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>2. This is a matter of practice, and is endlessly reposed and resolved
>in practice. There is neither any need to theorize it nor is it possible
>to. Working with religious people is like kneading bread -- one must
>learn it in one's fingertips as it were. Theory doesn't help.
well, you've never made bread let alone kneaded it. it's simply not true that theory (knowledge taught from books or the words of others doesn't help). when learning to cook, we learn all sorts of things about what might make something work or not work on a given day when making things. bread, for example, does better with certain kinds of flour and yeast, etc. you can substitute when you don't have ingredients. but if you haven't a clue about what makes bread rise, and the chemical combinations behind the process, then you'll make something besides bread.
whether one understands the things grandma taught you as "theory" in the same way that i understand the _Cake Bible_ to be operating from a theoretical understanding that baking cakes is largely about chemical reactions makes no difference. the former presents it as "common knowledge" or "practical knowledge" passed down from generation to generation, the latter presents it as scientific process replete with test kitchens and explanations of how the chemical process involved in whipping egg whites and folding into cake batter can also be achieved by mixing vinegar with baking soda and folding into batter. in the end, both are a kind of "theory". similarly, your claim about how we go about working with religious people is based on a theory of knowledge and social change. you can't and don't escape by saying that you don't use theory. you do. all the time.
kelley
kelley