Christian social theory is theoretical; that is to say it is a mode of scholarship which seeks to deepen human understanding of the creation by means of abstract analysis, concepts and theories.
Nevertheless, the full reality of social life cannot be captured in concepts. But there are various formulations we can make that are highly relevant to our Christian social perspective which are not, as such, theoretical.
q
'Christ is Lord of all of life’,
q
‘All of life is religion Coram Deo’
q
‘Society is governed by a principle in which each social
institution is sovereign in its own sphere’
q Society is governed by a principle by which each social structure maintains its own distinctiveness by contributing to the entire social fabric in its own way.
We might pepper our speech with such aphorisms. They indicate the great potential of mind-changing and life-changing insights. Sometimes we use these intuitively, but we have to watch ourselves; they can become mindless formulae and when that happens we can lapse into ways of thought that replace critical analysis with clichés.
Theoretical concepts do not and cannot, by themselves, grasp the full extent of the mosaic of social interaction in which we live, move and have our being. We have to be vigilant if we are to keep our theoretical concepts from degenerating into slogans, and also we should try and preserve our slogans and not engage in some over-extension of them as if they are somehow scientific data. The various formulae mentioned above are not theoretical ways of grasping the incredible diversity and magnitude of social structures, processes, and human responses. They are confessional sayings we take with us into our social scientific work.
Such sayings are important to us. But as phrases they indicate our world-and life-view. They come into conversation as appeals to principle to correct our path, to head us in the right direction. Such statements do not suffice when it comes to scientific and theoretical work.
For scientific and theoretical work scientific and theoretical statements are needed. This does not render science autonomous, as if it is its own law. It is to say that science has a task that only science can do. Social theory has a task that only social theory can do. In all areas of science the Christian scientist is a believer who cannot avoid confessing his or her faith in words like those given above. But as we have said repeatedly, in this the Christian scientist is no ‘odd-ball’ and is no different from any other scientist of non-Christian persuasion. The statement of confession is not the statement of theoretical argument. To pretend otherwise is to miss the point of scientific investigation.
Systematic and painstaking research with the meticulous elaboration of the results of research, can sometimes make such confessional formulations come alive with cultural power. Sometimes they might degenerate into slogans, which come to mean the exact opposite of what was originally intended (see for example Jeremiah 8:8). And if they have become slogans, rhetoric we use to re-assure ourselves that we (used to) know what we are talking about, then they indicate the death of principles in our scientific thinking and daily lives.
These formulations can point us to the totality of all things and how God, in Christ has restored and continues to restore, His creation. They point us in the direction our vocation should take on this earth, in this creation.
The full meaning of these ‘good reports’ (as the writer of Hebrews calls them) does not come to full expression without a struggle. These are also the formulations of those who, previously, wandered in deserts and mountains and hid in dens and caves because they had faith. The statement of faith which acts as a goad is not made perfect without our faithful response.
To conclude this small chapter let us formulate one basic classification that is useful for the sociological analysis of any social setting. It is a three-fold classification that can usefully help us understand social action by social actors. In any social setting we can identify the meaning and the character of the social activity by distinguishing:
q
the institutional bonds by which actors remain accountable
from
q
the requirements of organisational membership from
q the freedom to form inter-personal relationships.
The three-fold distinction between institutions, organisations and relationships is a basic sociological framework within which social action can be analysed. Actors are held to institutional bonds quite apart from their will or their "clocking on or off"; organisational membership is a matter of forming the conditions of some or other social relationships and indeed one may "clock on" and become constrained by one's managerial line. Inter-personal relationship occur in all institutional and organisational settings, and also outside these, and can be formed to a greater or lesser extent. We will come back to this basic frame of reference in later parts of this book. For the moment, I am simply describing this classification in order to underline the fact any Christian social research must be concerned with empirical states of societal interaction.
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August 2004 © A
Christian Calling in Social Theory and Research is a work written by
Bruce C Wearne (PhD), 29 Lawrence Rd., Point Lonsdale Vic 3225 AUSTRALIA,
61-3-5258-3913. Each chapter may be photocopied or retransmitted in its
entirety only with full acknowledgement of the author and the source. It shall
not otherwise be reprinted or transmitted without permission. This
personal project aims to encourage a positive Christian student
engagement in universities around the world which need to better understand the
vocation of science as an expression of our love for God and our
neighbour. Your comments are welcome. Email can be sent to bcwearne@ozemail.com.au
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bcwearne/index.html