{"id":6014,"date":"2015-10-15T06:56:07","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T13:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2015-10-15T06:56:07","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T13:56:07","slug":"an-invitation-to-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/an-invitation-to-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"An Invitation to Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div>My tribe has a favorite slogan, \u201cEveryone gets to play.\u201d \u00a0This means, as the priesthood of believers, all are equipped to do the things Jesus does. \u00a0<i>Who Needs Theology<\/i> by Grenz and Olson, is not just an introduction to theology, but a combination of a theology primer and manifesto declaring that everybody gets to do theology. \u00a0In fact, whether we know it or not, everybody DOES theology. \u00a0And for the authors of this book, theology is the answer to everything.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Experience<\/b><\/div>\n<div>After a 13 hour flight from China to California, \u00a0my in-flight neighbor, as we taxied to the gate at LAX, asked me to keep him in my prayers. \u00a0Of course, I automatically, without thinking or really meaning it, said I would. \u00a0But then I did something he didn\u2019t expect. \u00a0I asked him if I could pray for him right then and there. \u00a0He didn\u2019t even pause for a second, but simply answered \u201cyes, please.\u201d So I started praying. \u00a0For Grenz and Olson, we were practicing theology and good theology grounds christian living (Grenz\/Olson 43). \u00a0As a teacher and pastor, Grenz\/Olson would say I was practicing \u201cMinisterial\u201d theology. \u00a0As a Muslim who professes Jesus as his favorite prophet, my neighbor was practicing \u201cLay\u201d theology (Although, he did possess a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Bible than many Christians I\u2019ve sat next to on planes).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Lament<\/b><\/div>\n<div>Now-a-days, churches look to a variety of qualifications in their potential pastoral candidates with theology at the bottom, if at all, of that list. \u00a0I think this is true in America because the job description for the pastorate has changed. \u00a0When my grandfather pioneered a Lutheran church in my town right after World War II, all he had to do was take care of all the Lutherans in Sunland-Tujunga. \u00a0The same was true for each denomination in town. \u00a0The Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Catholics, simply attended to their denominational church in town and they pastor-chaplain-ed them. \u00a0These pastors were expected to be professional, if not academic, theologians specializing in their tribal polity. \u00a0The burden of expectation of the next generation of pastors fell less on theology and more on church growth. \u00a0And now, today\u2019s pastors are expected to be leaders. \u00a0One of the largest interdenominational and international conferences each year is called, \u201cThe Leadership Summit.\u201d \u00a0Notice it is not called, \u201cA Theological Summit.\u201d \u00a0Even Martyn Percy lamented to us in Hong Kong about the amount of leadership books written each year!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I lived this lament first hand last year when a local church interviewed me regarding a potential merging of churches. \u00a0During the 3 hour interview with the board and another church committee, there was not a single question regarding my theology. \u00a0In fact, the biggest concern of the long evening was my style of financial leadership. \u00a0This process proved <i>Who Needs Theology<\/i>\u2019s point: most christians cling to their opinions (lowest category) and would rather not engage in theology (doctrine &amp; dogma).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Solution<\/b><\/div>\n<div>This book is a quest to convince people to be proactive about doing theology. \u00a0To help us get excited about theology the authors basically state that the answers to all church problems are answered by doing good theology. \u00a0Do you want to please God? \u00a0Do theology (Grenz\/Olson 47). \u00a0Sick of poor theology? \u00a0Do good theology (Grenz\/Olson 51). \u00a0Tired of people basing life on various opinions and not church dogma? Do theology (Grenz\/Olson 73). \u00a0Are you part of the contemporary church? You need theology (Grenz\/Olson 102). \u00a0Looking for a way to place truth over and above personal experience? In search of a way to live your Sunday belief structure on a Monday morning? One word: theology (Grenz\/Olson 123, 126).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Theology asks what we must be, say, and do (Grenz\/Olson 94). \u00a0This is the invitation for every christian. \u00a0Good theology points to Jesus (The Truth) based on the Bible, theological heritage of the church, and contemporary culture. \u00a0Theology must be relevant and easily understood by the christian and non-christian. \u00a0For example, offering to pray and lay hands on a stranger on a plane. \u00a0Part of the task of theologians is to take seriously new insights of various disciplines. \u00a0My hunch is that this is why we are reading books like the Pink and Valentine volumes. \u00a0Visual ethnographies and social geographies, albeit \u201csecular,\u201d speak to the \u201cproblems, longings and ethos\u201d of our contemporary culture (Grenz\/Olson 99). \u00a0Theology must be done in, and speak to, our current culture of fear (Valentine 178). \u00a0John chapter 1, and the Jesus who is the perfect word and image of the Father must be preached in our current time and place where visual images are figuring increasingly in the critical and practical work of scholars amidst the paradigm and belief that there is \u201cno such thing as pure word or pure image\u201d (Pink 33). \u00a0Theology, Help!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My tribe has a favorite slogan, \u201cEveryone gets to play.\u201d \u00a0This means, as the priesthood of believers, all are equipped to do the things Jesus does. \u00a0Who Needs Theology by Grenz and Olson, is not just an introduction to theology, but a combination of a theology primer and manifesto declaring that everybody gets to do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"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":[675,534],"class_list":["post-6014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dmlgp6","tag-grenz-olson","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014","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\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6016,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions\/6016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}