fall under some logical progression and rubric? In almost every systematic theology I've studied, there is always some kind of hitch. Something that just doesn't seem to fit with God's character, but is necessary to hold the whole thing together.
On the other hand, I've seen what happens when you jettison theology whole sale. It becomes incredibly chaotic incredibly quickly. You can get something good if you are willing to sit down and do serious Bible study, several hours a day for years. But most people just start making stuff up. And then what you end up with is a mishmosh of Biblical themes or ideas with the person's own philosophical and political slant heavily mixed in. I've met people whose personal theology was so far removed from anyone else's I found it incredibly difficult to have a discussion with them. For every 1 hour discussion, we spent 3 just agreeing to the definition of terms. At the very least, if you study basic theology you can discuss with other people because you share a common language so to speak. And discussion with other people, either your contemporaries or sifting through the thoughts of the saints who have gone before, is a way to weed out your own prejudices.
I don't think theology gets in the way of a relationship with God, but it can sometimes get in the way of having a relationship with other Christians, and can get in the way of relationships with people who don't believe. It's so easy, so tempting to use theology not to understand God, but to intellectually batter an 'opponent'. And I've done this. Arguing into submission is a real problem for me, one that I am trying to fight as I get older. And if I can find a 'debate partner' to do this with where we both understand what we are doing, that's fine. I would even say that its important to discuss theological points, in a non aggressive way, with people of different theological stripes. But a lot of the time it seems we are forgetting Paul's admonition to the the church in Corinth to know nothing among them but Christ, and him crucified.
Jettisoning all our theological differences this side of the second coming is a pipe dream. The way they play out is just too varied and too unsettling if you are used to one and you have to deal with another directly. As a protestant, the Marian Catholic doctrines disturb me. I just can't swallow them, any more than as one of the 'frozen chosen' I can feel comfortable in a service where people are being slain in the spirit and shouting. I'm a creature of extreme habit, so even slighter variations can make me feel ill at ease.
So what am I trying to say with all this? Theology is a useful tool, but it is just that, a tool, just as models in science are tools, and not reality. We need to be careful how we use this tool, making sure that we are using it to further our understanding of God and his plan for his children, and not as a weapon against our fellow pilgrims. The moment we start thinking that we know what God's thinking because our theology tells us so, and not because the Bible tells us so, it's time to take a step back. At that point, you are mistaking the model for the real thing.
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