{"id":5990,"date":"2015-10-12T20:28:12","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T03:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=5990"},"modified":"2015-10-12T20:32:27","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T03:32:27","slug":"are-you-a-theologian-do-you-know-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/are-you-a-theologian-do-you-know-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you a theologian? Do you Know God?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Clay<\/a>

Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are you a theologian? Do you Know God?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you ask someone, \u00a0what theology is today and possibly its necessity in individual lives, many would react negatively towards the word. As a matter of fact many will balk at it with negative remarks. The way we think about God defines the way we respond to the word, which is mainly the study about God. Virtually everyone knows about theology. They have some concepts about who God is. According to many theologians, the way we think about God affects the way we reason as well as the strength or the staunchness of our faith in Him. Theology is one contentious subject in many societies. Many would take a bible, read it aloud and tell you how saved they are. Still you will find a good number who have heard of God but have never taken any initiative to learn about Him. To them, God is at a distant and to some he is nonexistent, that is, He is an imagination of the people. A question always arises on who needs to know God. Many people claim they know Him. Ironically, even those who do not believe in God know about Him. How can you know God without believing in Him?<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

The book \u201cWho needs theology\u201d focuses on the main reason behind the fact that theology is a common factor in everyone. The two authors, Grenz and Olsen gives lucid elaboration on the fact that everyone is a theologian with the only difference is that different individuals have different levels of theology. They do this by listing and describing five different types of theology. They include lay theology, folk theology, professional theology, ministerial theology, and academic theology[1]<\/a>. Through academic and ministerial theologies, it becomes easy for one to understand the biblical languages, use commentaries, as well as gain knowledge about the historical theology. The other section of the book talks about the necessary tools that can help one to practice theology in a successful manner. The tools include historical heritage of the church and the bible. Interpreting the bible in the context of the church doctrines aids enables people to learn what theology is. As stated in the introduction part, one must read about the bible to know God[2]<\/a>. It is almost senseless talking about God with no knowledge of the scripture. The other tool used in the book is the though forms of contemporary culture. Through this, we are able to link various theological practices to the current cultural practices. Through the use of the three tools, it becomes easy for one to become a theologian. Becoming a theologian implies becoming a good critical thinker and decision maker when necessary.<\/p>\n

Reflection <\/strong><\/p>\n

Many verses in the bible talk about the necessary steps in knowing God. 2 Timothy 3:16 addresses the importance of every scripture in the Bible and their roles in guiding the human understanding of God so as to live a good life. Psalms 119:72-126 talks about what is necessary for one to learn the word of God. How can someone who does not believe in God say that he or she knows God? How can someone who has never read the bible know about God? They only have theology. They only have shallow knowledge or assumption on the belief of God\u2019s existence. They literally need to learn about theology.\u00a0 Theological knowledge coupled with excellent critical thinking skills will enable us to understand God and His deeds in the world. Critical thinking is one way of understanding theology. For instance, when thinking and studying about the origin of humans, most Christians believe that we were created by God in His own image. Others believe in evolution theory. Evolutionists talk of life originating from a simple cell and finally evolution through various stages. A critical thinker would ask the source of the simple cell. This makes the creation theory the most credible theory. Nothing interests a theologian than learning about his or her origin. Knowing God and studying His great characters makes theology an interesting course. The book is perfect for those who would love to learn about God and His deeds as well as Christianity in general. It is also perfect in learning about the relationship between various cultural practices and the word of Christianity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Stanley, Grenz& Roger, Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of<\/em><\/p>\n

God. <\/em>New York, NY:InterVarsity Press, 2009.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

[1]<\/a>Stanley, Grenz& Roger, Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0God.<\/em> New York, NY: InterVarsity Press, 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>Stanley, Grenz& Roger, Olson. Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0God.<\/em> New York, NY: InterVarsity Press, 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Are you a theologian? Do you Know God? Introduction If you ask someone, \u00a0what theology is today and possibly its necessity in individual lives, many would react negatively towards the word. As a matter of fact many will balk at it with negative remarks. The way we think about God defines the way we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"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":[198,693],"class_list":["post-5990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grenz","tag-olsen","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990","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\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5990"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5993,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions\/5993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}