Grenz_Olson_McGrath – Theologians Theologizing Theology
Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson have written a modern, succinct and accessible classic with Who Needs Theology: An Invitation to the Study of God. It is a text that is well-suited to be coupled alongside Alister McGrath’s own important contribution to the discipline now in its 5th edition – Christian Theology: An Introduction. While Grenz and Olson’s text gets you through the material in under one hundred and fifty pages, McGrath’s text leads you meandering through just over four hundred and fifty pages. McGrath offers excellent perspectives with substantive content, but for an “introduction” if you haven’t already fully committed to the process, you might begin to wonder, “who needs theology?” Well, in this case, the good news is that it just so happens, thankfully, Grenz and Olson can quickly remind you.
Whimsicalness aside, I understand Grenz and Olson to provide a wonderful service of empowerment through the writing of this text. They remind in their book that any person anywhere who thinks about God is a theologian – a “Theo + logian.” That is, they remind that to do theology simply means to think about God. This is wonderfully freeing news for many who have gotten bogged down by inaccessible jargon, unfamiliar practices, and aloof personalities. Really, anyone can do it and, actually, are doing it! So, in the midst of reading McGrath’s overview of history and systematics, remember Grenz and Olson’s affirmation that you are already more than and farther along than you likely believe.
However, Grenz and Olson quickly point-out that while everybody is “in” as relates to being a theologian…some are more “in” than others. This is not an oppressive, exclusionary boundary that they are drawing. It is more simply noting a principle that recognizes while time-spent and skills-gained are not exactly equitable there is a reasonable correlation between the two. That is, those who spend more time delving into study related to the Scriptures will often be found to be more adept at explicating matters related to the Scriptures. While two plus two might not always equal four in this case, it will usually end up being closer than not. So, after saving you when you were floundering in four hundred plus pages of McGrath earlier, Grenz and Olson having retaught you to swim now send you back into the deep with the encouragement that there is room to grow and to get on with it.
Remember how I offered that there is a bit of fluctuation with our mathematical metaphor of two plus two equaling four, that sometimes the equation is off a bit? Grenz and Olson would suggest that this is because while thinking more about the Scriptures will tend to increase your capacity and ability as a theologian, it bears some small chance of backfiring at certain times. They offer this concept as “not all theologies are created equal.” You may find that you have thought long and hard on concepts that actually lead you in an unhelpful direction and become set in ways that have actually further blinded you. This is why studying both broadly and deeply is vital. McGrath is a good beginning for this. McGrath offers a sweeping overview of a topic that runs deeper than anyone has yet fully plumbed, but he also gives some more in-depth insight into the process offered from the perspectives of a number of thinkers/theologians. McGrath offers us the breadth and depth that aids in steering clear of Grenz and Olson’s noted pitfall.
Finally, Grenz and Olson give us two other pointers that are eminently beneficial as we are filling our minds full of understanding through reading McGrath. One, Grenz and Olson remind us that there is no such thing as a disembodied theology. If it is lived at all, theology is always lived-out in particular times and places. This is because you – the reader – must appropriate whatever concepts you intake if there is to be an enactment the learning. So, if your understandings are not to manifest themselves as crusty, outmoded, useless and/or irritating pieces of historic trash, then some cultural filtering of ideas will need to transpire in order to freshly apply the timeless wisdom that you are learning. And two, Grenz and Olson remind us that there must be a continual desire on our part to want to learn more. There is no room for complacency in this undertaking. Our ideas must constantly be refreshed and newly enacted in the socio-political realm. Our head, hearts and hands belong together in the process of living into belief. As they note, we must be dissatisfied with blindly accepting others answers and must seek substantive truth for ourselves that we should then share with others – encouraging them to also not blindly accept our perspectives, but also search deeply for understanding themselves too.
And this is where McGrath really fills a need. While Grenz and Olson tell us that everybody is “in” and encourage us to be more “in” rather than less “in,” McGrath offers the substance that allows a solid step toward becoming more “in.” McGrath lets us know that the conversation about God has been going on for a long-time, in many places with many different people. Yes, we are part of this conversation, but we must not allow ourselves to think that we are somehow untethered, free-thinkers in this process. We will have new thoughts and new appropriations, but we owe much to the people and traditions that have come before us. It is always through these (unconsciously or not) that we are in the process of understanding and reworking our understanding.
Overall, as McGrath leaves us in his text, we are people of hope walking and working toward a future that we believe with all our hearts and minds is even now beginning as we live into it.
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