![\"calvin:God's](\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/calvinGods-image-300x95.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nProfessional theologians have the training to instruct others in theology. A seminary professor for example, guides students into deeper reflective practice and more advanced critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the spectrum are the academic theologians. They dwell in a little world of their own and reflect so deeply that they appear to be cut off from every day Christian living. The following\u00a0is a typical example (selected from dozens of the same):
\n\u201cThe Influence of Qur\u2019anic Frames of Reference on Trinitarian Discourse in Select Medieval Christian Arabic Texts\u201d (To be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 15-17, 2016, San Antonio, Texas, by J. Scott Bridger.) I\u2019m sure this will be very interesting to some people. Personally I would only get a copy of this nice man\u2019s text to use as a soporific for insomnia.<\/p>\n
After defining and defending theology and setting out the two main tasks of theologians (critical and constructive), Grenz and Olson explain to newly enthusiastic students how to go about becoming a competent lay theologian. This road map would be invaluable to a Christian who has decided to agree that they can know God better with some effort.<\/p>\n
Just knowing more about God is not enough. The reflective practitioner will want to know how to relate what they are learning to life.<\/p>\n
Most of us asked the question, \u201cWhere is God in all of this?\u201d after reading Anthony Elliott\u2019s book on Contemporary Social Theory. Where indeed?<\/p>\n
In my lifetime I have seen two parallel social trends intensifying over the years. People are getting ever more selfish, me-first, and individualistic. At the same time Christians are pulling back out of the public square. They have little influence left. At our church, most admitted that they are afraid to witness about Jesus out loud in public places. There are lots of reasons, but I believe one reason may be that Christians haven\u2019t studied the Bible and theology as much as they should have. Maybe they are not \u201cready to make a defense to everyone who asks (them) to give an account for the hope that is in (them)\u201d (I Pet. 3:15). Maybe they don\u2019t understand that the question is not \u201cAre you a theologian?\u201d but \u201cWhat kind of theologian are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
As practicing lay theologians we should have ready answers to the problems of the world. We should be looking at our society with theological eyes, ready to listen to our culture, use critical thinking to analyze what is happening, and respond with love and a desire to serve, even sacrificially as Christ did, for others. (pgs. 127-129)<\/p>\n
Lastly, Grenz and Olson invite Christians to strive for a high level of reflective thinking \u2013 a synoptic vision of the biblical message, the theological heritage of the church and contemporary culture. (p. 147) This won\u2019t be accomplished quickly by the budding theologian, but it is a target to aim for. Love for God and a new understanding of how we can serve Christ better should be all the motivation one needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who Needs Theology? By Stanly J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson \u201cTaking faith into life means looking at the society in which we live through theological eyes.\u201d (p. 127) \u201cWe invite you to set out on a journey toward becoming a reflective lay Christian theologian anyway.\u201d (p. 135) \u201cPerhaps the largest hurdle or greatest chasm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[753,128],"class_list":["post-10151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grenz-and-olson","tag-theology","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"end-of-the-world-may-12-2011\"](\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/end-of-the-world-may-12-2011.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n