BUILDING YOUR OWN THEOLOGY

Reverend H. Vann Knight

Parish Minister

            Unitarian Universalists have no creedal statements.  Consequently, we are free to develop our own theology.  We are not only free to do that, we are responsible for doing it.  A technical term for part or all of what one believes is “theological construct.”  Most of the time our theological constructs are informal and partial.  We don’t usually develop a statement or system of our beliefs.  However, some of you will soon begin a course entitled, “Building Your Own Theology.”  Today, I want to explore that process.

            One of the challenges in developing a belief system is that truth has many sides, often paradoxical.  For example, in one sense, what we believe doesn’t matter.  What is, is.  In his Book, Infinity in Your Hands, William Houff tells of two goldfish debating the existence of God.  Finally, in total frustration, one says, “Well, if there is no God, who changes the water?”  At one level, what we believe doesn’t alter what is.  We can believe that there is God, but if there is not, our thinking will not create that reality, except in our minds.  Likewise, we can believe that there is not God, but if there is, what we believe is not going to diminish God, except in our minds.  So there is a sense that what we believe doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t change some dimensions of reality.

            The other side of the paradox:  What we believe does matter.  What we believe has a significant influence on what we do.  If we believe in justice, we are much more likely to act in behalf of justice.  If we believe there is hope for this life, that belief will influence what we do and how we plan for the future.  What we believe not only influences us, it influences our children and society.  For my purposes here, I assume that what we believe does matter.

            In today’s sermon, I will deal with some practical dimensions of building your own theology.  My first suggestion is simple.  Don’t stop thinking about theology.  One of the puzzling things I’ve observed is that many religious liberals who have finally found a diverse community where they are free to develop their own convictions, all of a sudden stop thinking about theology.  They discard theology as irrelevant.  Please, don’t stop thinking about theology.  Theological constructs are thought-word symbols that attempt to point to our best understanding of life and of ultimate reality.  Theology is not abstract theory.  The study of theology is not confined to academics.  Theology is about real life.  Theology expresses how one chooses to add intentionality and meaning to life.  It is about those issues that really matter to you and to society.  Be faithful in your search for truth and meaning.

            Next suggestion:  Remember the concept of “paradigm” and how difficult it is to make a paradigm shift.  A paradigm is a model of how something is supposed to be, or at least of how we think it’s supposed to be.  All of us have theological paradigms.  We have fixed models and fixed boundaries of religious reality.  At those outer boundaries, we erect intellectual and emotional walls.  Here’s my favorite paradigm story.  Long ago, most people, including the Swiss, assumed that the Swiss way of making clocks was “the way.”  In the midst of this, two young Swiss clock makers came up with a radical new idea – quartz.  They took their idea to all the major Swiss clock makers and were universally turned away.  As a last recourse, they took their idea to Japan.  As Paul Harvey would say, “And now you know the rest of the story.”  The Japanese were not constrained by a preconceived idea of how to build clocks, and they revolutionized the industry.  In religion, all of us unconsciously set boundaries and limits to our religious reality.  We filter out information that doesn’t fit our paradigm, or we distort information to make it fit.  I encourage you to identify your theological paradigm, your religious boundaries, and to open yourself to a broader reality.

            Next, don’t underestimate the emotional stress that may be involved in building your own theology.  Consider what may happen.  Building a new theology may raise old issues and open unhealed wounds.  It may ignite smoldering anger.  Some will be forced by their reason and conscience to question the very heart of their childhood religion.  To question the religion of childhood can feel like a rejection of parents, culture, God and all things good.  To raise deep fundamental questions about the religion embraced and passed on by family and friends can prompt feelings of rejection, guilt, fear and isolation.  We as a congregation need to be aware that some people coming to us are making more than minor theological shifts.  Some are literally experiencing spiritual transformation and bearing the grief and uncertainty caused by the loss of long-held beliefs.  To lay open one’s religious illusions can be a painful experience.

            My next suggestion for building your own theology is this:  Don’t depend on one source for wisdom and inspiration, and don’t have a one-dimensional theology.  Regarding sources for wisdom and inspiration, dip your bucket in as many currents of the spiritual and philosophical stream as you want.  Sample what is offered by all the major religions and never feel compelled to draw from just one source.  But with all that said, let me encourage you to eventually settle in with one primary tradition and to drink deeply, though not exclusively, from that well.  Which religious tradition you choose as primary is a matter of personal preference.  What is important is that you eventually find, or create for yourself, a religious tradition that gives you an adequate sense of religious identity, that helps you make meaning of life, and gives you a sense of spiritual rootedness.

            Regarding methods for building your theology, gather some of your wisdom and inspiration from congregational worship.  Something good, creative and healing happens here every time we gather – things that don’t happen in any other setting.  So be sure you include Sunday worship in your theology building.  Second, use a small group to help you build your theology.  I’m convinced that once we get beyond about ten people, we start losing access to one another’s pain and creativity.  Find a small group where you can give yourself to others and receive what they have to offer you.  Don’t expect to find in congregational worship what can only be experienced in a small group.  Third, create for yourself private times of study, reflection and prayer.  Each of these - congregational worship, small group experience and private devotion - are important in developing healthy theology and healthy living.

            Regarding the ways you process religious information and experience, I encourage you to keep a proper balance between rationalism and mysticism.  We are the heirs of the rational Channing and the mystical Emerson.  As we are developing a new theology, it’s very easy to get rooted exclusively in one or the other.  For a person to be so focused in the rational that their paradigm won’t allow for mysticism is not healthy.  On the other hand, it is equally unhealthy for one who is really intuitive to discount reason.

            Spirituality and mysticism must be informed by good, clear thinking, and rationalism must be influenced by intuition and imagination.  Ours is a religion of both the head and the heart.

            Healthy theology also calls for a balance between an inward journey with God and self and an outward journey with family, church and society.  The language we use about deity is secondary, but the religious life is a call to explore whatever one considers to be of ultimate worth.  Some of us call ultimate reality God or Goddess or Infinite Spirit.  Others of us call it Life or Universe.  Whatever we call it, religion is the process of adding intentionality and meaning to life.  It is a continual process of being brought back into harmony with that which we hold most sacred.  Religion is a continual call to self discovery, self becoming and ultimately to self transcendence.  Eventually, we get the message that life is not primarily about “ME.”  Life is an invitation to transcend self in the service of God, others and the world.

            Next suggestion:  Whatever part of your previous religious experience has been destructive for you, work through those issues and the accompanying anger so that these don’t remain a shadow, influencing your experience and relationships here in this congregation.  Additionally, claim with gratitude the good parts of your previous religious experience.  Don’t assume that now that you are a Unitarian Universalist that you have to quit believing or practicing something that is meaningful to you.  And whatever your previous religious identity – Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam – if you find meaning in that identity and want to hold onto that, by all means do so.  But if you need to leave that identity, let it go.  According to one theory of faith development presented by James Fowler and confirmed in my experience, if you continue your theological quest, you will eventually find a way to integrate the best parts of your religion of origin with your continually evolving theology.  You will gradually increase your capacity to be at peace with inconsistencies and paradox. Your deeper self will become more adept at integrating the rational “meaning of concept” and the intuitive “power of symbol.”  Here in this church you are free to develop your theology throughout your life.  Here you don’t have to change your church when you change your theology.  Here you are free to turn loose of what no longer serves you and equally free to hold on to and reclaim what does serve you.  No one can guarantee that others will embrace your views, but this is a safe place; your ideas will be heard, and you will be respected.  In this church, about the only thing that is not tolerated is intolerance.

            Finally, as you are building your theology, find a healthy balance between humility and faith.  Be humble enough to stay open to new ideas, new realities, new paradigms, but have faith enough to follow with conviction your own reason and conscience.  For Unitarian Universalists, ultimate religious authority is internal, not external.  It is vested in reason and conscience and expressed in a free and responsible religious community.  I encourage you to claim your religious authority and be faithful in the creative building of your own theology.

            May it be so.