A perennial struggle for religious educators and pastors is finding ways to connect orthodoxy to orthopraxy. Achieving “right belief” (head knowledge) seems so very easy compared to achieving “right behavior.” Too often there is a disconnect between what congregational members say they believe about the Christian life and how they actually live their lives. It has become a high compliment to say of someone that they “walk the talk.”
Some years ago this dilemma was highlighted in a study that claimed the rate of divorce among evangelical born again Christians was higher than that of the general population. While we need to take those kinds of surveys with a grain of salt it is disturbing that it’s probably close to the truth no matter how you spin the numbers. Despite what Christians say they believe about the sanctity of marriage and God’s intent for it, they don’t seem to practice our convictions.
This is not a new problem, of course. Saint Gregory (Pope Gregory I, known as “Gregory the Great,” was pope from 590 to 604. Among the many important missionary expeditions sponsored by Pope Gregory I was that of Saint Augustine to Britain in 596.
One of Pope Gregory’s most important contributions to the Church was his enforcement of rules of life for the clergy. Vital to this enforcement was Gregory’s comprehensive listing of actions and beliefs forbidden to the clergy. This famous codex is still in use and is known as the Gregorian Shants.
“I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.” —G. K. Chesterton
