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A New Proposal for Theological Categories

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I’m not sure who invented the most commonly used systematic theological categories of Theology Proper, Christology, Pneumatology, Bibliology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, Eschtaology, Hamartiology, Angelology, and a few others, but it is high time to develop some new ones.

Why?

Because these categories emphasize knowing at the expense of being and doing, but following Jesus involves all three. Theology, even though it means study of God, should not stop at just “the study,” but should move on to personal change and kingdom involvement.

[Read more…]

Jack of All Trades Theology

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Which is a better approach to theology: being a spet — an expert in one field, like “Soteriology” — OR being a Jack of all Trades, reading widely and learning broadly about all aspects of theology?

You know what they say, “Jack of all Trades – Master of None” but is this really bad in theology?

[Read more…]

Is Theology Possible?

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I’m searching for a good approach to theology that:

  1. Does justice to the Biblical narrative.
  2. Places an emphasis on practice rather than just knowledge.
  3. Is able to embrace not just the theological ideas of the past but also the cultural tensions of the present.
  4. Is taught and lived in community.

Any ideas?

Is theology possibleI’ve read and studied Biblical theology, systematic theology, dogmatic theology, historical theology, practical theology, and narrative theology, and while they all have their strengths, none seem to meet all three requirements above.

The reason I am searching is because I want to focus this website on its original intent. When I started my Till He Comes blog in 2002, I wanted to focus on writing about Scripture and theology. I have somewhat strayed from that goal because I have not yet found a satisfying approach.

But I’m getting tired of circling the runway, and am running out of fuel, so I need to land.

Here is what I think my approach will be, and if I break a few wheels in the process, at least I end up on the ground.

  1. I am going to use Systematic categories (Bibliology, Christology, Soteriology, etc).
  2. I will approach these categories from a Biblical narrative and exegetical perspective. I don’t just want to see what the Bible says about these categories, but what the Bible says about them over time and through the progress of revelation.
  3. Church history and tradition will be factored in, but only after the Biblical data has been examined.
  4. Application to modern culture and issues will also be considered, with an emphasis on how the theological category leads to action and service.

What do you think? Is it possible? Should I put my hand to the plow? If I did, would you keep reading? Any other suggestions on how to do this?

My Wife is Sleeping on the Couch

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My wife is sleeping on the couch.

I know, it is usually the husband who gets sent to the couch, but this time, it’s the wife. She’s been there for about three weeks.

But it’s not what you think. It’s not marital problems or the result of a big fight.

Our three girls have been sick, one after another, for the past three weeks. They wake up a lot during the night, have a persistent cough, and suffer from high fevers. So my wife, dedicated and loving mother that she is, moved the couch cushions into their room, and is sleeping there so she can check their fevers and comfort them when they wake up during the night.

I love you, Wendy! You are the best mother in the world.

The Church of Many Buildings

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House church practitioners often accuse the institutional church of equating the church with the buildings the church meets in. “The church isn’t a building,” they say, “The church is the people.” We are exhorted to stop going to church, and start being the church.

But it seems that house church people may be guilty of the same thing. After all, it’s right in the name: “house” church. What is a house if not a building?

I suppose this might be part of the reason so many new names are popping up to help us describe “church.” We have organic church, simple church, and missional communities, but even here, in most of the books and blogs I read about this, the emphasis always seems to be that the church is only functioning when the people gather in a certain place at a certain time, usually in a house on Sunday morning. [Read more…]

Blog posts that make you go hmmm…

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Here are the blog posts that made me think this week. Thanks to you who wrote them!

  1. Eddie at the Kouya Chronicle wrote a post about why God doesn’t whisk us away to heaven as soon as we believe.
  2. Along with Arthur Sido, I find that what Scripture doesn’t say is often as important as what it does.
  3. Eric at A Pilgrim’s Progress made me do a double take with this post about what he thinks of the Senior Pastor.
  4. Ben Byerly wrote about a message that was given at Urbana about money and power in missions. Good reminders for all of us.
  5. Donald Miller reminds us that the way most of us use the Bible is probably the main way to not use the Bible.
  6. Felicity Dale never writes a bad post. How does she do it?
  7. Elizabeth at Unravel reminds us that the Christianity of today is closer to the religion that Jesus rejected, rather than the way He taught.

That should keep you busy for the weekend. Keep writing, because I’m reading!

Are you an Aspiring Author?

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I am launching a writer’s club for new and unpublished authors who want to help each other break into the publishing world. It is a Google Group called New Christian Authors. It is a private club, and is by invitation only.

Read on to find out how the club works, who the club is for, the rules of the club, and to request an invitation.

How it Works

The goal is simple: to help the members get more exposure and traffic from Facebook and Twitter. Members of this group will post one link per week to their blog or Facebook page, and the other members will “Like” it on Facebook, “Tweet” it in Twitter, and if they want to, comment on it. [Read more…]

How to Add your Blog to Facebook

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I don’t know if you care about this, but I just wasted 45 minutes trying to figure out how to add my Blog Posts to Facebook.

Ironically, this was not so that I could add my blog to Facebook, but so that I could remove by blogs from Facebook. My blog posts have been posting to Facebook for a few years now, and I do not remember how I put them on there.

Due to some information I discovered at the blog of Alan Knox, I wanted to make some changes to how the posts appear on Facebook. But I couldn’t figure it out, and all of the websites I found online were out of date.

So, if you want to post your blog on Facebook, or like me, unpost it, here are the current steps (until Facebook changes it again):

  1. From your Facebook Home, look on your Left Sidebar for the “Notes.”
  2. Click on Notes. A drop down menu appears. Click on “My Notes.”
  3. On the Left Sidebar, there should be an area that says “Subscribe” and “Edit Import Settings.” (When I was importing notes, this link was only visible when I actually clicked one of my Blog Post Notes).
  4. Enter (or remove) your Blog feed in the box provided. Save, and you’re done!

Update: If you want to put your blog posts on Facebook (and other social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+, I highly recommend the Social Network Auto Poster plugin from NextScripts. I use it on this blog, and it sends my posts to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Delicious, Diigo, StumbleUpon, and a few others.

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