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

s to hold on to the outer shell of their ecclesial practices, formed through the years of suffering and oppression under the communistic regime, and to reject anything, first of all 26 N. A. Kornilov, “Kakogo Roda Bogosloviie Nam Nuzhno?” [“What Kind of Theology Do We Need?”], in Put Bogopoznaniia, Vol. 6 (Moscow, MTSECB, 2000), p 10. 228 education, that threatens the cohesiveness of this fragile whole, that in their eyes constitutes the Baptist way of life. ? there is a distinct sense of Turning from the Church to the University,” dissatisfaction and even quiet irritation in the Church’s perceived inability or, perhaps, unwillingness to accept their “gift of knowledge and enlightenment.” The Church is seen as a reactionary, extremely conservative social institution, ‘interested in one-way traffic, receiving from education an intellectual image and concrete applied knowledge.’”® At the same time, the University is understood (self-flatteringly, perhaps) to be a place of free thinking and constant pushing of the boundaries of accepted patterns of life and practice. Consequently, there is an assumption that the University’s influence on the Church is seen as ‘exclusively negative.’”” In addition to the lack of understanding mentioned above, educators often perceive their task as developing a theological tradition independent from the Church (although insisting that they do it as their service for the Church). Moreover, 73° All of this contributes to the University is seen as a place for ‘non-Church theology. the widening of the gap between ecclesial practice and academic thought. Thus, the appearance of Cherenkov’s thesis, that the Church must be blamed for the existing misunderstandings and conflicts, can be seen as a result, naturally flowing from mutual misunderstanding and, eventually, mistrust. He writes, The alienation between the Church and the University continues not because the University is closed or has an antichristian disposition, but because the Church cannot and does not even try to express its faith in 7 As | have mentioned earlier, in this chapter the term “University” is used in a rather narrow sense of theological educational institutions. In such use of these terms | am following Mykhailo N. Cherenkov and his article, “Post-Soviet Protestants between the Church and the University,” in Theological Reflections, Special edition: Bible, Theology, Church (2013), pp 23-30. 8 Ibid., p 27. *° Ibid., pp 26-29. ° Ibid., p 25. 229 forms suitable for the University and to put its faith to an intellectual test in discussions. ?* While lamenting the failure of the Church to reach the level of the University, Cherenkov seems to be interested in developing abstract academic theology.” However, in doing so, he misses an important part of the theological task — to discover the convictions of the community of faith, thus enabling an informed dialogue that can