Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Importance of Theology
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| image from here |
On my former blog, I wrote a somewhat rambling post about what Theology means to me and how I think it gets a bad rap. You can read it here!
I love Academia and I love Theology. I am passionate about helping people see that Theology doesn't distract from a relationship with God; when done right, it enhances it. Theology isn't all about dogmatics and obscure discussions. To be fair, it can be like that. But it doesn't have to be. It can be enlightening and eye opening-- revealing the intricacies of the atonement and God's salvation plan. It can deepen our understanding of God's character. It can cause you to fall even more in love with the Creator.
So I am thrilled to be getting back into my Theology sequence; digging into those issues that seems boring to some, but are utterly fascinating to me. On the first day of class, in a discussion about the importance of study, doctrine, and theology, this quote stood out to me:
Christian doctrine teaches us how to cope with various real-life crises. Doctrine, far from being a matter of abstract theory, is actually the stuff of real life. Real life is located in the way of Jesus Christ, and the purpose of doctrine is to lead us precisely in this way. Whether we would like to admit that our views about God, ourselves, and this world are essentially theological, they are. Whether we want to admit that our views about God, ourselves, and this world affects everything we do, they do.
--VanhooserAnother quote found on a friend's facebook:
“You get people who say they’re not theological. ‘Oh I’m just not theological.’ Well here’s the problem with that - if you’re opening your mouth and you’re talking about God, you’re being theological. The problem is, if it’s not rooted in biblical, historical orthodoxy, you’re probably being a heretic. So you can’t use the line ‘I’m not theological.’ You are being theological; it’s just really bad.”
- Matt ChandlerTheology is important. Deal with it.
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