Academic Theology Vs. Theology

I am a third of the way through a Master of Arts in Theology and I am still not exactly sure what academic theology is all about.  For my Introduction to Theology class this past year I had to write a paper on what theology is and why it is important. I tacitly avoided directly addressing the subject and instead compared theology to making love and explained how it is a playing with ideas and a coming to know God.  It worked well for my paper, and I think what I wrote is true when Theology is at its best, but I don't think academic theology is, capital T, Theology.

There is a clear wedge between theology that occurs in the church and theology that is done at the university.  I think this has to do with differing understandings of what theology is.  Recently I read On Liturgical Asceticism by David W. Fagerberg and it helped to clarify what theology really is for me.  In it he discusses theology as what happens in the liturgy.  Prayer is Theology, it is the working out of your understanding of God with God.  Likewise the Eucharist is Theology because it is the actions that show what your understanding of God is and it is where you come as close to face to face with God as possible. Fagerberg lays it out nicely, in a way James K.A. Smith would agree with, when he writes:

Theology is a unique kind of knowing that depends upon a character restored in baptism and cultivated in an ascetical life. (24)

Theology is not merely a cerebral activity, it is the activity of drawing near to God.  Our drawing near to God is not only done through knowledge, but through character development and it is the liturgy shapes our character.

Theology explained this way is not the same as academic theology.  If Theology, as explained above, is something that is done by a person, then academic theology is a reflection on this first order action.  Academic theology is one step removed from Theology.

There is nothing wrong with academic theology then, it is a different beast from Theology, not one that everyone needs to engage in, but not wrong in and of itself.  It is like reading about Shakespeare as opposed to acting out the plays.  Except with theology every Christian engages in the liturgy so every Christian is a Theologian, not everyone is a Shakespearian actor.  Every Christian needs to do Theology, only the foolish ones need to do Academic Theology.