Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

s his claim for the role of the baptist vision: The vision so understood is a necessary and sufficient tool for understanding convictions and practices of the baptistic communities, and therefore, “8 McClendon, Ethics, p 26. * Ibid., p 33. 151 preaching, as one of them. Such a change bridges the gap between the biblical narrative vision of the baptistic communities and the practice of proclamation. Therefore, the outline for this section will be as follows: | will start with a short review of McClendon’s theology that will conclude with his perspective on the Baptist vision. This introduction to baptistic hermeneutics will bring me to understanding the reading of the Scripture as a practice. | will claim that McClendon’s baptist vision can work only when there is a set of practices of reading the Scripture and discovering its meaning in the community of believers with the practice of preaching, as one of those practices. Biography as theology Quoting the title of an essay, written by Steven W. Jolley on the theological method of McClendon, is a useful starting point for this short summary of McClendon’s theology. ‘Biography, baptist and the Book’ — these three words, as Jolley states, are the key words to understanding McClendon’s theology.”° In short, it means that first, convictions expressed in a particular way of life are the material that theology works with.’ Second, McClendon’s theology is done from the baptistic perspective and always requires a community of reference — it can and should be done in the church and for the church.” Finally, third, the Bible is not a mere history, but a living textbook, the source of images and stories that Christians apply to their lives.°? McClendon’s theology is a baptistic theology done by a Baptist. This is an important starting point for understanding his method following his belief that Christian theology must have a community of reference. Similarly Rowan Williams noted that the theologian is always beginning in the middle of things. There is a practice of common life and language already there, a practice that defines a specific shared way of interpreting human life as lived in relation to God. °° Steven W. Jolley “Biography, baptist and the Book: An Essay on the Theological Method of James Wm. McClendon,” Baptistic Theologies, Vol. 7, No 2 (Autumn, 2015, forthcoming). Here and elsewhere references to the citations will be given following the unpublished manuscript available through the author. °* McClendon, Ethics, p 23. > Ibid., p 19. °3 McClendon, Biography as Theology (1974), p 176. 152 The theologian emerges as a distinct and identifiable figure when these meanings have become entangled with one another, when there is a felt tension between images or practices, when a shape has to be drawn out so that the community's practice can be effectively communicated.” McClendon’s community of reference is baptistic co