Ass 1-Intro to Theology

Hi LG fellows,

Thought I'll share with u all the assignment I submitted to my Bible College teacher early this year-March09 at Harvest Bible College. This article is to be read in conjunction with the bibliography. We were asked to read a few chapters in our theology text book, and argue on a topic. I have chosen this particular topic.
Please do not forward this to other people, as this form part of the assessment in the bible college I attended last semester- and I believe it applies also for all others whom are doing that course too over the years.

The below is not exactly the best, but I thought I'll share with u guys.

Ass 1: The Theologian Contradictory job description


When we first accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour and our Lord, we are introduced to him as a new acquaintance. Like all relationships, it is a process of gradual familiarisation with a person’s temperament, desires, abilities, character and so forth. I still remembered the time when I first became a Christ follower 6 years ago. I knew who Jesus was, I had knowledge of his life, death and resurrection but not the deep understanding of his character, his attributes, his personalities, and his teachings.

It is for this reason why I believe the study of Theology is important. What is theology per se and how do most people understands it, and what is the role of a theologian? In this essay, I will be highlighting these three areas and finally form an opinion as to my thoughts with regards to these rebuttals.

What is Theology?
Theology can be defined in many ways. It can be defined as the practical or methodological attempt to response to understand and interpret God’s divine revelation of Himself. In short, it is the discussion concerning God and all that is related to God. Theology is most commonly understood as sapienta, scienta, or orthopraxis. John Jefferson Davis noted that for a healthy evangelical theology to properly equip people of God for the work of ministry ( Eph 4:11-16) , these three elements are needed.

Thelogy as sapienta or wisdom is pointing towards the believer establishing a relationship with God on the basis of trust rather than acceptance of its abstract beliefs. In my opinion, Christianity is not merely a religion. Let me explain why I say this. The root of the word "religion" is usually traced to the Latin religare (re: back, and ligare: to bind), so that the term is associated with "being bound." The idea may reflect a concept prominent in biblical literature. Israel was said to be in a "covenant" (berith) relationship with its God (Yahweh). In a sense, the nation was "covenanted" or "bonded" to the deity. But what does being bound or bonded mean? Is a slave who is bound or bonded to his or her master in a "religious" relationship? What about in a business context, where an employee signs a work contract with the employer? Will this form a “religious” binding? This particular notion of religion as "binding" doesn't really fit and therefore this interpretation of the root meaning of the term proves incorrect here. Therefore, I believe that Christianity is not merely a religion, rather is a relationship with God. It is no doubt that religion binds people together, but ultimately it is the deepening relationship established through the gradual familiarization of His personality, attributes, His desires, His preferences and His thoughts that holds everything together and brings meaning into life.

John 15: 15 (NKJV):” No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My father, I have made known to you.

In the above scripture, it is clearly outlined that God wants us to be his friend, and call us to have an intimacy of relationship with him.

Theology as scienta ( science ) works on the basis that all of human knowledge sum up to the study of God. This model could is debatable in the sense that the God we serve is a mysterious God, who reveals his will to each and everyone of us in different ways, in different times.

Theology as orthopraxis ( right action) emphasizes right action in the world rather than right doctrine. I believe that while it is important to have the right action such as obeying, knowing, and honouring God, the right doctrine is equally important as well. It is by faith that we know God exists. Faith-being the understanding of the unseen world. It is a something that we cannot see and yet we just believe in it. We believe in the doctrine, we believe in the teaching , we believe in Gospel. It is all by faith. And if that faith and a strong conviction that helps produce the right action.

It appears to me that no one model can fully explain what theology is really about. Hence, it is for these reasons above that I strongly agree with Sawyer that these 3 models above fail to identify the tensions and confusions in the study of this field.

Perhaps, another way to look at theology is to identify the role of a theologian. There are three aspects of the role of a theologian:

1)Theologian as a guardian of truth.

The Bible is the source of all our understanding about God. Without it, we cannot comprehend anything about him. From the bible , we know that God is spirit . (Luke 24:39, Heb 1: 3). Secondly, God is a person. Throughout the Old Testatment, God portrayed himself as a person, as a husband and Israel as his wife. Thirdly, God is light ( 1 Jo 1:5) .

1 Ti 6:15-16 (NKJV) …….who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or see, to whom be honour and everlasting power.

Love is the very heart of who God is. John 3:16 (NKJV) : For God so love the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For one to begin a discussion of theology and theological study, it must all begin with a precommitment of faith. Faith is the heart understanding and belief of the unseen world. It should encompass what we believe and in whom we believe in.

Sawyer highlights in his text various theologians, from Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther to John Calvin, and how each one of them defined and explained the term faith. Whatever, the definition is, I agree with Sawyer that faith involves an intellectual element and element of personal trust. When it comes to the study and research of theology, theologian must stand within the realm of faith and carry on his/her role to defend the truth outlined in the holy bible. The second important point to note here is that of heresy. Heresy is a reflection of the fallen nature of mankind, of how man wants to interpret and reflect things the way he/she wants it to be rather than according to God’s way. The book of Judges highlights the chaos during that era, as individuals were living their lives without a guiding centre of accountability to God and to fellow humans. Today, I believe these fellow humans will be that of theologians. And that we should be accountable to them.

Theologians are also to be preservers of tradition. Living in this modern times, there has been many church movements. We have got the more conservative group with conservative worship services such as the Methodist, Anglicans, so forth and we have got the pentecostal churches, etc…Recent church movement, the emerging churches have been mushrooming since the late 20th and early 21st century. Church goers of the emerging churches seek to believe their faith in what they call the post modern society.

“The way we believe traditionally expressed Christianity may be in trouble, but the future may hold new expressions of the Christian faith every bit as effective, faithful , meaningful,and world-transforming as those we’ve know so far,” says Brian McLaren.

These emerging churches may be one solution to the new 18 to 35 year old generation i.e those born and raised with a different philosophical set of values, changing worldview, and evolving belief system that the past generations did not experience. As such, impacting both the disciples of Jesus and the unchurched. Regardless of whatever church movements, I am a fervent believer of the Holy Trinity- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here, I would like to agree with Sawyer that unless theology is an intellectual exercise or study, we have to recognize that Holy Spirit is an important component in our Christian belief and that the Trinity, comes hand –in-hand.

Ecc 4:9, 12 …Two are better than one, …a cord of three-strands is not easily broken .

2) Theologian as a scientist/explorer

Theologians are researchers of the truth( scientist) and searchers for the truth ( explorers).

Theologian scientists look in three directions , the scriptures, general revelation and the work of their predecessors. When looking at the scriptures, the theologians will need to understand the context of the scripture as to the terms and concepts used in both ancient and contemporary world. For example, there has been great debate as to women preaching in church and women cutting their hair and wearing jewellery in Book of Timothy. An interview with Tony Compolo in 2006 with regards to women preacher such as Paula White and Joyce Meyer , etc… indicated that those restrictions were placed on women those days were specific to a particular circumstances in the ancient world, situations wherein women with cut hair and jewelry were looked upon as prostitutes.

“Times have changed. Indeed they have. We’re dealing with a specific situation in Timothy, and we are to recognize it as such, said Tony Compolo.

The limitation of the translation of the scripture must also be taken into account. Although the original text of the bible is written in Hebrew and Greek and that it is fixed overtime, other spoken language is constantly changing.

The concept of general revelation involves an understanding where God revealed and is revealing certain truths and aspects about Himself to all humanity through creation, providence, history and conscience as opposed to special revelation where God reveals himself to humanity in special ways through person of Jesus Christ and the bible.

To sum up this point, theologian as a scientist or researcher, it requires a theologian to also verify and check their findings and understandings with that of the past theologians. This involves recognizing the application of exegetical and logical methods of the Scriptures.

3)Theologian as an explorer

A theologian has to dive deep into unknown areas, grey areas of the scriptures where no one has ever ventured. Theology is dynamic rather than static, and needs to take into account changing times , circumstances and challenges that we face today.

The most challenging and debatable role of a theologian is probably its role as a contextualizer. This term refers to “ translation of the unchanging gospel of the kingdom into verbal forms meaningful to people in their separate cultures and within their particular existential situation, that is , the articulation of the biblical message in terms and language and thought forms of a particular culture or ethnic group.” It is a challenging task as it involves re-expressing the truth of Christianity in a form that is appropriate for the context in which it finds itself. This is tricky and requires lots of wisdom as words, phrases, sentences and discourses have different meanings in different context. As such, analyzing and going back to the root is such an essential exercise for the theologians. There are two methods in theologian use to contextualize the scripture- biblical roots and historical root.

Above all that, understanding the form of the scripture I think is equally as important as the understanding the substance of it. This brings us into two world of linguistics, one being the surface structure ( vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc) and the other deep structure ( content, etc). One of the main roles of theologian is not to look at the passage on its own but to see how it interlink with the other passages. Of course, like any other thing, there are objections and those whom are against this. It is believed that there is a danger of heresy here should one be not careful. As much as I believe there are cons for contextualization, I also believe that the scriptures should be read in a way that the Holy Spirit leads, and also taking into account the era we live in, the current culture and situation that we are in at the present moment.

The implication of contextualization has seen to a call for creativity and innovation of how the passages are read. The other implications include the integration of academic and practical theological disciplines, understanding the sources of theology, rethinking the nature of the authority of the scriptures and also its denominational and ecumenical relations.

In conclusion, like Sawyer, I am of the opinion that the role of a theologian is complicated because one aspects interrelate to the other. A good theologian is however according to my belief, is one whom has a strong foundation and deep understanding of the scriptures, while applying the methods used in interpreting the scriptures, and at the same time, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of his or her work. However, theologian should not be confined to the old methods of interpreting the scriptures for fearing of being accused of introducing heresies , rather he or she should discover new ways for theological understanding.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sawyer, J , The Survivor’s Guide to Theology 2006
Gerald A. Larue , Emeritus Professor of Biblical History and Archaeology
University of Southern California , What Is "Religion"?—Well, It’s Hard to "Say Exactly"
Kimball. D, Emerging Worship, Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations 2004
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2006/10/Let-The-Women-Preach.aspx

City Life , Life Trax Track 1 Edition 4, 2006

NJKV, Holy Bible 1982

Buchanan, G, HBC TH 402 Introduction to Theology Lecture Notes 2009