\u00a0\u201cWhat would Jesus do? \u201c Is a question my mother taught me to ask even as a little girl.\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As I have read through the text for this week, Theology: A Very Short Introduction, I have a new appreciation for that question.\u00a0 It not only calls for the individuals\u2019 responsible action in light of Christs\u2019 teachings but He is in turn identified with that situation or issue and is able to intervene helping us make the right choice.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ford states, \u201cJesus is not believed to be restricted to the first century but to be alive and communicating in diverse ways century after century.\u201d \u00a0This, to me, makes Christian theology so much more vibrant and dynamic.\u00a0 It is not only restricted to the past with a historical or mythical \u2018god\u2019 whose relevance to the present times is ambiguous, but it is about a great God who is both \u201ctranscendent and immanent\u201d (Ford 2000). \u00a0\u00a0Therein lies great hope for those of us seeking answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions for Christ Himself becomes the answer in new and recurring ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Christian faith becomes versatile as it \u201ccontinually reinterprets its founder in new setting and finds in those settings inspiration for new ways of portraying him\u201d (Ford 2000).\u00a0 Take for instance the case of \u2018Dalit Theology\u2019.\u00a0 Arvind P. Nirmal, a major proponent of Dalit Theology writes, \u201cTo speak of a Servant \u2013 God, therefore, is to recognize and identify him as a truly Dalit deity.\u00a0 For Dalit theologians, Jesus is the ultimate Dalit, the servant God whom God reveals.\u00a0 The Gospel writers identified Jesus with the suffering servant Isaiah.\u00a0 Since service of others has been the privilege of Dalit communities in India, the Christology of a suffering servant is very much relevant in Dalit Christology.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Like Dalit theology which \u201cemerged out of the conviction that theology should be rooted in the context and, in the Indian situation, as a conscious reflection of the oppressive situation of the Dalit\u201d (Athyal), there are other such theologies that have emerged interpreting the teachings of Christ and the identification of Christ Himself in terms of unjust economic, social or political conditions.\u00a0\u00a0 While these theological thoughts are debated, they beckon us to give credence to the fact that, people, whether a woman, a child, or an acitivist, are doing theology as they seek a God who can identify with them in their social, cultural, and political climate, time and space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would Jesus do?\u201d The question now posits that the Christian faith offers the best answer to life\u2019s questions and choices in Jesus Christ for HE can identify and intervene and He does.\u00a0 Whether caught in the dilemma of making an ethical decision, or encountering social injustice, a disadvantaged person, an environmental issue, religious conflict, or the challenging trends of the postmodern culture, I can refrain from the rhetorical responses of Christian goodness and move to a deeper understanding of \u2018Godliness\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 And each time I do so I rediscover Jesus, the Great God, in a new and fresh way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n