Imagination and Theology
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 12:49PM I've really appreciated John Frame's insights into creativity and theology. So often we think that theology can only be expressed in linear and propositional forms. Frame challenges this view in The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God:
It is arbitrary to insist that theology be written in a formal, academic style. Rather, theologians ought to make broad use of human language - poetry, drama, exclamation, song, parable, symbol - as Scripture itself does. (p.85)
The work of theology is to proclaim the old ideas of Scripture and nothing else. But the work of theology is, indeed, to proclaim those old ideas to a new generation. This involves application, and that demands newness, since every new situation is somewhat different from its predecessors... (p.340)
There is a great need for imagination among theologians today. There is a crying need for fresh applications of Scripture to situations too long neglected, for translating the gospel into new forms. The artistic gift may be well employed in the theological profession. (p. 343)
Some of us got talking about The Shack last night. I've never understood those who say that The Shack isn't theological because it's fiction. According to Frame, genres like fiction can and should be used within theology. Whatever you think of The Shack - and it's probably not great fiction or great theology - it demonstrates the power of a different genre (fiction) to explore theology (the nature of God, the problem of suffering, and more).
We really need people who can express theology to a new generation with creativity and skill.
Reader Comments (7)
I'm a bit equivocal about that, Darryl. When one considers the painstaking efforts made by church councils over the centuries to parse words because of the specific meanings (the Nicean/Chalcedonian formulations of the Greek homoousios vs. the Latin substantia being just one of many examples) in order to be very clear about what we were and were not affirming, I'm not sure I would want to turn that over to a fiction author's imagination. I, for one, have put in a lot of mileage with people in conversations about The Shack telling them, essentially, yes, its portrayal of the trinity is very modalistic, yes, that was an ancient church heresy, but who cares, it's just a novel, not a theological treatise, doctrinal statement or creed.
But Jesus' parables are works of fiction that convey theology. There are interpretive rules - you don't want to press every detail, for example. But it shows the power of stories to carry heavy theological freight. I think that the creeds can stand alongside fiction, allegories, poems, etc. and can sometimes make the point better than anything else. Not that it's easy, though!
It seems to me that novels, more than theological treatises, can tell us what theology means and looks like on the ground as we live it out. The best example of this that I know of are Marilynne Robinson's novels Gilead and Home. The characters' theologies affect how they see themselves and others. And then there's Silence by Shusako Endo, which speaks volumes about what it means to have faith and to hold firm--and to give up.
I would not advocate basing theology on any work of fiction, but SOME works of fiction go a long way in explaining theology. C.S. Lewis and his Narnia books?
Works of fiction (or more broadly stories, both fictional and non-fictional) are essential to our understanding of God. It doesn't replace theology (scholarly or otherwise), but plays its part in the larger process. To ignore or diminish this is risky- has already been risky, considering how far we have already wandered from it. Excellent post.
As my good friend has noted and I have http://inchristus.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/another-the-shack-attack/" rel="nofollow">capture: "No less than 30 theological issues are addressed in The Shack. It‘s not a treatise but the theology drives the book. The popular series, Left Behind, was also fiction but people were critical of its eschatology. Likewise The Da Vinci Code. The theology may be less precise than a theological treatise but it should not be contradictory to the Bible." Scripture gets to define reality at the end of the day. Sadly, many believers give more credence to stories that do not comport with biblical testimony.
The Shack is probably not great fiction or great theology? By whose standards? Last year, I read Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, just a month or so after I read The Shack. Both books had an impact on me. And while I would never lump Paul Young in the category with Hemingway, for his book to be on my shelf, and have the impact it has had on me, regardless of my disagreement with his presentation of the nature of God, says something for both its fiction and its theology. I would venture to say that Paul Young's creativity and skill are the answer to your wish above.