We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
Over the next four postings, I would like to discuss each of the value statements listed above and how they apply to doing theology. The first value that we will discuss is "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools."
Most theological systems tend to be very process-heavy. By this I mean that they tend to by highly systematic usually involve complex patterns of reasoning. While there's nothing wrong with such things per se, Agile suggests that another approach might be more helpful.
In Agile software development, quality deliverables are achieved by small teams of people collaborating closely together. One variation of Agile, in fact, advocates that two developers share a single workstation and do what is called paired programming. This is where two people work jointly on the same code at the same time. The value of this and similar approaches is that collaboration produces better results.
Theology that's borne out of community is not a new concept. In the 80's Liberation Theology grew out of what came to be known as Base Ecclesial Communities. These communities, usually found amount the marginalized poor of Latin America, sought to re-imagine theology as a means to address the systemic injustices in their societies and the church. More recently, the Emergent Church movement seeks to formulate a theology and ecclesiology based on a corporate faith experience. It tends to distance itself from hierarchical church influences and instead looks to develop and share insights through local community relationships and even social media outlets such as discussion boards, blogs, and wikis.
Refactoring Theology shares many of these values. It also adds the practice of using these relationships to distill and crystallize theological concepts into that which is sustainable and extensible. In other words, it is not just a matter of being in community or in relationship. It is about harnessing these relationships to work together in the same way paired programmers collaborate. By struggling together to find clearer and simpler way to express a theological concept, not only is theology advanced, relationships and community are also enhanced.
Can theology be done in isolation? Yes, but it can be done better in the context of a collaborative faith community. This is the core of the message of Refactoring Theology.
In Agile software development, quality deliverables are achieved by small teams of people collaborating closely together. One variation of Agile, in fact, advocates that two developers share a single workstation and do what is called paired programming. This is where two people work jointly on the same code at the same time. The value of this and similar approaches is that collaboration produces better results.
Theology that's borne out of community is not a new concept. In the 80's Liberation Theology grew out of what came to be known as Base Ecclesial Communities. These communities, usually found amount the marginalized poor of Latin America, sought to re-imagine theology as a means to address the systemic injustices in their societies and the church. More recently, the Emergent Church movement seeks to formulate a theology and ecclesiology based on a corporate faith experience. It tends to distance itself from hierarchical church influences and instead looks to develop and share insights through local community relationships and even social media outlets such as discussion boards, blogs, and wikis.
Refactoring Theology shares many of these values. It also adds the practice of using these relationships to distill and crystallize theological concepts into that which is sustainable and extensible. In other words, it is not just a matter of being in community or in relationship. It is about harnessing these relationships to work together in the same way paired programmers collaborate. By struggling together to find clearer and simpler way to express a theological concept, not only is theology advanced, relationships and community are also enhanced.
Can theology be done in isolation? Yes, but it can be done better in the context of a collaborative faith community. This is the core of the message of Refactoring Theology.
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