{"id":7661,"date":"2011-10-16T09:36:47","date_gmt":"2011-10-16T13:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=7661"},"modified":"2011-12-06T12:55:42","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T17:55:42","slug":"theology-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/theology-is-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Theology is Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheopoeticTim Nichols wrote a fantastic article today about Theopoetics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What are Theopoetics? \u00a0Well, it is where I hope “theology” goes.<\/p>\n

We must get away from studying God and the Bible as if they were science projects. They are not. But that is what theology does. Instead, Theopoetics invite us to relate to Scripture and God in ways that involve all the senses, using the full range of our creative abilities, rather than just spoken or written words.<\/p>\n

Here is some of what Tim Nichols wrote:<\/p>\n

Theopoetics is the appreciation of \u2014 no, the embodied luxuriating in \u2014 God\u2019s words and works as\u00a0art<\/em>.\u00a0 The same God wrote the Bible as spoke the world, so theopoetics extends from the exegesis of Paul\u2019s use\u00a0 of kosmos to the dancing of taste buds at breakfast this morning.
\n
\nAway with the temptation to write scholarly papers!\u00a0 Let no man say when he is tempted to write a scholarly paper, \u201cI am tempted by God,\u201d for God is not tempted to write scholarly papers, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.\u00a0 If God ever inspired a scholarly paper, He had the mercy not to inflict it on His people in Scripture; let us follow His good example.\u00a0 Let the scholarly paper\u2019s laboriously footnoted pages be few and let another medium take its office.\u00a0 Let there be stories, songs, poems, vignettes, parables, sculptures, tapestries.\u00a0 Let there be dances!<\/p>\n

Let us learn the lessons of the Tabernacle by sculpting one, even a miniature one, and the more detail and prayer goes into it, the better.\u00a0 Let the plagues be painted on murals, complete with the crushed heads of the Egyptian gods.\u00a0 Let dances be choreographed in honor of the Red Sea crossing.\u00a0 Let beer be brewed in honor of Jael slaying Sisera.\u00a0 Let bread be baked in honor of the feeding of the five thousand \u2014 and let it be given to the poor and homeless in the name of Jesus.\u00a0 Let rattlesnakes be barbecued in honor of Moses\u2019 bronze serpent (we can eat off St. Peter\u2019s sheet; why not?)\u00a0 Let vibrant old liturgies be revived and adapted in honor of the resurrection of the Son of God.\u00a0 Let our grasp of the nature and character of God be embodied to the hilt \u2014 something we can eat, drink, watch, touch, feel, smell.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes and Yes! This is what God gave to the Israelites at Mount Sinai – theology they could eat, drink, watch, touch, feel, and smell. This is the kind of “theology” we need today. To find out more, head on over to\u00a0the post on Theopoetics by Tim Nichols<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theology is dead. But was it ever really alive? 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