Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life

In Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life, Ed Cyzewski offers a welcoming introduction to how laity should begin to work out theology and doctrine in a postmodern context.  Providing a succint and fast-paced introduction to the cultural changes that have shifted the way Americans think from The Modern Age to the plethora of possibilities that make up our current cultural context, Cyzewski navigates the turbulence of contemporary philosphical discussions and misinformation and enters into a sturring discussion of how every member of the Church must do theology and not know theology.

At the center of this book is the shift from "knowledge" to "understanding." Whereas the Scientific Method has influenced our culture to think in terms of data, knowledge and absolute Truth the postmodern age does not question the veracity of these claims but instead the knowability of such claims—in other words, Cyzewski works out the "postmodern age" much like the postmodern philosophers since the 1950s would want it to be: a realization that we cannot know everything so we must be humble.  When we do theology contextually, that is by being humble enough to realize that we are biased by our culture and our traditions and that there are different biases and different traditions in other cultures, we move from the battle of knowing doctrine and to a conversation like one would have in a coffeehouse (civil, polite, understanding, and loving).  As Cyzewski notes,

"Doing theology in a postmodern context challenges us to read Scripture with an awareness of how our culture influences who we are and how we see the world, while dialoguing with Christians from history and around the world.  This process involves reading Scripture, and then rereading Scripture in light of what our traditions and global believers teach us."

At its worse, the framework for theological conversations since the Reformation has not been ecumenical but divisive, and Cyzewski is right to call the Church to task for conducting its theological discussion as a fight and not as a coffeehouse conversation.  Cyzewski reminds us that, "if love for God and for one another guides us while we form theology, then we will be wary of accumulating knowledge as a matter of pride."  This forms the paradox of theology in the postmodern context as opposed to The Modern Age, and gets to the heart of the shaking science-based foundations on which Modernism approached theology:

in the Modern Age more theology meant more knowledge and more divisiveness.
in the Postmodern age more thology means more understanding and more love.

As the belief that man can obtain all knowledge is slowly thrown into the wastebasket of intellectual history, we are reminded that in our humility we should look at theology not as a finite project, one that will lead us to all knowledge concerning God and the Church, but as an infinite project where "contextual theology ends up being an ongoing process, a conversation we have between the Bible and the influences of our culture, traditions, and global Christians."

Informally written, well paced, and easy to digest, I sincerely recommend Coffeehouse Theology as an excellent introduction to theology in a postmodern context and especially for book clubs or small group meetings.  It is sure to spark excellent conversations about how to have theological conversations!
Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life
Ed Cyzewski
NavPress
$9.49 (at Amazon)