If we are going to think theologically about the church, we cannot begin with the church; we must begin with God. This is not something we are accustomed to doing. Our arguments about the church are mostly pragmatic, historical, and juridical. Some want to do whatever requires the least amount of time and paperwork. Others argue that we should do whatever our Methodist ancestors did. We had episcopacy and band meetings in the past, so we should have them in the future. Virtually everyone wants structures that will ensure that the Discipline is enforced. If we are going to have bishops, then they must be held accountable.
Pragmatic, historical, and juridical arguments are not without value, but they are not theological arguments. To make theological arguments—to think about the church theologically—we must begin with God. Further, God must be our orienting concern from start to finish. All other considerations, whether pragmatic, historical, or juridical, must be downstream of theology. When our arguments are not downstream of theology, our vision of the church will be sourced from pagan headwaters.
If we are going to think theologically about the church, we cannot begin with the church; we must begin with God.
God alone is the rightful starting point, center, and end of all theology. This is true in both a thematic and a dispositional sense. Theology begins with God. We see this in both the Scriptures and the Creed. For example:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
“We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. . . .” (The Nicene Creed)
In addition to being the starting point of theology, God is also its central subject. We do not begin with God and then move on to bigger and better things. From start to finish, theology’s proper subject—its orienting concern—is God.
Finally, theological deliberations must also end with God. Theology ought always to culminate in doxology. As the great nineteenth century Methodist theologian William Burt Pope once said, the theologian must also be a worshipper.
To summarize, theology begins with God, it is about God, and it leads to God. But we do not think about God or worship God in a vacuum. We are creatures made from dust. All our thinking about God reflects our creatureliness. When we speak of God as Father or Christ as the rock of our salvation, our language reflects our creaturely status and location. We are from the dust, and we will return to the dust. Every analogy and metaphor that we use to speak of God reflects our identity as creatures. For instance, when we say that God is loving or powerful, we cannot help thinking of love and power in ways that reflect our understanding and experience of creaturely love and power. But God’s love and power are not merely creaturely love and power infinitely magnified. They may be like creaturely love and power, but God’s love and power remain mysterious. If we think otherwise, then we are not thinking about God.
This is an excerpt from Jason Vickers' chapter in Reconstructing Methodism: Crucial Issues Facing the Global Methodist Church. Click here to order the book.
Jason Vickers serves as the inaugural William J. Abraham Chair of Wesleyan Studies. A popular teacher, prolific author, and ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Vickers holds a PhD from Southern Methodist University. Prior to joining Truett Seminary, Vickers taught at Asbury in Wilmore, Kentucky. He also has taught at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, North Carolina, and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Vickers has been a member of numerous editorial boards and is a past president of the Wesleyan Theological Society. Vickers is presently the editor of the Wesleyan Theological Journal.
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