Theory and Practice

Albert Einstein had a lot to say about the difference between theory and practice. For example, “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”

and, "Theory is when everyone knows what they are doing and nothing works. Practice is when everything works and nobody knows why."

T.S. Eliot has a poem called "The Hollow Men" that addresses this same issue in Stanza V:

“Between the idea
And the reality Between the motion And the act

Falls the Shadow

Between the conception

And the creation…

Falls the shadow"

It is the similar in theology. I have heard it said that it can be done in an Ivory Tower, but is only worth something if it works in the ditches. The translation of the word orthodoxy is “right praise,” from the Greek orthos (right) and doxa (praise or glory). Only by extension, and yet it is commonly understood, that it means “right doctrine.” The two, however, are inseperatble because from doctrine’s womb the child of praise is born. The ancient church used to say the same thing when stating: "Lex orandi, lex credenda", which means, the rule of prayer [constitutes] the rule of believing. What the church proclaims and sings in her liturgy is indicative of what she confesses to be true.

In other words, the church must practice what she preaches.