I have lived my entire life in the Bible belt. Not just the Bible belt, but white Christian suburbia. No doubt this plays deeply into my theology of God, even in ways I don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n
I can remember when I first realized God is bigger then the box I have put him in. When I was in high school I had a great youth minister. I remember sitting on a boat dock with my friends asking our youth minister every question about God we could think of. He pointed us to Jesus, embraced the mystery, widened our view of who God is, and helped us think. About 5 years later I found myself living outside of London working with youth at a church. It was a six-month internship and it opened my eyes to a culture very different from the Bible belt. One weekend I took the youth on a sailing trip. As evening approached we found ourselves on a boat dock and the students started drilling me with questions about who God is and what He is doing through the world. The questions were the same as my youth but at the same time very different. It was at that moment I saw a way bigger God then I ever had before.<\/p>\n
David F. Ford\u2019s book Theology A Very Short Introduction,<\/em> widens our narrow base of thinking with intriguing questions and insights. While it should be obvious to us that where we live, our family upbringing, education opportunities, economic level, etc. would affect our beliefs and lifestyle, it unfortunately gets too often overlooked. Many are aware that where they live affects how they live but they aren\u2019t aware that it affects the truths about what they believe. I really appreciate how Ford consistently brought world views and world religions into the conversation about theology.<\/p>\n In his final chapter, \u201cTheology for the Third Millennium\u201d, the question I most appreciated was, \u201cHow can dialogical and comparative theology flourish?[1]<\/a>\u201d While the church isn\u2019t an academic institution this question isn\u2019t just to be asked for the academy. Ford says, \u201cMutual hospitality, conversation, facing differences, rigorous argument, friendship with integrity: if those are not possible between people who pursue theological wisdom in different disciplines, faith communities, and nations, then what hope is there for the world?[2]<\/a> Churches must teach respectful ways to deal with differences and conflict. There is a beautiful picture of love and grace when the body of Christ works through our differences. Instead of running somewhere else, name calling, and putting God in our small little boxes, lets build long lasting trusting relationships that know how to work through differences and conflict. That\u2019s the body of Christ.<\/p>\n This Leadership and Global perspectives program is one way we are participating to see \u201cdialogical and comparative theology flourish.\u201d I love that Caroline Ramsey is my advisor. In my first conversation with Caroline she found out I was a pastor from Kansas. Her response was, \u201cI don\u2019t think Kansas would like me. I make Obama look conservative.\u201d Her response made me smile. I\u2019m in this program to develop my thinking and I knew right away Caroline would stretch my white suburban Bible belt perspective and widen my view of God. Conservative, liberal, moderate, radical, however we decide to define our beliefs, I hope we can all come to believe that God can\u2019t be boxed up, and we must welcome the questions and conversations as we search for truths about God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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