being in proper proportion contribute to how healing or destructive a theology may be. Our theology begins to hurt when it pulls too much in one direction at a cost to other priorities. More Committed to Systems Than People
Theology can hurt when it is more committed to systems and language than people and their contexts. When our theology is more committed to being a perfectly coherent system, it can disregard the basic realities of human relationships and dynamics. It is not that we must discard our commitment to a coherent theology. Rather, we must recognize that a truly systematic theology incorporates biblical, philosophical, scientific, and historical knowledge along with knowledge about human relationships, emotions, and forms of human brokenness beyond willful disobedience to God( mental health disorders, trauma, etc.). A robust systematic theology cannot be complete when it predetermines what systems of knowledge to exclude before it has begun.
Another way of saying this might be to ask, particularly for pastors, Are we more committed to our system than to the people God came near to, loved, and gave himself fully for who have been entrusted to our care? If so, our theology is going to hurt them because the force of our theology is out of balance with a theology that heals. More directly, it is out of sync with the God who heals. A theologian who does not reflect the heart of the God they claim to speak to denies the validity of their theology with their actions.
Not Trauma-Sensitive
Under this umbrella, a second reason theology can hurt( and one we have become increasingly aware of) relates to the way in which human trauma affects how we interact with God, others, and ourselves. Trauma often affects us in counterintuitive ways, and when this is misunderstood by the theologian, words that were intended to heal end up compounding the hurt.
" A theologian who does not reflect the heart of the God they claim to speak to denies the validity of their theology with their actions."
One of the great tragedies of trauma is that our human efforts to create mechanisms for coping with the sin committed against us can manifest in ways that are easily confused with rebellion against God when devoid of their context. Of course, this complicates our theology. But a theology that heals is dynamic enough to be tuned in to the lived realities and difficulties of human life. A theology that heals does not live in the pristine categories of the ivory tower but descends into the messiness of human existence where healing can actually happen.
Our Three Areas of Brokenness
Finally, a theology that hurts does not account for all three areas of brokenness that we feel
23