Experience and Knowledge

I was reading a blogg by Joe Thorn on “Experimental Theology” and do see this as a big issue. The issue is not simply having the knowledge of God or the experience of God but having both and that both are so intimately intertwined. I think one of the things I enjoy about reading John Piper’s works is that the two elements work together and that it is easy to see that if one area is lacking both will suffer and be insufficient in and of themselves.

We need to make sure that we do not see either the experience or the theology as an end in and of themselves but that both happen together. As we learn we can experience God more fully since we understand more of who God is. As we experience what we have learned our understanding grows and should even move us to want to know more. So you can see that the Christian life is not just about knowing and not just about doing but both. We need to not only need to be Orthodox in understanding but that needs to be coupled with Orthopraxy which will incorporate the experimental side of things.

Too often the movements the church goes through seem to side with one end or the other of the equations (knowledge or experience) as a reaction to the previous movements over emphasis of one over the other. We as a church need to stop this and begin to make sure we meld the two and not over emphasize either of them. True theology will change us but mere knowledge will just stagnate and lead to a cold and dead experience.

Grace and Peace,

Tony