“Fresh Expressions”

Abstract

Strictly speaking, the vast majority of theology should be the study ofthe implicit rather than the explicit. For it is in the life of congregations and denominations that the gospel is discerned, interpreted and lived. Theology, for the most part, "happens" in discipleship; it is not "read" in textbooks. For example, reading the treatises of Martin Luther King Jr. can only form a small part of the process of assessing his contribution to theology and society. It is really only in hearing and experiencing his radio or TV broadcasts that one begins to get a sense of how his theology performed; how it moved and motivated his followers. The style of presentation matters at least as much as the substance ofthe message: the sensate and persuasive timbre ofthe rhetoric conveyed in the performance is itself theological material Likewise, the key to understanding the theology of churches-their declared theological priorities-can never be a matter of mere textual analysis. Such an approach would miss the fact that "church" is an interpretation and performance of theology that takes on a life it its own.

The mission and people of God: Rethinking theology and theological methodology in Asia

“…Singaporean theologian Simon Chan, for example, has championed "grassroots Asian theology," a more contextually sensitive approach to doctrines that centers the issues and worldviews of normal Asian believers. In practical theology, there have been advocates for "ordinary theology" and "implicit theology," which seek to understand both what normal Christians actually believe and the theology that is actually embedded in the worship and practices of churches (Astley, 2002;Percy, 2010). In other circles, a popular term has been "lived theology," which emphasizes the embodied and experiential nature of theology in individuals and communities.…”

Implicit Religion

“…Papadopoulos andCopp, 2005, in Britain), Tantrism as a universal substratum in Asian religions (raising questions regarding its presence, as diabolatry or pornography, within the Semitic religions and their accompanying secularities) (Selvanayagam, 2008), belief in luck and/or in purpose in life (Francis et al, 2008), religious reticence, and the strategies of explicit religion (Beckford, 2010;Percy, 2009), (Groot, 2008), Brown's and Dawkins' "religionfiction" as a new form of science-fiction (Jenkins, 2009)dand reviews of Francis Bacon's retrospective exhibition (Arya, 2009a,b), and of the film Atonement (Roberts, 2009).…”