A Practicing Theologian

I’ll be finishing my dissertation soon.  In just a few months I will complete the process of researching a particular area of theological discourse, with the goal of establishing myself as a professional theologian.  But what sort of theologian am I? 

 

By definition, a theologian speaks from within a particular religious tradition, and I can certainly say that I think and work within a Christian framework.  Most theologians speak from a particular ecclesiastical community as well – Catholic, or Reformed, or Orthodox.  Here, I fit less well.  I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, spent some very fruitful time as an Episcopal priest, and now belong to an independent neo-monastic community.  We have some wise and thoughtful theologians among us in the Lindisfarne Community, but I don’t know that the wider world would recognize us as a ‘school’ or ‘movement’ quite yet.

After the Surrender

It’s been a while since I wrote about the power of surrender, about choosing to “lay down this fight” in which my body was the battlefield, not only for others to wage their wars of domination, but where I attempted to conquer my own physical being, and not out of love but out of loathing.

It’s been a while since I made that choice, and for a few weeks I was able to rest in that place of surrender, trusting that God would bring healing to the deep self-inflicted hurts that had been brought to light.