By: gfesadmin on October 17, 2012
KFC, Fanta and the BBC If you travel, you know what I’m talking about! I can be pretty certain that whenever I spend the night in a hotel, anywhere in the world, I know that the one English language station on the television will be the British Broadcasting Company – or BBC. I am able…
By: gfesadmin on October 17, 2012
In honor of today’s post I’ve got a little video that should bring back some memories. Check it out, and then read on! The relationship between power and pastors is often a tenuous one. In Handbook of Leadership and Theory and Practice, Joseph S. Nye writes about the connection of leadership and power. Nye breaks down power into…
By: gfesadmin on October 12, 2012
Irrelevant is a word that has been thrown around a lot to describe church. Some churches have worked hard to be relevant to their culture. It usually means attempting to get people to go to church. But young adults are increasingly choosing not to go to church. Do they feel it is irrelevant to their…
By: gfesadmin on October 12, 2012
The journey to gaining an understanding of reality was a long and arduous one for me. You might say that as I set out on this journey of understanding God and my Christian beliefs, I found all of the pot holes any one could imagine. In fact, these pot holes nearly stopped me on several…
By: gfesadmin on October 12, 2012
It has been said that theology is simply what one believes to be true about God. One thought is that God is very relational. Not only is He involved in a personal relationship with humans, but he is concerned with how they interact with one another. Below are two examples of human interaction that we…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
Some quotes by David F. Ford out of the video: “What a theology department is about is trying to do is lead people to think as well as possible about the questions that are raised.” “When I was in Ruanda last Christmas, we came up on people who had survived that 1994 genocide, where a…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
50 years ago, October 11th 1962, Pope John XXIII with about 2500 catholic cardinals and bishops opened the Second Vatican Council. (1962-1965) The council is one of the most important events in Church history of the 20. Century. The dominant term of the council “Aggiornamento” (update) opened the church towards the world by opening a…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
The other evening, I was having dinner with a group of friends and we began to talk about the condition of the world. We talked about the recent assassination of the American Ambassador in Libby and the potential extreme Muslim terrorists who may have committed the act. We then began to talk about the presidential…
By: Joy Mindo on October 11, 2012
Africa theologizes through music. The songs reflect the theological trends that are prevalent in society. Africans love music and every event, ideology, personality is celebrated in song. Songs are part and parcel of everyday life. Since theology in the academia is not so prevalent, music and song are the foundation of the theology of the…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
“What would Jesus do? “ Is a question my mother taught me to ask even as a little girl. It is probably a simplistic way of doing theology but it begs me to consider the choices in front of me in that decisive moment. As I have read through the text for this week, Theology:…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
Speak English or Get Out I recently heard a joke that resonated with me. “What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? – Trilingual” “What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? – Bilingual” “What do you call someone who speaks 1 language? – American!” As a bilingual person, I thought this…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
It was a rich experience to interact with the members of this cohort in Korea regarding their engagemnent in this dmin journey. What is the motive for engaging such punishment?!?! What is the intended life outcome? What will the dmin journey contribute to life after the journey is over? What questions will be answered? What…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
A few weeks ago I was asked the question, “What is your favorite work of art?” I responded immediately by telling the inquisitive person, “Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt. Actually, it was an easy question. For years now this painting which was skillfully created in 1668, has been the most essential piece of…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
To all those people doin’ lines, Don’t do it, don’t do it. Inject your soul with liberty, It’s free, it’s free. Salvation, salvation, salvation is free. Salvation, salvation, salvation is free.” As I pushed my cart down the cereal aisle today, the Cranberries’ song “Salvation” poured from the intercom speakers. Before heading to the grocery…
By: gfesadmin on October 11, 2012
David Ford opens his book, Theology: A Very Short Introduction by writing about overwhelmings. As I understand it, overwhelmings describe various human conditions and experiences (love, war, poverty, joy, suffering) that are readily present in the human life and which require appropriate reflection and response. This reflection and response can easily be described as theology. …
By: gfesadmin on October 10, 2012
The Westminster Shorter Catechism explains that the chief end of man is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” While, I have heard this line of theology repeated many times, I have never truly understood the scope of its theological depth. To be honest, worship is something that has often been very difficult for me. …
By: gfesadmin on October 10, 2012
“Asato Ma Sad Gamaya; Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya; Om Shanti Shanti Shanti”. This ancient Sanskrit prayer / mantra is recited regularly by the philosophical Brahmin disciple to his Guru. It translates as follows: Lead Us From the Unreal To Real, Lead Us From Darkness To Light, Lead Us From Death To…
By: gfesadmin on October 6, 2012
“Theology does not invent beliefs; it finds beliefs already among Christians and critically examines them.” This is one of the many helpful definitions of theology that Stan Grenz and Roger Olsen supply in their book “Who Needs Theology. Chapter 5 particularly reminds us that Christians already possess beliefs before they may even recognize that they…
By: gfesadmin on October 5, 2012
Who needs theology?“All do” (Grenz, Olson, p.46). Even @Justin_Buber www.Twitter.com/Justin_Buber and @KimKierkegaard www.twitter.com/KimKierkegaard Enjoy Mashup theology!
By: gfesadmin on October 5, 2012
The wisdom literature section of the Old Testament offers a very practical side of theology, speaking to the institute of marriage, the journey of becoming wise, and the reality of the vanity of this life. Books like Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes each speak to everyday life. Song of Solomon One school of thought…
