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

ictions are interdependent and are formed in different ways, through different experiences, there is an important conclusion to be made. The understanding of theology as gathering data about God (based on the etymology of the word “theology”) or an attempt to work out the ‘true theology’ should be rejected as something that cannot be achieved, since all convictions (or beliefs), including those about God and the church, are formed and may vary simply because of different life experiences or practices of the community one belongs to. Since there is often a difference in what a church claims to believe and how it lives, and since true convictions are always embodied in life, there is little value in looking at a set of propositions that some call “Christian convictions” and singled out as churches’ statements of faith. McClendon believes that it is biography, the life story that is shaped by convictions (but also that is shaping convictions), that should be explored in order to understand the real convictions of the community. It is the ‘living convictions which give shape to actual lives and actual communities’ thus allowing us to understand real convictions by looking into lives, making ‘theology... at least biography.’°? However, it is important to note that McClendon does not suggest that the outcomes of the biographical study, the discovered convictions/beliefs, can be recommended as universal. As Jolley noted, ‘life stories are investigated in light of the particular community and its particular convictions, and to consider how these lives reflect this set 6? McClendon, Ethics, p 23. ® Karl Rahner, “Theology,” in Karl Rahner, ed., Sacramentum Mundi, an Encyclopaedia of Theology, Vol. 6 (New York, Herder and Herder, 1970). °3 McClendon, Biography as Theology (1990), 22. 155 of beliefs.’** This is done in order for the teaching of the church, its doctrines, to be ‘consistent with the lived experience of those who embrace such beliefs... The value of this consistency... is its living contact with theological doctrines that creates an appeal for others to embrace that sort of Christian life.’© McClendon arrives at the following definition of theology, ‘It is the discovery, understanding or interpretation, and transformation of the convictions of a convictional community, including the discovery and critical revision of their relation to one another and to whatever else there is.’ There are several implications in this definition. Firstly, it implies that theology is both descriptive and normative, which indicates its self-involving character. Self-involving character does not mean that only Baptists can be engaged in doing Baptist theology, or that, for example, a Christian may not be engaged in Muslim theology. However, according to McClendon, it just proves the rule that ‘in convictional work, self-involvement is natural and appropriate, ’®7 Hence, this is a second whil