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You’re Doing it Wrong: Folk Theology

Oct 14, 2009 Print This Post

Yesterday, I posted about Tabloid Theology, which is one of the ways people do theology wrong according to The Theology Program podcast. Today, I want to hit on another that I see a lot: Folk Theology. Here’s a quick definition of this type of person:

One who uncritically and unreflectively constructs his or her theology according to traditions and religious folklore. The Folk theologian is often very dogmatic and militant about his or her beliefs.

I have met many Folk Theologians. In fact, I would hazard a guess that most Christians I know fall into this camp. They have been told things about Jesus, God, the Church, etc and they believe them simply because someone told them. They don’t have convictions that are based upon the Word, rather they are based on what they have historically believed.

I’ll give you an example from my own life. I grew up in a great church. I was taught a great many things and believed them with deep conviction. Then, when I was in college, I began to really read the Bible for myself. I discovered that some of my beliefs were dead on and biblical, some of them were nowhere to be found in the Bible. Because I hadn’t critically and scripturally thought about these issues, I held them both with the same amount of conviction.

I really love that the TTP guys defined this theologian as being “often very dogmatic and militant about his or her beliefs” because this is exactly what I have experienced. The people that fight with me the most on theology are those that have the least verses. When I begin to ask them where they get their beliefs from the Word, they hem and haw and talk about what someone once told them or what they grew up hearing or what they have experienced or what the latest book told them. When they do have a verse, often it’s out of context and they have built entire theologies off of a single verse or two.