Phronema - The Mind of The Church - the mind of Christ
Gamma Gamaliel
Shipmate
in Purgatory
Phronema is the term we Orthodox use for acquiring the 'mind of the Church' - of thinking Orthodox-ly.
It's the process of training ourselves - by God's grace - to remain in step with Holy Tradition and not go off on flights of fancy or innovation.
It's about keeping in step with the scriptures as interpreted by the Church Fathers and the Orthodox Church which we see as preserving and passing all that on intact. Which doesn't mean we don't make mistakes.
It's a process I've embarked on as a convert, of course, whilst endeavouring to be eirenic and respectful towards those who see things differently.
I don't always succeed.
There will be a Reformed 'phronema' of course, a Roman Catholic one, and Lutheran, Wesleyan, Anglican, Pentecostal and other 'phronemas'.
I'm afraid we wouldn't see them all as equally valid but assess and evaluate them to the extent that they correspond - or otherwise - with our own. Hence, we tend to have a set of concentric circles by which we assess how close or otherwise groups and individuals are to the 'dogmatic core' of the Venn Diagram where we all overlap.
It can, of course, lead to an attitude of superiority, of 'You're not Orthodox so you can f-f-f-f- ..... forget it ...'
There's a lot of that online.
We can be Awkwardox as well as Orthodox.
And we have our zealots and fundies the same as everyone else.
But if we are involved with something that 'self-identifies' as Big O Orthodoxy then everything else is going to be small o orthodox at best, heterodox or even heretical - although the wisest of us, it seems to me, are slow to bandy about with the latter 'h' word.
It's not one I'd use other than in relation to full-on Arians or extreme health/wealth prosperity gospel types and certain forms of extreme liberal or fundamentalist positions. Which begs the question as how we define 'extreme'.
However we cut it and whatever Christian tradition we may inhabit, it seems to me we must start with an agreed 'norm' and agreed parameters. That will cross denominational and confessional divides to some extent. But what a Reformed or a Lutheran Christian may consider a 'non-negotiable', for instance, may not entirely correspond with ours.
In which case we may have to respectfully disagree and certainly try to understand the other's position on whatever the issue at variance happens to be.
All this is on my mind as I've decided to embark on a formal programme of Orthodox theological study by correspondence course.
Not that I aim to become a priest - heaven forfend! - but I would not rule out the possibility of the diaconate - should the Lord so lead. At the very least I would set out to become an informed lay-person.
I do want to acquire the 'mind of the Church'. We have 'the mind of Christ' collectively the NT tells us.
And that should be shown in our attitudes and behaviour towards others and not through some kind of doctrinaire tick-box exercise to decide who is 'in' and who is 'out'.
If I may be permitted a personal anecdote. I have a twin-brother in South Wales who has been estranged from churches of any kind for a few decades now. He has a drink-problem but that appears to be under control at the moment. He has recently started attending his local RC parish church - just 100 yards or so from where he lives. He has lots of questions and concerns - understandably from a Protestant evangelical background - but it's been lovely to see him 'awaken' to sacramental theology and liturgy, to the idea of a church calendar, daily offices of prayer and so on.
As you can imagine, I can see parallels and similarities with my own journey into Orthodoxy and I hope he comes through and finds a spiritual home in Rome.
There are, of course, significant differences between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism - and Western Christianity in general - but also so much we share in common. If you are given to prayer, please pray for him.
Pray also for me as I embark on my studies and of your mercy pardon and forgive anything wherein I have offended any of you.
In closing, I do not see 'phronema' as implying 'group-think' or a switching off of our minds - although I don't see theology and a knowledge of God in purely 'rational' terms either - it transcends that.
Nor, I hope, do I see it as a way of excluding others or putting people beyond the pale - although I can understand how it could develop that way.
There is a tussle and a struggle with all these things. Jacob wrestled with the Angel and walked with a limp thereafter.
Lord have mercy!
It's the process of training ourselves - by God's grace - to remain in step with Holy Tradition and not go off on flights of fancy or innovation.
It's about keeping in step with the scriptures as interpreted by the Church Fathers and the Orthodox Church which we see as preserving and passing all that on intact. Which doesn't mean we don't make mistakes.
It's a process I've embarked on as a convert, of course, whilst endeavouring to be eirenic and respectful towards those who see things differently.
I don't always succeed.
There will be a Reformed 'phronema' of course, a Roman Catholic one, and Lutheran, Wesleyan, Anglican, Pentecostal and other 'phronemas'.
I'm afraid we wouldn't see them all as equally valid but assess and evaluate them to the extent that they correspond - or otherwise - with our own. Hence, we tend to have a set of concentric circles by which we assess how close or otherwise groups and individuals are to the 'dogmatic core' of the Venn Diagram where we all overlap.
It can, of course, lead to an attitude of superiority, of 'You're not Orthodox so you can f-f-f-f- ..... forget it ...'
There's a lot of that online.
We can be Awkwardox as well as Orthodox.
And we have our zealots and fundies the same as everyone else.
But if we are involved with something that 'self-identifies' as Big O Orthodoxy then everything else is going to be small o orthodox at best, heterodox or even heretical - although the wisest of us, it seems to me, are slow to bandy about with the latter 'h' word.
It's not one I'd use other than in relation to full-on Arians or extreme health/wealth prosperity gospel types and certain forms of extreme liberal or fundamentalist positions. Which begs the question as how we define 'extreme'.
However we cut it and whatever Christian tradition we may inhabit, it seems to me we must start with an agreed 'norm' and agreed parameters. That will cross denominational and confessional divides to some extent. But what a Reformed or a Lutheran Christian may consider a 'non-negotiable', for instance, may not entirely correspond with ours.
In which case we may have to respectfully disagree and certainly try to understand the other's position on whatever the issue at variance happens to be.
All this is on my mind as I've decided to embark on a formal programme of Orthodox theological study by correspondence course.
Not that I aim to become a priest - heaven forfend! - but I would not rule out the possibility of the diaconate - should the Lord so lead. At the very least I would set out to become an informed lay-person.
I do want to acquire the 'mind of the Church'. We have 'the mind of Christ' collectively the NT tells us.
And that should be shown in our attitudes and behaviour towards others and not through some kind of doctrinaire tick-box exercise to decide who is 'in' and who is 'out'.
If I may be permitted a personal anecdote. I have a twin-brother in South Wales who has been estranged from churches of any kind for a few decades now. He has a drink-problem but that appears to be under control at the moment. He has recently started attending his local RC parish church - just 100 yards or so from where he lives. He has lots of questions and concerns - understandably from a Protestant evangelical background - but it's been lovely to see him 'awaken' to sacramental theology and liturgy, to the idea of a church calendar, daily offices of prayer and so on.
As you can imagine, I can see parallels and similarities with my own journey into Orthodoxy and I hope he comes through and finds a spiritual home in Rome.
There are, of course, significant differences between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism - and Western Christianity in general - but also so much we share in common. If you are given to prayer, please pray for him.
Pray also for me as I embark on my studies and of your mercy pardon and forgive anything wherein I have offended any of you.
In closing, I do not see 'phronema' as implying 'group-think' or a switching off of our minds - although I don't see theology and a knowledge of God in purely 'rational' terms either - it transcends that.
Nor, I hope, do I see it as a way of excluding others or putting people beyond the pale - although I can understand how it could develop that way.
There is a tussle and a struggle with all these things. Jacob wrestled with the Angel and walked with a limp thereafter.
Lord have mercy!