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What Is Your Theology Like? As Seen Throgh the Triad of Knowledge,Good Deeds and

Spirituality

Dr.Adis Duderija

It would be fair to assert that every religious tradition in human history has highly valued

and continues to highly value knowledge, good deeds and spirituality (i.e. in sense of

performance of some kind of religious rituals) however differently they were/are defined or

put into practice.

What is interesting to explore, and this is the aim of this short article, is the idea of the relative

importance placed on these three pillars of religious tradition one vis-a-vis the other. This

could be accomplished both comparatively (i.e. across different religions) and well as within

the various strands of a particular religious tradition. It could also be examined

chronologically tracing any possible patterns or shifts in patterns. An examination of this

prioritising is useful as it would give us an insight into the ideal types of theologies

prevalent among the adherents of religious traditions and perhaps be used as a method fordeveloping typologies of theologies.

What I mean by prioritising or the relative importance given to one of the pillars in relation to

the other can be best illustrated with the following example. Imagine you had six hours a day

to dedicate to expanding your knowledge (not necessarily religious in the narrow term of the

word but inclusive of it), doing good deeds or engaging in spiritual rituals? Percentagewise

how would you ideally divide this time up? The answer to this question would, in my view,be indicative of the type of theology you subscribe to.

In what follows Id like to briefly identify and discuss three different ideal types

of theologies prevalent in my religious tradition of Islam today through the lens of this triadof knowledge-good deeds- spirituality. Of course, there is a rich history of ideas pertaining to

this problematic in Islamic history, especially in relation to the definition of faith/belief(iman). The views on this problematic can be conceived as a kind of a continuum. One side

there were advocates who insisted that good deeds (including the normatively prescribedrituals) were an essential prerequisites of iman with the implication that the failure to perform

them was tantamount to apostasy- a crime many considered to be punishable by death. On the

other hand there were those who subscribed to the view that a tacit or a verbal expression of

proclaiming the faith was considered sufficient to be part of the faith community. My

intention here is not to revisit these but to describe, in broad contours, some of the

contemporary theologies among Muslims and some of their implications in relation to issues

such as nature of revelation and scripture, the relationship between law and ethics and others.

One such theology I call progressive. Progressive theology gives priority to orthopraxis overorthodoxy. This means that it considers performance of good deeds more

important than acquisition of knowledge leading to correct faith/belief or that of engagingin ritual . For this type of theology the human and the human condition are central to it. The

discussions pertaining to how to arrive at correct belief, those centring on nature of God and

its relationship with the cosmos and the living creation are of secondary importance. Instead,

the alleviation of extreme poverty, being on the side of the wretched, marginalised,

stigmatised, and the downtrodden is not only considered the purpose and the primary function

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of religion it is also viewed as an essential prerequisite leading to orthodoxy. This theology, in

my understanding of it, holds that humans are considered to experience the Divine mostreadily and immediately through their interactions with other human beings rather than by

contemplating abstractly on the Divine , observing the nature or engaging in various spiritualexercises ( i.e. ritual). Furthermore, this theological orientation , in my view, by

implication favours inductive over deductive reasoning/thinking because its foundation and

starting point is the world of the human condition with its incredible diversity (including thereligious) and complexity which makes it very difficult to think in binary terms (e.g. havingsalvation not having salvation). Furthermore, this theology, by giving primacy to good

deeds and to the human and by being less concerned about knowledge leading to correct

belief is also more likely to be egalitarian eschewing any form of hierarchies , most notably

those based on gender , sexual orientation, race or ethnicity. In addition, it is more likely to

be open to and accommodating of the idea of religious pluralism, i.e. the premise that none of

the reified religious traditions made in the crucible of history (as well as those in the present

and the future) are capable of objectively and fully capturing the Divine, thus none can claim

monopoly over God. This, in turn, translates into the notion that, according to this

progressive theology, the idea of God is not fully graspable to the human either through his

intellect, mind, reason or the heart. By definition it also implies that the sacred scriptures

cannot offer us humans an unequivocal, clearly accessible and once and for all validunderstanding of God through the simple process of reading/interpretation. Instead, it

considers the human interpreter and her subjectivities and contingencies as most significantly

determinative of the process of interpretation envisaged as a never ending dynamic processthat continually evolves with reason. There is, in other words, an organic and dialectical

relationship between revelation and reality. Furthermore, this theology gives precedence toreason- based ethics over law. It insists that law must be in constant service of ethics and that

law ought to evolve with evolving ideas about ethics as developed by humanity- and in thepost-revelatory period this evolution is exclusively driven by reason/intellect. Put succinctly,

this theology embraces and even thrives on pluralism, diversity and whats fundamental to allof it, uncertainty. Based on my own observations I consider this to be a minority theological

position among contemporary Muslims, especially among the clerical establishment, but,

importantly, a growing one.

The second type of theology can be described as purist. According to this theology, religionis all about correct belief (i.e. knowledge) and everything else is secondary to it. The central

concern for the purists is how to, or put more precisely, from whom to obtain the correctknowledge in order to arrive at correct faith/belief. The nature of legitimate knowledge and its

sources is, thus, very specifically defined, delineated and guarded. What follows from this isthe idea that this purist theology is fixed centrally on discourses pertaining to Gods essence

and nature rather than being focused on the human condition. God is primarily to befound/discovered in the sacred and other canonical scriptures rather then It being experienced

through human social intercourses or by contemplating about /on nature and the cosmos. I

refer to this as a scripturalist dimension of purist theology or scripturalism. As a corollary,scripturalism is closely linked to what could be termed positivist legalistic theology which

views law as not only more superior to ethics but the very embodiment of it. Furthermore,

ethics and reason are considered as not subject to evolution and to possess potential for

positive change and growth (i.e. progress). The law, according to this view, does not have a

scripturally independent objective, underpinning or rationale. This theology favours, as

such, deductive over inductive thinking/reasoning. In its epistemology and methods it

resembles natural sciences and eschews uncertainty. Purist theology also favours

decontextualized thought and defines good deeds rather statically and literally-independent of

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their underlying moral trajectories. Furthermore, the rights of God are defined often as

independent of at times in opposition to and always given precedence over to that of therights of humans. The purists legalistic theology combined with scripturalism and strong

opposition to the possibility of progress defined above also facilitates hierarchical structures,especially those based on religious creed or gender. As a result purist theology shuns religious

pluralism, endorses various forms of gender inegaliterianism favouring the prevalent social

and cultural customs and conditions of the time of the religious traditions formation andmakes forceful theologically exclusivist claims. The scripturalist and decontextualizeddimension of purists theology also significantly contributes to its strong hermeneutical

inclination for narrowing down of legitimate or authentic interpretations of the sacred and

canonical texts. This theology, in various hues and degrees, in my view has considerable

presence among contemporary Muslims.

The last ideal type discussed here is what I refer to as spiritual -ritualistic theology. Here self -

introspection and deep meditative-like contemplation takes central stage in contrast to thesocial human condition (progressive) or that of the scriptures (purists). This contemplative

quality takes often form in the engagement in elaborate rituals and recitation of sacredmantras/formulae either in isolation or in a communal setting. This sort of theology often

employs the symbolism of the heart as the locus of true source of knowledge about God incontrast to that of the intellect or the sacred text. As history testifies what is interesting

about this type of theology is that it can lead or be accommodative of both progressive-like

and purist-like theologies. It can function within the confines of the law in form of positivist

legal theology mentioned above therefore be purist like- or transcend it entirely by adopting

an ethically underpinned theology of the progressives.

What does the future hold for these three ideal types of theologies? Are certain types going to

be more likely to capture the minds and the hearts of the people? This question, of course,

remains open. However with the rise of the moral consciousness, the noosphere, with its

simultaneous strong focus on the human condition, deep sharing of emotion, and the

embrace of diversity it seems that the progressive theology is best equipped for meeting the

religious-spiritual needs of those humans who identify themselves to be people of faith.