2010-10-01 issue:
Orthopraxy, not orthodoxy
by Mitchell Brown, Wilmette, Ill.I am troubled by Steve Dintaman's suggestion that we need some kind of Christian orthodoxy in our colleges (Letters, August). What does this seemingly innocuous phrase “Christian orthodoxy” mean? We have Jesus and the Bible, what more do we need? However, well meaning attempts to reduce the Bible to some “orthodox” tenets will always fail. Jesus spent his life preaching orthopraxy, not orthodoxy, and it would behoove his church to do likewise.
Associated Issue: Singing for peace - August 2010
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It makes little sense to talk about orthopraxy apart from orthodoxy. Our practice of Christian faith always flows out of our beliefs about God, humanity, and the world, whether we explicitly state those beliefs or hold them implicitly. Mitchell Brown’s statement about “Jesus and the Bible” reveals something about what he holds to be true. Interestingly, this same Jesus is recorded as using the verb, “believe,” some 100 times in the canonical Gospels. Does it really make sense to say that Jesus “spent his life preaching orthopraxy, not orthodoxy,” as Brown claims? Does Jesus care only about what we do, and not what we believe? Of course, it is also senseless to talk about believing the right thing without living it out, which is precisely why Steve Dintaman made reference to both faith and practice in his original letter. If we want parents in the pews of our MCUSA congregations to trust our colleges and universities enough to send their children there, is it really too much to ask, as Dintaman does, that “our college leaders ... be more transparent about controversial interpretations of Christian faith and practice on our campuses”?