The retrieval of the literature of Christian spirituality is having a powerful effect on Christian belief and practice. The separation of spirituality, however, from the academic study of theology, Christian history, and biblical studies is artificial. Some contend that such academic study of the theological disciplines undermines simple faith so that after dismantling naïve faith one must reconstruct one’s faith at the level of second naiveté, as Paul Ricoeur put it. While many beginning theology students may experience something like this, it is unfortunate and unnecessary.
On Thursday, 19 September 2024 at 1400 UTC, Prof. Ellen Charry, Emerita Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ (USA), will expound upon the idea that the academic study of the Christian faith is spiritually formative when we consider what the biblical material or the theological doctrines intend to do emotionally and socially to those who take them seriously. What does it mean to experience the ideas being expressed? In other words, intellectual growth is not merely cognitive but also spiritual, emotional, and moral.
She further maintains that healthy people grow throughout their lives. Taking in new ideas is part of normal human development. The question, then, is not whether academic study damages simple faith, but how everything that we experience and learn throughout life may be filtered through lenses of an intentional life, in the case of a Christian, a Christian life.
