Five of my books for seminary came today. And like a kid waiting in anticipation of shoving a bar of chocolate into his little mouth, I promptly tore into two of them!

From one of the books, Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness, I’d like to share some lines from the Preface. Normally I skip over this part, but since I’m all excited about starting school and reading and studying again, that’s where I dove right in with this book.

And I’m glad I did.

I’m not sure where you are with the Open Theism debate (and this post isn’t about that, though I’m quite sure there will be plenty more of those to come!), but the author, Clark Pinnock, got the whole ball rolling in 1994 with some other fellows by publishing a book called The Openness of God. That work set off a fire storm and put him in the cross-hairs of a lot of conservative Reformed and fundamentalist types who get scared when people ask questions and challenge tradition and deeply held beliefs (or deeply entrenched doctrines, however you view it!).

And so this is a follow-up and expansion of his original work, and I love what he has to say in his preface because it speaks to what many in the emerging church conversation feel regarding modes of thinking and “churching” that have run their course. While we desire a rootedness in historic orthodoxy (although even the event of orthodoxy is being re-understood), there is a desire to renegotiate that rootedness.

Here are some great words for that renegotiation:

Technorati Tags: emerging church, charles pinnock, doctrine, reformed theology, tradition

I have not regarded traditional views beyond reform. Tradition has not stopped me from thinking or suppressed new sources of insight. One’s theology is a work of human construction, even when based on divine revelation, and interpretation requires strenuous effort. Our interpretations are provisional, and truth is, to some extent, historically conditioned and ultimately eschatological.

The truth claims that we make are all open to discussion and we ought to be teachable and ready to learn because none of our work rises to the level of timeless truth. There is always a place for asking questions and for challenging assumptions. Our God-talk is always open to re-evaluation because mistakes can be made and need correcting.

Amen and amen!
-jeremy