1. johnboy.philothea
http://johnboy.philothea.net/
Posted 29 January 2012 01:25 AM Hide Post
One curious thing about epistemology, in general, religious
epistemology, in particular, seems to be that, however
incompetent people may often seem to be in accounting for
exactly how they have managed to realize this or that value,
they somehow manage to realize many values anyway!
This is to say, for example, that they often have true beliefs
even though they cannot properly justify them. As value-
realizers, people are often unconsciously competent even
while, as apologists, they are often manifestly incompetent.
This is because, especially when it comes to religion, many of
the values that we humans realize derive from our practices
and our participatory imaginations (hometown knowledge) and
not necessarily from our conceptual map-making. Formatively
speaking, belonging thus often will have preceded desires
which will have preceded behaviors which will only then have
been followed by beliefs. And it will have been a
constellation of practices, including worship forms and other
formative and transformative influences, that will have shaped
those existential orientations that we eventually interpret as
appropriate responses to divine initiatives and imperatives.
This is all to suggest that many people are praying well and
behaving well, living out their relationships to others and
God, even if they cannot provide an articulate apologetic for
same and even when they inartfully account for same. I think
this is exactly why we may not witness quite as many dire
practical consequences as we might otherwise predict would
result from this or that theological error.
In other words, we are truly immersed in wisdom traditions,
which combine mostly common sense and love, and not really in
theological systems, which traffic mostly in logical
argumentation. Our beliefs are much more existential responses
of the whole person, a living as if we are loved beyond
measure and much less propositional statements. Faith entails
a living knowledge OF persons in relationship much more than a
knowledge ABOUT. While the propositional, conceptual map-
making and knowledge ABOUT does have a place, formatively, it
does not enjoy the primacy it has too often been accorded. We
can thus exaggerate the significance of getting every
theological proposition correct, whether for the life of
prayer or for fellowship in community. We can relax, be more
patient, less hypercritical of others, more self-critical and
not fall into the role of theological Chicken Littles it
seems.
1