The Work of a Theologian

I had the enormous fun today of discussing Missional Theology in a workshop with Dr. Mel Ming at the Annual Conference of the Northwest Ministry Network. It is a topic I really love.

I first met Mel as a teacher when I was a student at Northwest College. He was famous for his organizational skills even then and was a terrific teacher.

Almost a decade later, after about five years in pastoral ministry, I decided to finish my Masters degree. Near the end of studies as I was doubting my sanity at "leaving the ministry" and a paid position, Mel called to ask me to consider teaching Church History and being the computer department at Northwest .

Thank you, Mel, for taking that risk and hiring me! Today, several decades later, I've gotten to know Mel not only as a teacher but also as an excellent friend. I find myself most emphatically in ministry, doing the work of a theologian: thinking and talking about God.

Here's a link to a discussion on the tasks and tools of the theologian from a class I taught at Cedar Park Church this Spring. I hope you find it useful: I'd appreciate your reactions and comments.

Blessings, and thank you for your interest!

The Wonder and Uniqueness of the Wheel

There's a fascinating article on the invention of the wheel, which you can read at http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/03/04/0412243/why-did-it-take-so-long-to-invent-the-wheel?

The section that caught my eye is this: that the invention of the wheel-and-axle was "a task so challenging archaeologists say it probably happened only once, in one place".

Hmmm - it seems to me that the complexity of life itself, leave alone that of our human bodies and minds, exceeds the wheel-and-axle by a fair bit. What are the odds, then, of multiple "lower beings" evolving into "higher beings" in close enough physical proximity that they could procreate and reproduce? It's not enough just to have a single lower being evolve: you need to have a Mr and Mrs evolving-lower-being who can meet up and make new higher-being babies...

Wonderful Music for Easter

In our last class session I mentioned music (again!) and we talked about its power in worship and indeed in most aspects of life.

I mentioned two pieces that I particularly love in this season: "God So Loved the World" from Stainer's Crucifixion, and "I Cannot Tell", sung to the tune of Londonderry Air. Here are some YouTube links, if you'd like to check these out for yourself.

King's College choir (Cambridge) with "God So Loved the World" (brings back memories of hearing it in that physically cold but marvelous space in Cambridge) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkJGglj9opY

Songs of Praise (a regular BBC production) at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast with "I Cannot Tell" (I still find it difficult to just read the words without tears of gratitude and amazement) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkHYR0f2WAY

and to add to the above, my wife reminded me afterwards of a song which we've loved since we heard it: "Beautiful Scandalous Night" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qahF83maIo

I hope these bring you joy and a renewed appreciation for God achieved for us. May the reality of Christ's resurrection invigorate your life!


ps - Another great version of "God So Loved the World", with St. Paul's Cathedral choir, can be enjoyed at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Akz6J8Rw0. I prefer the King's College version because of personal connection - you might like this one yourself...

Music as Indicator of the Times

In our last class session we discussed how music can serve as an indicator of the tenor of the times - a vital clue to the overall attitude of society. I ran into this post which discusses that idea further:

http://tcapologetics.org/2012/01/the-apologist-currently-known-as-prince/

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Books for Further Reading

We discussed some books in class in our last session, and as promised I'm giving you a short list of these here. I do most of my book shopping at http://www.bookfinder.com/, a site which searches a lot of different booksellers (Amazon included) and gives you the best price, including shipping.

For Christian Thought, our main textbook is Created for Community by Stanley Grenz. For a basic introduction to the course I use Who Needs Theology? by Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson (I see it listed by just Grenz as well as Grenz and Olson - same book). I also have my students do a "Life Response Project" out of The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg, because theology is not just about correct thinking, but much more importantly about living correctly as a member of God's kingdom. This assignment/book results in something very unusual every semester: thank you notes from students for the work I've assigned! If you decide you want to go much deeper after you've finished these, I heartily recommend Christian Theology: An Introduction by Alistair McGrath. It's available in a number of editions, and any of them from the third edition on are worth getting (just in case you find a big difference in price between 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions).

We actually started our discussion on books with the topic of church history. An excellent and non-boring look at history with an eye to theology is The Story of Christian Theology (also listed as The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform - get whichever is cheaper) by Roger Olson. I also like the two-volume set The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez.

Have fun meeting some of my friends!

Link for Christian Thought outlines

For anyone following along with our discussion on God's story and our place in it, I have a link here for the outlines we'll be using. These are in Microsoft Word format, and you can download them and use them for organizing your notes as we discuss things.

I'm sharing them from SugarSync, which is an excellent way of putting resources up for others to access. They offer free storage, and you can check my post in my TechRoadShow blog for some of the ways I use this. You might find some of these ideas useful as well.

Looking forward to another session tomorrow with the class at Cedar Park! We'll be discussing perhaps the most crucial element of actually doing the work of a theologian: judging what is true, and just how important that particular truth is. (Just in case that's set off sirens in your mind, while my choice of favorite color and my choice of belief about God's existence both are "truths", one of these is much more important than the other!)

See you tomorrow, I hope!

Christian Thought class at Cedar Park

I'm very excited to be launching into a new class at Cedar Park. We met this last Sunday (Nov 27th) for the first time, and covered some of the basic definitions of what theology is and means. It was a great group, and I'm looking forward to the series.

For anyone who would like to subscribe to a weekly feed of the class, here are some links:

iTunes with audio and video - itpc://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=7519af72-c344-42f4-8b88-07fb0035db42&type=mp4

iTunes with audio only - itpc://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=7519af72-c344-42f4-8b88-07fb0035db42&type=mp3

RSS feed with audio and video - http://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=7519af72-c344-42f4-8b88-07fb0035db42&type=mp4

RSS feed with audio only - http://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=7519af72-c344-42f4-8b88-07fb0035db42&type=mp3

Holler in the comments below if you need some help with what to do with these links. Otherwise, those who are a part of the class, either gathering in person each week, or joining us in cyberspace, welcome!