So What Exactly Is Spiritual Theology?
I am glad you asked. Spiritual theology, in its simplest form, is the theology behind your spirituality. In the Christian life, everything has a theological foundation. Many of us have stopped thinking about the theology behind our actions and ended up with a spirituality largely disconnected from our journey with Jesus. This blog is about reattaching our spirituality to its theological moorings, which will help keep us from drifting into waters where Jesus Himself does not walk.
Another way to look at spiritual theology is to think of it as the theology of transformation. The bible is clear that transformation is God’s plan for each of us (Romans 8:29). God uses many things in our lives, including spiritual practices, to accomplish this goal. However, it has become common, even fashionable, for Christ-followers to come up with their own plans for transformation and include unbiblical elements and leave out some important biblical ones. This is why spiritual theology is important. To quote the late Eugene Peterson; “Spiritual keeps theology from degenerating into merely thinking about God at a distance. Theology keeps spiritual from becoming merely thinking and talking and writing about the feelings and thoughts one has about God.”[1] As Peterson stated theology needs spirituality and spirituality needs theology.
Let me share a real life example of what I mean. Years ago I was part of a network of spiritual formation practitioners. Each of us was from a different tradition within the Christian umbrella. However, I quickly found a commonality that connected most of the members: they had a very internalized view of Christian spirituality. I found I was not able to connect with them because of this. As someone whose Christian life has been shaped by an awareness of Christ’s mission to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), I could not leave that aside for the sake of spirituality. In fact, in my mind then and indeed now, true Biblical spiritual formation will lead to an awareness of and passion for Christ’s redemptive mission for the world. I am guided by this by Romans 8:29 which reads: 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.[2] Paul writes that true spiritual transformation ends with the believer becoming the image of Jesus. It stands to reason that if this is true then our attitudes, thoughts, and desires would also be transformed into his. That is true Biblical spirituality. That is why theology should not be divorced from our spiritual practices but should in fact guide them.
To be sure the reverse is also true. Return to the Peterson quote for a moment. For many, the study of theology is a dry, divisive experience that is more about the individual beliefs of a particular Christian denomination. But the classical study of theology is much more than that. Christian theology is about knowing God, both knowledge about Him generally and knowing Him intimately. Marrying theology to spirituality gives an enchantment (for lack of a better word) to an otherwise dry subject. Being able to quote the perfections of God (all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present) is much different then pondering in amazement that there is no power in all of the universe that comes close to that of the Godhead.
So that is why this blog exists. It is about bridging the gap between these two different disciplines. By the way, there was never a gap between these two until very recently, seventeen hundreds approximately, when all these areas became different academic topics of study. The separation of theology and spirituality is a modern construct, not an ancient one!
[1] Eugene H. Peterson. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. Eerdmans Publishing, pg. 5, 2005.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ro 8:29). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
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