Testing, testing

An amusing and fairly well-designed test on politics, according to which I am, like all right-thinking people, more or less in line with Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, though when they got these luminaries to take the test I don't really know. I approve of the expansion of the political spectrum beyond the obsolete, one-dimensional opposition left-right--a recipe for defeat is ever there was one, as it unreasonably constrains the various alternatives we might envision in a linear straight-jacket. While the solution they come up with, a Cartesian grid, is a bit gimmicky, it also has an elegance to it. I'm inclined to think it still a bit simplistic--we might really require a three- or four-dimensional model with a "spiritual" axis for starters to really capture the nuances, but of course one of the points of a model is the simplification.

In search of further self-knowledge, and along these spiritual lines, I dipped into the decidedly less scientific tests over at Quiz Farm. Putting "theology," and later "religion," in the Search Bar, I took the "What Type of Christian Are You?" quiz; thirty or so questions later, and lo! I am deemed a

Spirit filled Christian: Spirit Filled Christian! You seek to have a faith just as it was described in the Bible and first century Christian records. Accountability, relationship, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love are your calling cards.

Huh. Well, sorta.... But I suspect that some who know me might be surprised to learn this.

Turning then to the "What's Your Theological Worldview?" quiz, I learned that apparently I am

Emergent/Postmodern: You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Well, O.K. then. Except that, if you know my stance on liturgy for instance, you might guess that my response to the "disconnect" between "older forms of church" is not really that of the postmodern, while not really buying into the paleo-traditional answer either.

Now, I was pointed to these tests by my friend John Burnett, so I figured that like him I'd go for the third-time's-the-charm and see about my Eucharistic Theology. I am happy to report that, just like John, and despite my belonging to a schismatic sect with it's origins in Henry VIII's marital difficulties, I am hereby certified as

Orthodox: You are Orthodox, worshiping the mystery of the Holy Trinity in the great liturgy whereby Jesus is present through the Spirit in a real yet mysterious way, a meal that is also a sacrifice.

Then, for good measure and fairness, I decided to find out "What Kind of Atheist Are You?" This should be interesting, I thought. Insert coin, pull lever (no, really I answered the questions honestly) and out comes

Agnostic: Agnostics consider the possibility that they may be wrong about God's existence, no matter which side of the fence they stand on. Agnostics are the penulimate skeptics in the religious debates.

So there you have it. I'm a spirit-filled, postmodern, orthodox agnostic. Just like the Dalai Lama and Gandhi, no doubt.