Coz I can’t help myself I’m going to translate your theobabble into my psychobabble for a second. Shrinks call the process of realising the difference between our behaviour and our beliefs “Cognitive Dissonance”.

We can live with disonnant ideas/behaviour for years, and often fight to protect them from being confronted… but when we do realise we either move to change behaviour or belief, or a combo of both. Applies to all beleifs about life not just theology… although idealy some might argue that theology should cover all our beliefs about life.

I think you made a quantum leap from 1. observing the complexity of the reality of each of us participating more or less consciously in the construction of our individual world-view to 2. your prescription for the future… not withstanding that I agree with it:

But at the same time we need to be a community that is reassuring believers that the hope is in Jesus, and in creating a community where the answers are sought from each other. It’s surely a difficult thing to create, but the results have got to be enormous

I’ve been waiting for you to say something like that… can I hold you to it? Is it a commiting statement of belief? I just want to know that a bunch of us are on this page to feel confident its OUR agenda and not just mine!

I think the ability to be Generous in our beliefs requires first that we surrender our comfortable certainty in favour of a gracious faith, a choice to believe in the overuling power of faith, love and grace… despite our many unintentionally heretical interpretations and obliviously hypocritical actions.

If Grace doesn’t stretch this far… we are all condemned!

I’m pretty sure I can identify with that faith crisis point. I’m glad someone has a theory as to how it all works!

The same ideas of an awareness of our personal context, in terms of both our own self-imposed values and the things that rub off from the influences around us, have been acknowledged for a long time in biblical scholarship. If you’re looking to interpret the bible in its own context with its own set of cultural anomalies, our own personal “stuff” is quite likely to get in the way.

I like the way the model that you described actually accommodates exegetical accuracy as part of each individual’s approach to the “sacred text” subset of our overall faith journey.

I’m not quite sure if I’m actually trying to make a point, other than to wholeheartedly agree that we can’t have faith in a vacuum.