Exploring Theology

University

Introduction

In 1990, I was an officer in the United States Air Force stationed at the Air Force Academy just outside Colorado Springs. I was serving as a professor teaching political science to the cadets, college students preparing to become Air Force officers. During that time, I was deeply involved in my local congregation in the city, attending services, Sunday school, and Wednesday-evening programming. When I arrived at church one Wednesday evening in January 1991, the fellowship hall was filled with people gathered around a television set, watching the first bombs and missiles of Operation Desert Storm. Until that moment, for some eight years, I had served in a peacetime Air Force, primarily as a manager of aircraft launch and repair operations on fighter jets. Now we were at war, and my mind was racing. Had I not been assigned to teach at the academy, I most likely would have been deployed with a squadron of fighter jets dropping bombs in the Persian Gulf.

The more I placed my Christian faith in conversation with my career as an Air Force officer, the more questions I began to have. I believe in a just-war theory—the notion that there are particular criteria that can help us to assess the moral justification for going to war—and I have never been so naive as to think that peaceful means will always prevail in a broken world. But I had never directly confronted my potential participation in the taking of human life, even if for the greater good. I remember going to teach my classes, where we had academic freedom to explore and question, and asking the cadets, When you came to the academy, did anyone ask you if you’re willing to give your life for your country? Yes, Ma’am! they would all reply. Then I would ask, And when you came to the academy, did anyone ask if you’re willing to take a life for your country? That is, of course, the other side of the equation, and we should all carefully consider the implications before accepting a commission into the armed forces.

In my own life and spirit, I had come to a turning point. I knew I could not answer the second question in the affirmative. I was not comfortable taking lives on behalf of my country, even as I would be grateful for those who could do so in times of true national emergency. And as this realization grew within me and I knew it was time to resign my commission, I also began to feel a powerful calling into the ministry of the church. At the time, I could not see myself as an ordained minister, administering the sacraments and proclaiming the gospel on a weekly basis. But I could envision myself as a seminary professor, as a layperson fulfilling a vital ministry of the church. Soon I would be leaving the Air Force and heading to seminary to begin a journey that, ultimately, did lead to ordination and time as the pastor of local congregations. Only now, as I look back upon my call into ministry—or any person’s call to serve Christ as a lay- or clergyperson—I am profoundly aware of the multiple ways in which theology was shaping and guiding my thoughts, decisions, and actions. Theology is the substance of our lives in God, whether we are conscious of its presence and function or largely unaware of its influence.

The word theology comes from the Greek words Theos (God) and logos (word, discourse). Simply put, theology is God-talk, the study of God and the things of faith. It is a reflective process in which we consider the beliefs or teachings (doctrines) of the Christian faith, how they relate one to another, how they developed, and how they are applied in each generation anew. To study theology is to undertake a journey that engages our hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies as we grow in understanding and in accepting the mystery that shrouds the fullness of God. We finite human beings do not possess the capacity to grasp the fullness of God. Psalm 8, for example, declares:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals that you care for them? (Ps. 8:3-4)

Similarly, Paul writes to the Corinthians that we see in a mirror, dimly (1 Cor. 13:12), as our human understanding is limited by our finitude. Like an ocean, God is wider and deeper and vastly more complex than is evident from the shore or even aboard a boat skimming the surface of the waters.

Theology is like a stream or various streams emanating from different geographical points all flowing toward that deep and vast ocean, teeming with an abundance of life. I invite you, as you enter into this journey, to imagine yourself carried along by a stream, now beginning to swim and dive, to consciously navigate the waters, discovering more than what lies simply on the surface as you float along. Imagine that theology is a stream into which we dip our toes and then perhaps leap, becoming immersed. In so doing, we can begin to navigate this stream that carries us ever deeper into the vast ocean that is the fullness of God, an ocean we can never map or contain fully, an ocean that will continually reveal new mysteries and wonders to us, if we are open to the journey.

Of course, as with any ocean voyage, there may be moments when the waters become turbulent and we feel ourselves threatened or unsettled and wish only to cling to the side of the boat or the shore, thinking that there we will remain grounded or safe and secure, when in fact, the ocean itself is what we are seeking. Consider the text of Matt. 14:22-33, where the disciples find themselves on a rough sea and, after a long night, are shocked to see Jesus come toward them, walking on the water. Most of the disciples cling to the side of the boat, maybe even settling deeper into the hull. Can you imagine them peeking over the side? But not Peter. He takes the risk of faith to climb out and step onto the water, yearning to draw nearer to Jesus. Of course, when he forgets that this journey is about God and the power of God at work in human lives, he slips and becomes frightened. Jesus does not let him sink but reaches out and lifts him up again to continue the journey of drawing closer to the living God in mind, body, spirit, and heart.

Peter’s longing to go deeper and his willingness to step out of his comfort zone for the sake of growing his faith provide a model for our journey into theology. Many persons choose to stay within the safe confines of the theology they learned as children in Sunday school. But the human being is created with a capacity to learn, grow, and mature across a lifetime. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus himself began to study as a young boy and grew in wisdom and in years (Luke 2:52) before beginning his ministry to the world. Moreover, Jesus was always asking questions. Those of us who take the risk of faith and, like Peter, get out of the boat and take a few bold steps to know Christ more fully will mature as disciples of Jesus Christ. Our thirst for God will become stronger and bolder. Our hunger for God will not be easily satisfied by the ordinary diet of platitudes such as Jesus loves you or It is God’s will. Those of us willing and eager to get out of the boat will discover an unimaginable beauty in the mystery and complexity of life in God, a hunger and thirst that will grow in our longing for a fuller relationship with God. We are reminded of the words of Saint Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, who wrote in his Confessions centuries ago that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

If your heart is restless, if your mind thirsts and hungers to know the living God more deeply, then the study of theology will fill you with delight and excitement. Theological understanding will energize you and equip you for more compassionate and thoughtful ministry. In the pages that follow, we will begin this journey of consciously exploring our theology. Although we can only begin to study the vast ocean, this small volume should provide you with a map to consult as you shove off from shore and encounter the wonders of theology.

Our starting point is simple. The first thing we need to grasp is the practice often called critical reflection. Critical does not here mean that we are disapproving of the beliefs we encounter; the word is not used pejoratively. Rather, critical reflection implies that we take our life in God so seriously that we are compelled to give careful examination to our faith and our teachings—to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), in a manner of speaking. Another way of understanding critical reflection is through the terminology offered by seminary professors Howard Stone and James Duke in their helpful introduction to theological reflection, How to Think Theologically. Stone and Duke demonstrate the difference between embedded theology and deliberative theology.[1] Embedded theology is, at heart, the preconceived notions we hold about God and the life of faith, but without conscious consideration of these beliefs. We may have learned them in church, from our family, from television preachers, or even by means of social media. The sources of these deeply held assumptions can be wide and varied. But our embedded theology has not been brought to light and carefully considered.

By contrast, deliberative theology is a form of questioning, of inquiring about those beliefs we hold. For example, if we often respond to situations with the phrase It is God’s will, deliberative theology will begin to ask questions. Why would God will such a thing? Are there competing claims about what God’s will might be, such as God’s desire that we might have life abundantly? What about human free will? Does it play a role in situations? These represent just a few questions we might begin to ask when engaging in deliberative theology. When we examine our beliefs, rather than cast doubt upon them, we are more faithful to seek the living God. We become more humble before the mystery and immensity of the divine. We recognize that the life of faith is a journey of discovery, and just as Jesus asked his disciples, we are asked to question and consider what it means to believe in God, follow Christ, and serve others in a world that is far from perfect. We honor the living God by engaging the practice of deliberative theology and seeking to know the Triune God more fully.

I invite you, then, to come along with me on this journey of seeking to know the living God more fully by entering into the practice of reflecting on our faith. While this book is designed for those who are exploring a call to seminary and full-time ministry, anyone interested in going deeper into the study of theology will benefit from this journey of the head and heart. If we return to our metaphor of diving into a stream that leads toward the ocean that is the fullness of God, then this book will provide you with navigational aids to make the journey more manageable. Throughout this book, I will introduce you to theological vocabulary. These are key words or ideas with which you should be familiar, and they are defined in the text as they are introduced. As with any discipline or area of study, the more fluent we are in the vocabulary, the easier the subject matter becomes. I encourage you to pause on the key terms and develop a working definition in your own mind. If need be, consult a theological dictionary or textbook to clarify the definition. This practice will go a long way toward your development of a deliberative theology.

In chapter 1, we will spend some time defining theology and mapping out the various branches of theological inquiry. Then chapter 2 of our journey takes us through a brief history of how the church’s doctrines have developed, with key questions and thinkers introduced. You will find an occasional excerpt from the writings of a key theologian, so that you might begin to grasp how reading theology can be not just an intellectual exercise, but also a spiritual practice. This overview of some of the streams of theology present in our churches and world today should help you locate your own starting point for doing theology. We will refer to these streams as theological movements.

In chapter 3, we will begin to explore the structure of theological reflection or the sources and method for articulating our faith. As Jesus says in the gospel of Luke 14:28, For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost? In doing theology, we want to understand the materials needed and sketch a basic pattern for our theological journey before we begin to construct it. Chapter 3 also includes a discussion of the importance of language to theology and what I refer to as expansive language when speaking of God.

Then in chapter 4, we turn to a basic overview of the content of the Christian faith, the doctrines or doctrinal loci that provide a systematic arrangement of our beliefs. Not only will we sketch the basic teachings of the Christian faith, but our goal is to also see the relevance of these teachings for today. This work will then enable you to write your own first and provisional credo, or statement of what you believe. In other words, this journey is not intended to tell you what or how to believe, but to give you the tools to articulate your own most deeply held beliefs about God and the life of faith. This goal is the heart of theology: to enable each person to express for himself or herself a thoughtful, careful understanding of the Christian faith from where he or she stands in the world. At the end of this journey, in the conclusion, I will close with suggestions for continuing the study of theology beyond these first steps.

The ocean lies in the distance. The roar of the waves is barely discernible to our ears. The faint smell of saltwater reaches our nostrils, and the sticky, humid air lies gently upon our skin. Our eyes scan the horizon for the first signs of the vast, powerful sea with all its wonder and mystery. But for now, we are floating gently on a raft, ready to pick up the oars and begin charting a path toward that distant ocean. Our journey into theology has now begun.

Questions for Personal Exploration

What does theology mean? How have you already been doing theology, even before picking up this book?

What is the difference between embedded and deliberative theology? Can you think of a time when you engaged in deliberative theology? What led you into that reflective mode, and where did it take you?

What excites you about beginning the study of theology? What fears might you bring to this journey?

Resources for Deeper Exploration

Harvey, Van A. A Handbook of Theological Terms: Their Meaning and Background Exposed in Over 300 Articles. New York: Touchstone, 1997. Or choose another dictionary of theological terms.

Stone, Howard W., and James O. Duke. How to Think Theologically. 3rd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013.

Howard W. Stone and James O. Duke, How to Think Theologically, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013).↵

1

What Is Theology?

Theology (Greek: Theos + logos) is the study of God, our language or discourse about and reflection upon God and the Christian faith as a whole. It is an intellectual examination and accounting of what Christians believe, but with an eye toward how we practice that faith in the world. Our theology becomes expressed in our lives through our embodied practices. When we speak of God, the divine mystery that is deeper and wider than our human understanding and imagination, we are encouraged to