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

tity” is not only a neglected subject for Russian Baptist theological 235 3 it should neither be education, but also a rather alien concept for a wider society,’ ignored nor taken for granted. Unless this subject is taken seriously in educational institutions, all attempts to aid churches in dealing with their problems will be similar to trying to relieve symptoms of the disease without addressing the cause.“ The second element relates to the way the question of theology is approached. As McClendon argues, Theology is not just “ideas (or words) about God”; it is not a set of changeless beliefs associated with religion; it is not, despite the jokes, erudite discussion of inaccessible nonentities... There is a more satisfying notion of what theology is that makes sense to many people: on the one hand, “it represents something deeply self-involving for its adherents”; on the other, even mystical theologies... “are attempts systematically to connect mystical experience with what is and is not there in the world — or beyond it.””° Such understanding, unlike the previously mentioned idea of the University being a place of non-Church, pure academic theology, leads to a different relationship between the Church, a convictional community, and the University, an educational institution, which is involved in ‘systematic study that investigates, interprets, and 46 sometimes re-forms’ convictions of a convictional community.” This approach presupposes that the University needs the Church, which becomes its community of reference, since theology is never neutral, but contextual and self-involving in its “3 As | pointed out earlier in the Introduction, ft. 16, at present, the Russian language does not have an appropriate equivalent to the term “identity.” “* In his analysis of the historical identity of Evangelical Christians, Andrey Puzynin argues that these churches have undergone a ‘series of epistemic crises’ as a result of the changes in their identity being a ‘direct result of the changing configurations of geopolitical forces.’ Therefore, he sees a solution to the on-going ‘crisis of the evangelical traditions’ in ‘a critical re-evaluation of the previous historical constructions of identity and theological practices, in light of the Logos, textually mediated by the canon.’ (Puzynin, The Tradition of the Gospel Christians, pp 276-277). “© McClendon, Witness, p 398. “© Ibid. 236 character.’’ This systematic research and study of the convictions of the Church, understanding and discovery of what the Church really believes in, and how these beliefs were formed, will lead to a greater level of understanding and, subsequently, to greater appreciation of what the Church and the University practice and aspire to achieve. This entire dissertation could be seen as an attempt to implement these suggestions into the study of the practice of proclamation. The answer to the question