Theological Worlds

Part 2, Your Theological Temperament

Having described Paul Jones' notions of obsessio and epiphania, which define one's theological world, the other thing I'd like to note concerns Jones' observation about the relative balancing of our experiences of obsessio versus epiphania.

Again, the obsessio concerns our experiences of brokenness. Epiphania our experiences of grace. Theologically, the obsessio concerns "the Fall" and the epiphania concerns "salvation." And according to Jones, we locate these experiences in different places creating a unique and particular spiritual experience, quest, and journey. Our theological world.

We'll turn to those theological worlds shortly, but before we do there's one additional thing that Jones puts on our radar screen regarding the relationship of obsessio to epiphania. He writes:

There is one more factor to be identified in the emergence of a theological World—the role played by what we will call temperament (“proper mixing”). While the dynamic of obsessio and epiphania is universal, for some individuals, the emphasis falls heaviest on obsessio; for others, on epiphania…

Beyond the location of the obsessio, which we'll get to, there is the relative experience of obsessio to epiphania. That is to say, for some people the experience of epiphania--the experience of assurance, grace, goodness, and salvation--predominate. For others, the experience of the epiphania is more fleeting, episodic, and fragile. Salvation seems furtive, like the sun hidden behind storm clouds, only peeking out intermittently. For these people, the experience of the obsessio, the felt sense of brokenness, predominates.

In my research and writing, I've described these two types of believers as "Summer Christians" and "Winter Christians." In the Summer Christian experience the experience of epiphania predominates. The top notes of faith are joy, peace, conviction, and positivity. By contrast, among Winter Christians the obsessio is felt more keenly. Faith is shadowed by doubt and lament. Simply:

Summer Christian Experience = Epiphana > Obsessio

Winter Christian Experience = Obsessio > Epiphania

According to Jones, this balance and mixing creates a theological "temperament," and he suggests it might be as durable as your personality. That is to say, while everyone goes through winter seasons of faith, some of us might be consistently winter in orientation, experience, and outlook due to how we're wired or put together. I'll have more to day about how I relate to this in the posts to come.

For today, however, you can think about yourself. Where do your spiritual experiences seem to settle? On the obsessio side of the equation, or the epiphania? More doubt or more conviction? More lament or more praise? More Summer or more Winter?

What's your theological temperament?