Practical, Applicable, Theology – a short overview
Once again the topic before us is theology. As we discussed last week everyone is a theologian to some degree, for everyone has some type of thoughts regarding God. Whether it be the Christian God, or a lesser God, (yes, I am bias) or no God at all, just by entering into the discussion regarding any of these thoughts we enter into the field of theology – God thought. This week’s book, Theology A Very Short Introduction by Dr. David Ford gives a great overview of this field of God Thought, i.e., theology. No matter what your situation might be in regards to your community, family, or learning institution you will have to deal with questions of theology.[1]
Just today one of my former youth and current Facebook friends sat by her mother’s hospital bed as her mother said goodbye to this world. The daughter’s post was not that of a mournful dread or anguishing heart, but rather her words ebbed and flowed with a sense of peace which echoed of a faith and a belief that her mother was now at rest with her beloved Savior and God. Dr. Ford would refer to the passing of this woman’s mother as one of the “overwhelmings,” (albeit a more personal and less defining to society at large), that we humans experience throughout our lifetime.[2] Because of this daughter’s theology, she has developed, or gained, wisdom that now shapes her life, her thoughts, and even her reactions to the overwhelming sorrow of losing her mother. And this, this very fortitude that grounds an individual, nation, even a people, is theology and the application thereof.[3] “The scandal of Christian theology to many” according to Ford, “is that it does not conceive of humanity as alien to God or in essential tension with God. On the contrary, because of its belief in God freely choosing to become human in Jesus Christ, it not only refuses to see a necessary tension but even finds a glorious union of divinity and humanity.”[4] And so, this daughter, in union with her God through Jesus her Lord, found, no, knows, the peace that supersedes her grief of her mother, (who also was in union with God), passing on to the next life. This response of peace and contentment in letting go is, as Ford puts it, one of the five basic forms of worship, praise.[5] Praise to the God who knows and shares our grief and yet also provides our hope in the life to come.
When death comes knocking at anyone’s door other fields of study and the knowledge that they bring are of little consequence and assistance. At such moments in our lives we care very little about the appropriation budget, or how many milligrams are in a pound, or who wrote the 1859 classic with the famous first lines: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Honestly, no other field of study comes to mind except that of theology. What is one to make of life and its seemingly brevity? What comes after you breathe your last breath? These are the questions that theology attempts to answer or at least give meaning to and provide some sense to all the “overwhelmings” that we experience. Unfortunately, there are many other fields and philosophies that desire to erode the meaningful application of theology.
I appreciate the way that Dr. Ford handled the whole postmodern thought process that has attempted to eroded many of the integrators that would seek to make any sense of life. Theology and good theologians, as Dr. Ford states, “have combined intellectual sophistication with the ability to relate their thought to ordinary living.”[6] In so doing, Christian theology continues to hold together the metanarrative of God’s love found in and through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is precisely this metanarrative that encourages me to continue my theological discoveries of God and his ways.
Deep and true theology is what is helping my former youth through her loss and it is what will continue to bring forth the praise and thanksgiving that is part of worship to my Lord and Savior Jesus!
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