PAT BAILEY’S SPIRITUALITY WITH RELIGION

03 Nov PAT BAILEY’S SPIRITUALITY WITH RELIGION

Editor’s note: In his doctoral dissertation, Pastor Pat Bailey of Telluride’s Christ Presbyterian Church is claiming the need for a re-visioning of the Christian church’s theology and its understanding of mission, the need for a more natural, integrative theology and for an earth-focused, contextual approach to mission. To that end, he is reviewing the theology of three contemporary theologians whose thought is very integrative of Nature and Spirit from three very different approaches. This blog is part of a weekly series.

Pastor Pat Bailey

In many ways the theology of the three scholars I have considered represent a map of my own theological journey. A detailed exploration of their thought has given me an opportunity to better recognize the terrain I have traveled and my present orientation, and such exploration was a much needed exercise. My intent has been to allow each to inform an approach to theology and mission which in turn might inform the faith and practice of my ministry and the ministry of the church in its late-modern context with a deference to the significance of human experience of and within Nature.

A perspectival reading of the three theologians I have surveyed allows me a way in to a more fruitful conversation with their views.

I can appreciate Bergmann’s integrative figuring of classical trinitarian, incarnational, and soteriological categories. I can enter into speculative play with Griffin’s evolutionary figuring of Nature and Godhead. I can be enticed and inspired by Wallace’s enfleshed figuring of earth Spirit. I can find deeper currents of meaning and inspiration from each without accepting their metaphysics or cosmologies, and so, their thought may indeed inform my and my community’s imaginative discourse. To do so effectively however, my community and I must be able to locate each perspective within the world of perspectives, and we must also be self-aware of the locations of our own perspectives.That exercise in perspective allows the church to be a kind of forum or laboratory in which perspectives and consciousnesses are expanded.

In the next couple of posts, I will be using Ken Wilber’s Integral Operating System to locate the thought of the three theologians I have reviewed, especially in regard to the metaphysics of their systems. After that, I will present my own approach to theology and mission in terms of the interdwelling of both Nature and Spirit.

As a side note, I have just submitted my revised draft for my dissertation to San Francisco Theological Seminary for review by their doctoral committee.That means that I am in the final steps of my process. If all goes well, I will be graduating this spring!