{"id":2730,"date":"2014-10-17T01:18:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T01:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2730"},"modified":"2014-10-17T01:18:59","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T01:18:59","slug":"everyones-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/everyones-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone’s Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

The concept of theology often seems lost in the midst of a myriad of new ideas and beliefs. <\/em>Grenz and Olson, in their book Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God<\/em>, assert that \u201cmany Christians today not only are uninformed about basic theology but even seem hostile to it.\u201d[1]<\/a>
\nHostility seems like such a harsh word, so it begs further questions regarding people’s\u00a0difficulty embracing theology.<\/p>\n

Many don\u2019t understand what they believe or why. This being the case, the author\u2019s make a positive attempt to encourage all people to explore and form their own theology. \u00a0Instructions are provided to help the reader think critically, and caution reinforces the importance that one should not fall prey to false teachings. While the book was wonderfully written and the concepts presented are all very sound, I wonder how many people without any official theological training would grasp these concepts. I\u2019m not sure it speaks to the root cause of people\u2019s \u201chostility\u201d or complacency toward developing their own theology. \u00a0If I handed the book out on the street and asked people to read it, would they? And, would they actually understand the message and put it into practice? If I presented the concepts from the book to people who call themselves Christian would they listen and act, or just listen and nod their head in agreement?<\/p>\n

Although Grenz and Olson assert that everyone is a theologian at some level, I\u2018ve found that many people misunderstand the entire concept of theology. Many people do not know what they believe, or why they believe it. \u201cTheology is any reflection on the ultimate questions of life that point toward God.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTheology is any thinking, reflecting or contemplating on the reality of God-even on the question of God.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0This being said, there is an element of critical thinking involved as one questions and explores their beliefs. In a society where many lack critical thinking skills, this poses\u00a0an issue. Based on Grenz and Olson\u2019s six levels of theological practice, I assume that many people fall under the \u2018folk\u2019 category. This is often evident\u00a0when questioning people on what they believe regarding God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, humans, salvation, church, heaven & hell.<\/p>\n

\"Chart\"<\/a>As Grenz and Olson assert, \u201cFolk theology is inadequate as a resting place for most Christians. It encourages gullibility, vicarious spirituality and simplistic answers to difficult dilemmas that arise from being followers of Jesus Christ in a largely secular and pagan world. It stunts growth and blunts the influence of Christianity in the world.\u201d[4]<\/a> While there are some Christians who have moved from folk to lay level knowledge, I\u2019d like to see the trends. Is the trend worsening? What is the percentage of people who call themselves Christian, yet stay at the folk level indefinately?<\/p>\n

Grenz and Olson wrote this book because they \u201care concerned that individual Christians who lack theological literacy and acumen will be tossed about by every wind of doctrine that comes sweeping through our media-dominated culture. From television preachers to spirituality sections of mainstream bookstores, all kinds of strange doctrines-“other gospels”-are being promoted and accepted by Christians unequipped to evaluate them.\u201d[5]<\/a> I\u2019d ask, what is our responsibility to join this call to action? How can we get people interested in pursuing knowledge about God and reflecting about their faith, using Scripture as their guide and allowing the Holy Spirit to work within them? \u00a0This is the fundamental concern of Christianity today.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Stanley J. Grenz;Roger E. Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (Kindle Location 27). Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Stanley J. Grenz;Roger E. Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (Kindle Locations 54-56). Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Stanley J. Grenz;Roger E. Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (Kindle Location 70). Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Stanley J. Grenz;Roger E. Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (Kindle Locations 229-232). Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Stanley J. Grenz;Roger E. Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (Kindle Locations 38-40). Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The concept of theology often seems lost in the midst of a myriad of new ideas and beliefs. Grenz and Olson, in their book Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God, assert that \u201cmany Christians today not only are uninformed about basic theology but even seem hostile to it.\u201d[1] Hostility seems like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"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":[484,22,198],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dawnel-volzke","tag-dimlgp","tag-grenz","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730","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\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2733,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions\/2733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}