Spiritual Theology

I am reading a few books at the same time. One of them is Eugene Peterson’s 翶翔的基督--畢德生談聖經靈修學 (校園, 2010) [Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology (Eerdmans, 2005)]. I read the English version two years ago. When I am reading the Chinese version now, I get a different taste of the book.

I have been thinking about the subject Spiritual Theology. (Sometimes, I call it Biblical Spirituality.) I am fond of this subject. Perhaps, it has something to do with my realization of the great chasm between what we know about God and the way we live with what we know in Christian life. It is this chasm that drives me. I feel as if it were my vocation to fill up this gap in the life of the church. Sometimes I think about my work in ministry over the past five years. I tended to make most of my effort to shorten the distance between what we know and how we live out what we know. While I was in ministry, I didn’t think much, and I just did what I needed to do. Now when I recall, I realize that I was doing that kind of integrative work most of the time.

“The two terms, ‘spiritual’ and ‘theology,’ keep good company with one another. ‘Theology’ is the attention that we give to God, the effort we give to knowing God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and in Jesus Christ. ‘Spiritual’ is the insistence that everything that God reveals of himself and his works is capable of being lived by ordinary men and women in their homes and workplaces. ‘Spiritual’ keeps ‘theology’ from degenerating into merely thinking and talking and writing about God at a distance. ‘Theology’ keeps ‘spiritual’ from becoming merely thinking and talking and writing about the feelings and thoughts one has about God.” (p. 5)

Spiritual Theology is about integration of theology and lived theology. Christ played with me in the Spirit through the congregation. On the one hand, I tried to integrate Christian theology into the life of the congregation. On the other hand, God has integrated me into Himself and His Word through the congregation. This is His surprising work in my life through pastoral ministry. I have been enriched by pastoral ministry. Such enrichment is shown through my understanding of the relationship between pastoral work and theological formation. I believe this is priceless, for I can’t learn it from school. I can only learn it through the church—a specific group of local people. The church is a tough place to live in. But it is indispensable for any Christians who want to grow towards maturity in Christ.

In God’s redemptive plan, the church plays a critical role in it. “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen.” (Eph. 3:21) God’s glory shines forth in Christ as well as the body of Christ. The church, which is the extension of the incarnation of Christ, brings witness to the world through the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. God’s redemptive plan is that the world has been brought into restoration in Christ through Christ’s witnesses whom the Spirit empowers since the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).