Mary Daly

Mary Daly, the creative feminist theologian, died yesterday at 81. During my college years and early days in seminary, her books, especially Beyond God the Father and Gyn/Ecology, were a huge influence on my thought. I haven't read them in recent years; I finally got rid of my beat up copy of Gyn/Ecology in October when we sorted and gave away a huge number of our books. When I saw the video tribute below I was reminded of the many ways in which Daly's work continues to have an influence on how I approach religion, both in the classroom and in the parish.

Only Some of My Theology

On his blog a colleague from Drew had done a quiz that's supposed to tell you what kind of theology you hold. I decided to take it. Some of the statements were hard to evaluate. I found part of a lot of the individual statements to be partly "very true" and partly dead wrong.

I'm happy enough with the emergent/postmodern result, though I'm not sure why the evangelical/Wesleyan came up as high as it did. It can't be because of the evangelical part. Perhaps it's because I really like Wesley's Quadrangle of Tradition, Reason, Scripture, and Experience and weigh that heavily in my answers? (Oh no? Does that make me a bad Presbyterian? :-)

The Catholicism no doubt came up because I affirmed the value of Mary and because I only disagreed (rather than strongly disagreed) with the pope and his role in the church.

And what's the difference between classical liberal and modern liberal?

Here are the results.

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 89% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Classical Liberal 64% Roman Catholic 61% Modern Liberal 61% Charismatic/Pentecostal 61% Neo orthodox 57% Reformed Evangelical 39% Fundamentalist 7%

Carbonated Holiness

“Carbonated holiness”--that’s the way Anne Lamott describes laughter during her March 23rd interview on NPR’s “On Point”. http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/03/20070323_b_main.asp

The whole interview is worth listening to but what a great phrase! I can’t wait to read her newest book, Grace(Eventually).