go: chapter 0: mature foundations, part one

"Orthodoxy in this book is similarly caught up in the practice (orthopraxy) of love for God and all God's creations" (go, 33). is bdm implying that "other" orthodoxies aren't concerned with practice? if so, then of course he is correct. sometimes people do get more concerned with what they believe and neglect how these beliefs influence their lives. but the opposite is also true. sometimes people get so concerned with how they are living that they neglect any serious consideration of the convictions that lead to their actions. neither way is right. thus, neither way is orthodoxy or orthopraxy. but bdm offers nothing new here. james said much the same thing in the mid-first century. "What good is it, my brothers," he wrote, "if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (james 2:14-17). so, yes, bdm is correct. we must "celebrate orthodox doctrine-in-practice." but, according to james, the two, if held rightly, cannot be separated. gracious orthodoxy not only believes properly because of the grace of god, but, by god's grace, it also demonstrates the mark of jesus, loving god and all god's creations.