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BOOK REPORT
What's Theology Got to Do with It? Convictions, Vitality and the Church By Anthony B. Robinson The Alban Institute, 2006
When a book's title is in the form of a question, as in our current selection, you can bet the author aims to answer it. So it's a set-up of sorts. But it's a common enough approach, even in Holy Scripture. Who can forget Paul's provocative inquiry in Romans chapter 6, "What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?" The answer comes immediately: "By no means!" Very effective.
In many ways, Anthony Robinson's use of the rhetorical question is no less effective. This is a book that tries to present what we in the church are to be "about." It discusses first things – our fundamental beliefs, confessions, rituals, and priorities. His goal is to tell us how the big things can, and should, matter – even in our daily congregational life.
Here is a taste of how Robinson answers his own question.
On Scripture: If Scripture is God's story and God is the central character, ask first, What is God doing? How does God act? What does God care about? How does God surprise us? What is God up to here? How is God different from what you expect? . . . Theologize before you moralize, because that is the way Scripture itself works. (59)
On the Trinity: When it's all about being filled with the Spirit, the second person of the Trinity reminds us of the cost of discipleship, and the first person of the Trinity speaks to us of a consummation that is not yet. In short, the doctrine of the Trinity keeps us from settling for a God who is on the one hand too small, or on the other hand so big or so vague that God becomes a "sacred blur." (70)
On the Sabbath: In the Scriptures, the day begins at evening. The implication is that, as we go to our rest, God continues creation. . . . by resting, we also confirm the conviction that God is creator and that we are creatures . . . It may be . . . that keeping the Sabbath is the church's most counter-cultural practice. (93)
On the Church: God calls the church not to receive special favors or protection but to carry out a unique vocation: service to God and to the world God loves . . . The church does not have clients, members, or consumers of goods and services. The point is discipleship. (160, 163)
On Baptism: Though I may feel down in the dumps, alone, and overwhelmed, an objective truth and reality exist, to which I may cling and in which I may find hope and renewal: I have been baptized. God's act, by which I have been named, claimed, loved, and called is the foundation. . . go now and be who you are. (181)
Theology can be a scary thing – insider language, thick books with too many footnotes, disagreements that have split churches and pitted one part of God's good creation against another. But you won't find that here. "What's Theology Got to Do with It?" brings us back to what comforts us as we press forward, what calls us to courageous truth-telling, who waits for us in exile (God), and who we find has been there first when we feel most separated from God (Jesus).
In the end, Robinson is not saying that church isn't a place for beautiful music, warm friendships, entertaining sermons, and good news about going to heaven. Church is those things, but it needn't be only those things. What else it turns out to be depends on our "convictions and vitality," as the subtitle indicates. And the fuel for those is our basic theological confessions, practices, and priorities. In helpful fashion each chapter concludes with questions ideal for small group discussion. Additionally, materials for "Foundations" or "Christianity 101" courses are suggested.
Of course this book is no specific roadmap to success. But then again we are not called to be successful; rather, we are called to be faithful. Robinson's hope is that clarity about core convictions, and freedom from worry granted by God through Christ Jesus, may combine in us to "create places for surprise, for the unexpected things that God may do as we take risks and step outside our comfort zone."
