{"id":20598,"date":"2018-11-29T16:22:20","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T00:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=20598"},"modified":"2018-11-29T16:22:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T00:22:20","slug":"a-shared-toolbelt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-shared-toolbelt\/","title":{"rendered":"A shared toolbelt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Grenz and Olsen\u2019s <em>Who Needs Theology?<\/em> presents the idea that all believers are theologians.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> Each interacts with theology at different levels: folk, lay, ministerial, professional and academic. Of course, the layman does not engage theology in the same way the academic theologian does, but they should engage nonetheless. I appreciated the authors\u2019 point that theology is accessible to all believers, not just those who rely on the study for their vocation. Everyone needs theology, and it should be engaged at multiple levels.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I found this reading especially interesting in light of the previous read, <em>Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice<\/em>.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> It seemed the chapter on \u201ctools of the theologian\u201d echoed some of the tools mentioned in the Handbook. Grenz presents three tools used by theologians: The Biblical message, the heritage of the church and thought forms of contemporary culture. He discusses these tools in terms of \u201cmolding our theology and indicating the shape our theology ought to take.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> Isn\u2019t the same true of our leadership? Good leaders are often described as being of single purpose and philosophy, aware of the context of their organization within its history, and willing to engage the current climate to shape the organization.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> Of course, I understand there are obvious differences between the theologian and the leader. One spends time in the divine mystery while the other gives thought to productivity and culture. However, perhaps the theologian and the leader are not as far from one another as we might initially think. I wonder if their tools would look similar if observed side-by-side.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Grenz states, \u201cThe goal of theology is to be the believing people of God in the world today.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> As Christian ministry leaders, isn\u2019t our goal to lead the believing people of God in the world today? How should we borrow from the theologian\u2019s tool belt as we engage a chaotic world with a beautifully messy gospel?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>_______________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Stanley Grenz and Olson, Roger, <em>Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God<\/em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, <em>Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice<\/em> (Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2010).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Grenz and Olson, Roger, <em>Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Nohria and Khurana, <em>Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Grenz and Olson, Roger, <em>Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grenz and Olsen\u2019s Who Needs Theology? presents the idea that all believers are theologians.[1] Each interacts with theology at different levels: folk, lay, ministerial, professional and academic. Of course, the layman does not engage theology in the same way the academic theologian does, but they should engage nonetheless. I appreciated the authors\u2019 point that theology [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"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":[],"class_list":["post-20598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598","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\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20599,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions\/20599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}