Theology at Thresholds: Learning from a Practice ‘In Transition’
Recent developments in contemporary theology and theological ethics have directed academic attention to the interrelationships of theological claims, on the one hand, and core community-forming practices, on the other. This article considers the value for theology of attending to practice at the bou...
| Published in: | Ecclesial practices |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2017
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| In: |
Ecclesial practices
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy KBF British Isles KDG Free church RB Church office; congregation |
| Further subjects: | B
Quakerism
Quaker decision-making
threshold
ordinary theology
Daniel W. Hardy
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| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Recent developments in contemporary theology and theological ethics have directed academic attention to the interrelationships of theological claims, on the one hand, and core community-forming practices, on the other. This article considers the value for theology of attending to practice at the boundaries, the margins, or, as we prefer to express it, the threshold of a community’s institutional or liturgical life. We argue that marginal or threshold practices can offer insights into processes of theological change – and into the mediation between, and reciprocal influence of, ‘church’ and ‘world’. Our discussion focuses on an example from contemporary British Quakerism. ‘Threshing meetings’ are occasions at which an issue can be ‘threshed out’ as part of a collective process of decision-making. Drawing on a 2015 small-scale study (using a survey and focus group) of British Quaker attitudes to and experiences of threshing meetings, set in the wider context of Quaker tradition, we interpret these meetings as a space for working through – in context and over time – tensions within Quaker theology, practice and self-understandings, particularly those that emerge within, and in relation to, core practices of Quaker decision-making. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-4471 |
| Contains: | In: Ecclesial practices
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22144471-00401005 |