A Quaker Understanding of Jesus Christ, Part 3
modern neo-animists who bask in the socio-cultural benefits of a culture leavened by reason while rejecting its theological foundation.
7. The substitution of 'notional' theology for spiritual experience. Although normatively anathema, 'notional' religion assails Friends along the whole theological spectrum, from fundamentalist to humanistic theologies. The word "credo" simply means "I believe." The negative connotation of "creedalism," refers to the substitution of propositional for experiential truth, of head knowledge for heart knowledge. The current cultural animus against religious dogma is more severe now than in the seventeenth century, and may be numb to the forces of secular dogma. Nevertheless, William Penn's warning against "superfining" (prooftexting) Scripture texts, is still relevant, although more diversely applicable. Penn wrote:
Men are too apt to let their heads outrun their hearts, and their notion exceed their obedience, and their passion support their conceits; instead of a daily cross, a constant watch, and an holy practice. The despised Quakers desire this may be their care, and the text their creed in this, as in all other points; preferring self-denial to opinion, and charity to knowledge, according to that great Christian doctrine, 1 Cor. Xiii. (The Key, Section V).
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