What is Christian theology? Theology is a combination of the Greek words "theos" (God) and "logos" (word). Most simply and straightforwardly, then, theology is "words about God" or "the study of God."
But theology isn't JUST the study of God in some compartmentalized, isolated fashion. Because once we start to study and think about God as Christians, we discover that who God is and what God has done has implications for us and the way we live our lives. Whether directly or indirectly, theology influences the way we think, value, and feel about a myriad of other things. Knowing this, many theologians have worked to "tease out" a fuller definition of theology that (1) captures this comprehensive scope of theology and (2) keeps us focused on what theology is for. Here are 6 such "professional" definitions of theology from evangelical scholars (listed in no particular order):
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In his thought-provoking (and very often insightful!) book You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, author James K.A. Smith reminds us that Christian discipleship isn't only about what you know; it's also about what you love. (That right there is a statement we should marinate in and meditate on, by the way.) The book teases out what this can mean for the Christian and in the life of the local church. Is desire really that big of a deal? How are our loves shaped? What role does the local church play in this?
Smith then goes on towards the end of his book to apply the concepts he's developed to other specific contexts (family, education, vocation). I want to BRIEFLY highlight a small slice of what Smith says about Christian education, since it overlaps with so much of what we want to be about at the Brookside Institute. In his tremendously helpful book, Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive, the late Howard Hendricks reminds us that the best teachers remain passionately committed to learning themselves. The best teachers always remain students themselves. Listen to how Hendricks puts it (Teaching to change lives, pp. 17-18): The effective teacher always teaches from the overflow of a full life. I'm confident that Hendricks would agree that "growth" and "improvement" here as a teacher isn't only a cognitive growth. It's not only getting more and more head knowledge of the subject you're teaching - though I'm sure that's included. I think he'd agree that "growth" and "improvement" also include learning what to VALUE and how to VALUE it. It includes growing in PASSION for our subject matter. And it includes the lifelong process of increasingly APPLYING those things we teach.
So teachers: Are you learning? 6 Books that Can Help You Respond to the Uncomfortable - But Unavoidable - Reality of Suffering7/12/2016 D.A. Carson begins his book How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil with these words: One of the major causes of devastating grief and confusion among Christians is that our expectations are false. We do not give the subject of evil and suffering the thought it deserves until we ourselves are confronted with tragedy. If by that point our beliefs - not well thought out but deeply ingrained - are largely out of step with the God who has disclosed himself in the Bible and supremely in Jesus, then the pain from the personal tragedy may be multiplied many times over as we begin to question the very foundations of our faith" (p. 11). In other words, there is tremendous value in thinking about suffering and evil even when our lives aren't directly touched at the current moment by these things. But let's be honest: For most of us, thinking about suffering and evil isn't an abstract thought-exercise. Thinking about suffering and evil brings real feelings to the surface, it revisits personal tragedy we've experienced or are experiencing, and it brings sin and the brokenness of our world to the center of our attention.
For all of these reasons, then, reflecting on a distinctly Christian perspective of suffering and evil is vital. Whether suffering "feels" distant or near, there's value in both embedding ourselves in Christian truth and surrounding ourselves with voices who can relate and speak to our struggles. As D.A . Carson goes on to say, "The truth of the matter is that all we have to do is live long enough, and we will suffer" (p. 16). Certainly, the Bible should always take pride of place in providing perspective and coming alongside of us as we experience pain and suffering. Books like Job and Lamentations can be precious here. And learning that Jesus relates to our pain and suffering - that He himself experienced injustice, loss, tragedy, grief, and more - teaches us that Jesus is our ally and a shoulder to lean on as we endure and address our own suffering. Other Christian books can also play a role here - at articulating biblical truth in a helpful way, and sharing personal experiences of suffering, grief, and pain. With this last comment in mind, then, below are six books that I suggest to those who are looking for resources to help them reflect on a distinctly Christian perspective on and approach to the reality of pain, suffering, and evil. (One more quick, but really important, comment: Working through issues like suffering, pain, and evil should never be done with just you and a book - as helpful as books can be. Remember to also surround yourself with Christian community and consider the value of pastoral and/or professional counseling if appropriate.) All right, on with the book recommendations: In their excellent book Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision for Education in the Church, authors Gary A. Parrett and S. Steve Kang include an important plug for approaching Christian education and equipping in the church with an appropriate intentionality. Check out what they have to say: There are very few spheres in which an approach to education is an random and haphazard as that practiced in many of our churches today. If someone wanted to study towards a degree in economics, for example, it would be most unlikely that the college would let her choose all her own courses or choose simply not to take classes at all. If we wish our child to learn to play an instrument, we would certainly hope to find an instructor who has some idea and plan about what particular things really must be learned and when and how. When we look at the medical school diploma on the walls of our doctors' offices, we probably assume - and gratefully so - that our doctors actually attended (in the full sense of the term) all the required classes classes in the curriculum and not only those that suited their fancies at the time. How strange it is that, in this matter of Christian education and formation, we have come to adopt a very different scheme" (p. 77, bold emphasis added). This is a large reason why I'm so passionate about what the Brookside Institute is trying to do for adults, and why - more broadly - content strategy and Christian education are so important in the life of a local church. And all of this is why I'm so grateful for everything Brookside Church does to support these same values through the Institute and other ministries!
Reading commentaries can be a great way to grow in our knowledge of (and love for!) God and His Word. And, commentaries can offer substantial guidance in helping us interpret difficult passages well. (AFTER careful personal study and observation, of course!) Ezekiel 1 is one of those passages that can seem weird when you read it. But its message is so worthwhile, and time in a couple commentaries can help underline the value of its message. Listen to these great insights from a couple of commentaries I've spent some time in this last week, both commenting on Ezekiel 1: Iain Duguid, Ezekiel. NIVAC. Zondervan, 1999. p. 61:
Daniel I. Block, the Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24. NICOT. Eerdmans, 1997. p. 106:
If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...Earlier this week, the Brookside Institute offered a seminar on "How to Profit from the Prophets." About 50 people signed up for 90 minutes of overview on the prophetic books, and a glimpse into the book of Daniel - good stuff! As the Institute seeks to build and reinforce foundations of the Christian faith in the areas of biblical literacy and theological formation, seminars like this play an important role.
Below I've included some things that will give you a taste of the seminar. Here's the "Table of Contents" for what follows in this post if you keep scrolling:
From the earliest days of the church in the centuries following the death of the apostles, an intentional "training program" (or catechesis) was developed to form and shape believers in the Christian community. Why was this track of catechesis important? Alan Kreider points out a key reason in his The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire: "...believers knew that their practices [i.e., their noticeable, distinctive Christian lifestyles] were not acquired genetically or absorbed from pagan society. As Tertullian puts it around AD 200, 'Christians are made, not born'" (p. 134).
Those following Jesus took intentional steps to be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2); they took intentional steps to be made new in the attitude of their minds and to put on the new self (Ephesians 4:22-24); they took intentional steps to make sure they were strengthened and encouraged in their Christian faith (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:2). A key part of these "intentional steps" was a value placed on catechizing (i.e., intentionally training) those in the Christian faith. It's important to note that a number of different components were included in catechesis. Catechetical practices developed over time in the first few centuries. And no single approach seems to be have been adopted everywhere as the early church grew. We need to acknowledge the numerous layers and the diversity that characterized catechesis. Nevertheless, catechesis was valued. As Kreider points out in The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, by the fourth century we have enough samples of catechetical priorities that we can present a composite picture of what the early church included in their catechetical content. So (more simply), what did the early church teach? A few weeks ago in Brookside's 365 Reading Plan, we took the turn into prophets (books like Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah). These prophetic books make up a large part of the Old Testament, and can seem weird and confusing at times. In his book The Bible Jesus Read: Why the Old Testament Matters, author Philip Yancey sums up the experience of many this way:
My guess is, many of us resonate with the answer expressed in this quote. But what if we're missing something huge by skimming (or neglecting) the prophets?
The more I dig into the prophets myself, the more convinced I become of the TREMENDOUS importance of their message - and its continuing relevance for our lives in the 21st century. Convinced of this, I invite you to join us for a "How to Profit from the Prophets" Institute seminar on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. In about an hour and a half, we'll work (1) to stir your motivation to read the prophets (so you'll WANT to dig into these books) and (2) to give you some tools by which you can do so (so you're equipped to better navigate these books). Whether you're an attendee of Brookside Church or are simply in the Omaha area and want to dig into this a little more deeply yourself, we invite you to join us. There's no cost to attend, but you can help us know how to plan by signing up here. Interested in other seminars that the Brookside Institute will be offering this year? Or do want to see some things we've already done that line up with what Brookside Church is doing as we read through the Bible? Click here to see more.
Assuming I've been keeping tally of things correctly, you're officially reading Post #200 on this Brookside Institute site! Over the course of the last 12 months, we've had 16,600+ unique visitors to this site, and over 87,500 total page views. Whether this is your first intro to who we are or you've been tagging along for a while, thanks for joining in!
As the posts continue accumulating, I don't want that to keep us from looking back every now and then - to review what the Brookside Institute is all about, and for me to mention posts that are either some of my personal favorites or that have gotten lots of traction. These sorts of "review posts" also serve as a sort of index (or Table of Contents?), organizing the material and helping orient you to who we are and what we're about at the Brookside Institute. What I've done with this post, then, is organized some links under the following categories:
Underneath each category, I've included a short list of links to pages on this site where you can learn more about who we are and what we're up to. My recommendation? Scroll through the index that's below, and find 3-4 posts you want to check out. This is a great way to see what we're doing and get to know the Institute a bit better! |
Tim WiebeChristian. Husband. Father. Pastor. Learner. Contributor. Reader. Categories
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