After theology, what?

Language

Words are funny.

They create worlds. In the beginning, God creates by speaking. In the beginning, Adam’s first job as garden poet-in-residence was to name things. In the beginning.

Words are hard. I certainly don’t want to convey religion, although the Latin roots are not bad here. Religion stems from the roots of “relink” or “ligament” and it is exactly that kind of connective tissue we are needing. But usage counts too, and religion has devolved to mean “tradition in the narrowest sense.” The hope is that a vibrant and deep tradition (with music, text, image, food, interpretation – can we say culture?) will help you “relink” to the divine. But modernly speaking the question becomes “which two-dimensional mythology matches your world-view?”

The reality of spirituality

Spirituality is possible. When I try to tease the essence of religion from all of the tangibles of tradition, I reach for spirituality. My conservative Korean colleague taught me: “Spirituality is the water we are all trying to drink, and religion is the cup.” In places Richard Rohr (the contemplative, progressive Franciscan) says the first half of life is about assembling the container for spiritual knowledge, and the second half is de-constructing it because eventually the container gets in the way. It is not lost on me that Kierkegaard intentionally uses the word “religion” exactly the way I want to use “spirituality” because he is trying to rescue “religion” from a State-sponsored culture. And “spirituality” is vulnerable to problems of its own: a rejection of all traditions, in favor of unstudied spiritual practice and whim.

I think faith and belief carry equal risks. Both can be lost to mean “whatever ideas you think in your head” on the one hand, and a-rational conviction on the other. To these words, I prefer the Eastern “view.” Although I do like the transposable noun/verb dimension to these. A faith can be a tradition, but it also can be something you live.

What I like about “theology” is the “-logy” as  much as the “theo-.” I like the “study of” built into the term. And I want chaplains to have studied. I want hours and hours of reading, praying, and sitting. I want the kind of reticulation and articulation that comes from study.

You might be able to sell me on “religious philosophy” because philosophy commands the kind of diligence I want, but too often these words are coupled in lieu of “uninformed opinion,” or worse, “the insisted but embellished uninformed opinion.”

Where to go from here?

So. All of this is to say, “I dunno.” I realize that academic theology in the West is very Judeo/Christian. I get that. But I want something that carries the weight of scholastic effort. Having parsed this with me now, I think that professional chaplaincy can and should promote and advanced spiritual literature, which would have the freedom of being particular, but still add to the field and to anyone who cares about chaplaincy. I am convinced that a well-written Buddhist treatise on mature chaplaincy would help me in my work, without the author being forced to hide themselves or their insights. I’m a big boy. I can translate things for myself. I would be the first to buy “The Chaplaincy Sutra.” I am convinced that the Lab could encourage this kind of research, just as it encourages empirical research. Go try and tell a PhD in Philosophy that her day spent in the stacks and catacombs of the library wasn’t legit research. It was, and she knows it. And mathematics is NOT the only philosophy.

The whole reason for healthcare chaplaincy is that this brief chapter of human life is dense with meaning. Chaplains dance in that meaning. They celebrate the great sunset, and even the onset of night. But meaning is getting drowned out in the buzz of buzzwords. Meaning, absolute meaning, is what inspired chaplains to follow this path. We cannot break new ground and extend the path in ways that bury this wisdom. It just won’t work. Who the people are as chaplains are not going to endure the frustrations of corporate healthcare without efforts to celebrate meaning itself. The Lab stands in a unique position to orchestrate the inquiry into the celebration of meaning.