On Studying Theology

Over @ Evan’s blog there was a recent discussion regarding how one should begin to learn theology.  To simplify the discussion, two main approaches emerged in the comments section:

1. Read a lot of classic works from diverse writers.  Read widely
2. Read a historical overview, then start digging deep into a single theologian.  Read deeply.

Here is my two cents on this: integration.  Both perspectives need to be brought together.  There are obvious reasons for this.  To merely read widely means one misses the depth and nuance many thinkers have.  On the other hand, to give history a cursory glance & focus mainly on someone like Karl Barth (a real temptation for beginning thinkers who live in certain parts of the theo-blogosphere city), is to likely miss the complex contextual factors that led to a person’s thought.  Furthermore, while a simple embrace of the postmodern suspicion of metanarrative may be unhelpful, there is wisdom in a wide reading of history, lest one “history” dominate one’s thinking.  Basically, if you think either/or on this type of deal, you are likely to misread both. 

There are probably many different ways to do this, but here is how I am trying to integrate both perspectives.  I try to section my studying off in months.  Each month is devoted to a single thinker, movement, etc in theology.  However, in the same month I try to read at least one work in the history of theology, Christianity, etc.  My belief is that reading both comprehensively & specifically within the field is mutually enriching, & each perspective provides a helpful platform on which to think about the other.  In this way, the study of theology is like spiritual formation, spiraling ever downward into a better understanding in both scope and specificity.

In sum, the key to studying theology is to remember your sunday school songs: read “deep & wide, deep & wide . . .”

CV Help

A couple schools I am looking into for PhD work want me to attach/mail them my CV.  Problem is, I haven’t written one.

So, I’m calling out to the blogosphere for help.  How should  i format the CV?  What should I include?

New Blog Name!

Welcome to my “new” blog!  The new name reflects my sentiments  in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way as I seek to honor God both in ministry & in the search to understand & know Him.  Also, it is a bit odd, which seems to suit me well.  I really like it.  While the theme may be wordpress stock, it has always been one of my favorites.  In the future, bio & belief updates are coming.

Thanks to those of you who offered sugggestions.  Please update your blogrolls everyone!

Awkward Moments in Middle School Ministry #1

With the renaming of this blog to happen soon, I hae decided to start one of my future series ahead of time, named “Awkward Moments in Middle School Ministry.”  These will range from the theological to the physically comedic.  Without further ado, let’s get this started!

After a rousing game of touch football last night, myself, a sponsor, & a group of 6th & 7th grade boys were walking back into the building.  One 6th grader started a conversation with me: 

Student: Am I good person?

Me (taken aback & fumbling for an answer): Well, you are b/c Jesus loves you.

Student: Then can you give me money?

As you can tell by my answer, i wasn’t sure what to say to such an unprovoked existential query, but luckily he didn’t care about my answer, but only what “purchase” his “good-person” status could earn with me.  Awkward.  On the bright side, student ministry is great for theological work b/c conversations like these remind me that while what we do as theologians is important, it isn’t everything.

Metamorphosis

Hello everyone, after a long hiatus, I am back.  I took the GRE earlier in the week.  Suffice it to say that I didn’t do as well as I had hoped for, but depending on who you talk to it sounds like I succeeded where I needed to, so it should be okay.  So all that is left for me to do is logistic work & prayer, lots of prayer.  While this is scary, for the next few months i have more time than i have had in years to pursue my own academic interests & hobbies, one of which is blogging.

With all that in mind, I think it is time to reinvent things around ATP.  The main changes will be in the mood & purpose of this blog.  I have viewed myself as a pilgrim, someone in process in my theological understanding.  While a sober judgment of one’s capabilities has its value, negatively it has made me too guarded, to afraid of being “exposed” as an idiot.  To be truthful, this has sucked the fun out of blogging &, i have come to think, missed the point of doing it in the 1st place.  This is honestly one of the main reasons why my production has ground to a halt; it has become much too serious an enterprise for me.  Sadly, it has also made it hard for me to learn, which was one of my main hopes for doing this.

I am hoping to loosen things up around here.  I still want to dive into theological matters of substance consistently, but instead of trying to create “finished products,” this will be more of a sounding board for reflection on those topics.  Also, in the past i have hid a bit of my personality & other interests; that is over.  Basically, I am ready to have fun with it, & if occasionally people think I am dumb (often?), then so be it.

Why do you need to know all this, dear reader?  Am I so self-absorbed that I will write a long post about my own blogging issues?  Well, yes, but more importantly, I would like your help in renaming this blog in keeping with this new attitude.  Please comment if you have any suggestions, & if you are new here, do some browsing to get a feel for the subjects I tend to gravitate towards.  I will make a change soon, so if you have thoughts, let me know quickly.

Shepherding Middle School Students in a Nutshell

I have really wanted to post lately, but the GRE is consuming me; it is less than 2 weeks away.  So, for brevity’s sake i thought I would post a video that a couple of my middle school students showed me recently.  I think it captures the joys & challenges of shepherding middle school students nicely:

 

Narcissism & Evangelical Piety

Being situated as i am in a mostly conservative evangelical setting, i have noticed an infatuation with the idea of understanding one’s “identity” as a means of spiritual formation.  In case some are not aware of it, here is a brief layout of the concept:

1. A relationship with Christ makes one a new creation (eg one is “given a new identity”).
2. Based largely upon Romans 12:1-2, much (all?) of one’s struggles in spiritual formation can be reduced to negative understandings of one’s self, a misunderstanding of their new identity.
3. When one grasps their new identity, they are spiritually liberated/mature/in step with the Spirit, etc etc.

Although there are different nuances to this, that is pretty much it.  As (1) makes clear above, it is one’s connection to Christ that is the root of this new identity.  However, i see that often (1) is simply the instrument, the tool to get to the important stuff, which is who I am now.  In many ways, the discipleship process can be reduced to an almost anthropological journey of self-discovery.  It seems that one can fall into a sort of spiritual narcissism in their quest to unlock the awesomeness of their identities, ironically undercutting the fundamental needs for self-denial & an outward focus in the life of discipleship. 

To be fair, bright-minded women & men could respond that an outward focus & submissive life-style are also part of the identities which they must grasp.  Fair enough.  My question is if such a genuine grasping of these dimensions of discipleship is possible when there is a functional, instrumental Christology at work (an issue I recently wrote about here).  Did Jesus come only/primarily to give me a new identity?  Can the scope of the incarnation be reduced to this function, this need of mine?   I am doubtful; something seems fishy to me.  If the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection were only a tool to provide us with a new identity, how else can we understand these acts of God as anything more than just that, a tool for us?  If the Gospel is primarily about me & my need, how can i move beyond myself to genuine renunciation?   

Enough for now; bed time.  I hope to think more on this soon, but anyone have thoughts?  Am I just out to lunch here?

Construction, Anyone?

As is mentioned on occasion here @ ATP, i am not only an aspiring scholar, but also a youth pastor (middle school).  Occasionally as i surf the internets & theological blogs the topic of youth ministry/pastor comes up.  When it does, it is always derisive in nature.  For example, here is the most recent offering i have encountered, via Ben’s twitter.

Now, if you took the time to watch that video, don’t worry, I am not defending it.  Probably not the best idea in the world.  Few sensible, theologically minded people would disagree with this being a poor idea.  That isn’t my issue.  Nor am I unhappy with Ben Myers; he was just the most recent example i have encountered.

My problem is that discourse on theological blogs about youth ministry/pastors are limited to shooting these fish in their barrels.  Anyone can expose these tacky approaches for what they are, but can anyone actually do some constructive thought here?  If anyone else works with youth, then I am sure you’ll agree with me that in America at least, these people need both loving & theologically competent shepherds.  To sound like an immature youth pastor, their lives often suck, more so than adults often.  I hope that in the future i encounter bloggers who care about more than mocking other’s approaches, and actually helping youth leaders think theologically.  Of course, to do that one might have to go beyond making fun of youth ministries & their leaders, and instead get to know them & do some actual theological work. 

End of Rant.

Book Review: Theology and Culture

Long, Stephen D.  Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion (Cascade Companions).  Eugene: Cascade, 2008.  124 pgs

In this short work Stephen Long provides a helpful introduction to the important issue of theology and culture.  In keeping with the spirit of brevity of Long’s work, only a couple salient points will be touched on.

One of Long’s central concerns in this work is language.  In particular, Long addresses the pitfalls surrounding metaphors in general and in particular the metaphor of “culture.”  He wants to help the reader see the problems language causes, particularly as it relates to talk about God, since all language is culturally embedded.  How can one escape the prison of the “linguistic turn?”

Rather than provide firm answers to this and other related concerns (although at times his preference for a Christological explanation is evident), instead Long provides a survey of how people have tried to deal with the dilemmas inherent in understanding theology and culture.  Long’s survey is a model of ”concise breadth,” dealing with thinkers like Troeltsch, Niebuhr, Tillich, Milbank, Balthasar, Tanner, and McClendon, as well as movements and events like Radical Orthodoxy, Vatican II, Communio Catholicism, Reformed thought, liberal protestantism and more, all within less than 60 pages!  The explanations are accessible for the novice and thorough enough to see the issues they raise.

This is a fantastic guide to the complex issues surrounding this topic for the beginner.  Further, Long is a clear, concise writer who strikes a nice balance between charity and ascerbic wit, making it a pleasant read.  I highly recommend it for those who want to look into the issue, or need a refresher.

For Your Enjoyment

Not much posting lately.  The GRE is staring me down right now, & i am reading a great book on Bonhoeffer’s concept of “accepting guilt.”  I have really enjoyed it, & hopefully when i finish i can reflect on it a bit.  Here is something to tide you over until i can write something of substance:

Two Weekend Demands

Two things you must do immediately:

1.)  Click this image & read everything that pops up as a result:

2.)  Click this, buy it, & let your ears take in great music:

I can think of few things that would be a better use of one’s time this weekend.

Instrumentalizing the Incarnation

Recently i briefly explored a common pitfall i see in much theological work (especially in evangelicalism): using the doctrine of the incarnation as epistemological window-dressing. 

As i have thought more about this, it seems fitting to me to describe this trend as “instrumentalizing the incarnation.”  Basically, the incarnation is one’s tool of choice to justify a larger (or more foundational) theological commitment in a theologian’s work.  The key word often associated with this tendency is “embodiment.”  Simply stated, in this view the incarnation serves as more of a moral imperative to value the physical world.

It is likely evangelical theology has to some degree realized the lack of a robust theology undergirding their conceptions.  Since incarnational/trinitarian discourse is in vogue at the moment, it seems expedient to show how the incarnation provides a rationale for one’s real agenda to be furthered, & since all hobby horses can be construed as connected to the physical realm somehow, the way is paved for the incarnation to be used to justify the “embodiment” of the theologian’s real agenda.

This may not be done with malicious intent.  In fact, i would guess that such efforts are meant to recover a robust Christology, but if the incarnation is merely instrumentalized, then Christ’s humanity merely provides a moral impetus to value anything “embodied.”  But this actually cheapens the incarnation by ripping the moral imperative from the substitutionary nature of the incarnation.  Thus, despite good intentions, the incarnation is merely ethical; it is not a belief with ontological implications for one’s doctrine of God or theological anthropology.  We often, to use a former professor’s language, enjoy the “embrace” of the incarnation, but resist being “displaced.”  One must value physical realities while simultaneously displacing the central role our deeper agendas play in understanding these realities.  Christ, in his incarnation, does both.

To reduce the incarnation to the ethical imperative of valuing physicality is to do violence to the humanity of Jesus, who is still alive.  He is not merely a doctrinal corpse who we can perform an autopsy on in search of  justification for our agendas, no matter how noble.  In his humanity he does more than merely affirm true embodiment; he also judges all false understandings and the “alien principles” the misunderstandings are born out of.  This substitutionary dimension moves us beyond mere instrumentalizing  into the ontological depths of being, a necessity for a robust Christology.

Required Literature Reading

Time for an informal poll: As a theology student, what literature should i be reading?  I am looking to garner resources, so please assume i know nothing (you might be right).  So if you have suggestions, please comment & include:

• name of book/author 
• brief explanation of why they matter/why i should read them

A proleptic thanks to all!