`` A Theology `` : Is Christian Theology A Pile Of Dead Bones?

For this paper I am boiling the redemptive trend hermeneutic down to two components. First is the concept of momentum – asking if an interpretation or application of the passage continues in the spirit of previous Scripture. For example, Webb argues that both testaments “make significant modifications to the institution of slavery relative to their broader cultures” (74), therefore reading a passage such as Titus 2:9, “tell slaves to be submissive,” as pro-slavery would be a contradiction of what had previously been accomplished within God’s people. Second is the concept of now and then (with a shout out to The Blue Parakeet), where the redemptive thrust, projected by the Bible, along with general cultural ebbs and flows, may have changed our contemporary world so much that components of the original text have become confusing, dated, or perhaps even irrelevant.

Atheist Delusions gives an analysis of history with the revolutionary power of Jesus Christ at the forefront. David Bentley Hart tells the story of how the early church was formed after late antiquity. He argues that radicalness of the Gospels was the key to liberation and how secular society has formed around that liberation. The development of Christianity, was the largest political, social, spiritual, and material revolution of Western civilization. It has played such a crucial role in the way our society operations, and in which our ethics are built.

In reading this section of editors J.J. Mueller’s Theological Foundations, I have been able to come to an understanding that in order to understand the Bible in its full we must dive deeper into the study of Christ, otherwise known as Christology. In order to begin to break down Christology, we must pose the question “who do you say that I am?” (80). We know that Jesus was a storyteller, He brought fourth his ideas through these stories and parables to teach the Jews and the Gentiles about the kingdom of God and what it has to offer. Not only in this chapter do we get an explanation of Jesus and His amazing stories but we also get an understanding of His unprecedented miracles.

In this contemporary era more people do not identify with God and in turn have become more skeptical of God. This shift can be seen in Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason; which is an excellent example of deism. Paine spares no detail on why he does not believe in the Bible and why he does not believe God is continually working in the world. Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, A Divine and Supernatural Light, on the other hand, adamantly believes in the Bible and that God is actively present in the world. Edwards’s provides an excellent example of Christianity. These two authors create a snapshot of the prevailing, in Edwards’s case, and emerging, in Paine’s case, worldviews of their respective era.

In his recent article for the October 7th issue of Commonweal magazine, David Bentley Hart highlighted how different the Christians of the New Testament are from modern day Christians. Hart’s article, titled “Christ’s Rabble; The first Christians were not like us”, argues that the first Christians were so different than present day Christians that we would have a very hard time getting along with one another if we meet today. Hart, a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies, came to this conclusion after in-depth study of the text of the New Testament in its original koine Greek. His work translating the New Testament for Yale University painted a clear picture of the character of the first Christians and underscored how far from the original meanings of the text we have come.

Machen stated that the New Testament books “are regarded by all serious historians as genuine products of the first Christian generation.” (PAGE 18) The statement merely could be false without Machen’s willingness to terminate as un-serious all historians who ignore the validity and authority of the New Testament. The argument of the New Testament authenticity is still conflicted between in liberalism and typical denominations. A weakness in Machen’s argument on Doctrine was while Machen indicates that the New testament could be understood through the perspective of the “primitive Jerusalem church” (PAGE 22), no supportive agreement was found what the primitive church looked

Writing in the late 1980s, Herbert Schlossberg provides a thorough analysis of current trends in American culture in his book Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture. Many scholars have examined Western civilization and concluded that we are in its declining years. Some use analogies of space: rise, zenith, and fall; others use analogies of biology: birth, maturity, and death. Schlossberg refuses to see all cultures as following these patterns, but rather attempts to use the concept of judgment, based on the biblical example of the prophets: “With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction” (Hos. 8:4). If the idols are destroyed, and we return to worship the true God, we can expect

Lewis’ essay relates to this course as Theology provides a perspective on understanding creation, the transcendent power, and humanity around us. He acknowledges that multiple viewpoints exist from the inside and outside perspectives. Also, one cannot ignore or discount specific inside experiences as it helps us think about something. Therefore, in Theology 205, there will inevitably be many ways to understand life, our purpose, and the people we are becoming. We are also covering the Bible in depth, so some of us will look “at the beam” if they have never read it, while others will look “along the beam” if they are familiar with its interpretations. The students who will look along the beam are those who are Christian or Jew, since they already use the Bible as some guidance in life. In contrast, those who look at the beam are ones who are new to this subject, those willing to view this course from a new lens, and those who do not practice Christianity or Judaism.

In Kingdom Triangle, J.P. Moreland’s goal is to galvanize and to rouse Christians forward to take a lead against the cultural crisis of our age. In Western society, Postmodernism and Scientific Naturalism have taken root in almost every aspect of our culture. The mass embrace of these worldviews have lead many to a sensate view of reality. One of Moreland’s central points in Kingdom Triangle is that western Christians need to band together to regain intellectual ground, as in today’s society Jesus has lost intellectual authority both inside and outside of the Church. In short, Christians must learn to think.

To articulate my theological view of scripture, I will address Scripture as broken yet beautiful, then express how I read and interpret sacred texts, given the need to understand the author’s intent, the historical context, and a Christocentric hermeneutic. This will be followed by the aim of reading scripture, which is not simply for orthodox doctrine, but for right living. Although Scripture is primary, it is not the only way God speaks to humanity, thus I will address the Spirit, tradition, creation, and experience as other sources of insight. Despite this integrated approach to scripture and theology, it is not foolproof or necessarily correct. Therefore, I will end this section with a discussion of knowledge and how we understand truth, grounded in the epistemological paradigm of practical

Throughout antiquity, religion has positioned itself a top priority in man’s quest for happiness and the understanding of life. From Adam to the present, man has attempted countless journeys to understanding why man exists and what one should do about it. Consequently, paganism has seized the opportunity to share in the religious sector in the search for truth. After the death of Christ, the church joined the deliberation to demonstrate the answer to all of life’s questions. The church accomplished this, with numerous trials, by defining and defending the Christian worldview demonstrated through creeds. While the church has suffered its heretical trials, the early church fathers left their legacy of truth within creeds.

One argues that today we have a crisis of belief, not a crisis of faith. To explain this crisis, I will briefly examine the relationship between faith and belief, explain why cultural shift is important to note when trying to understand religious issues, go into detail on the three hallmarks of each of the two cultures by showing how they compare to each other, show how Tillich’s notion of correlation deals with this idea of culture and a crisis of belief, and explain how Marsh’s notion of a “theology of negotiation” (33) fits with Lonergan’s definition and allows him to argue that film can help us raise theological questions.

John Van Sloten sees outside the box of traditional church and welcomes cultural and creational influences to enrich and enliven the Christian church. He believes Christians confine themselves by constructing four walls and a roof and compress God by rejecting God’s presence in culture and creation. Van Sloten challenges the church to step back, evaluate its practices, and observe that there is much more to God outside its walls. Contemporary thinkers Nicholas Wolterstorff and Barbara Taylor would agree with Van Sloten in some ways but would also be wary of some of Van Sloten’s beliefs.

The fact that St. Isidore fails to provide any distinct spiritual standardisation of the bible’s teachings may link to why the Church had such a violent relationship towards religious minorities – because it fails to provide any philosophical justification for individual interpretation of the bible. He goes no further than what the bible explicitly implies, and does little to enlighten the reader to what any further meaning could be found. This gap in standardisation, that contemporary authorities would have displayed when referencing this book, arguably allowed these fringe groups to form as they could find their own figurative explanation of the Christian texts, rather than having to rely upon earlier works for guidance. St. Isidore’s work may have addressed the contemporary issue of Arianism, but it could not be viably used in response to modern heretical groups, which had done much to evolve into a properly justified belief systems. Therefore, according to the philosophical interpretation forwarded here by Peters, an inability to control the spirituality of the individual began the creation of philosophical opposition to ecclesiastical powers in the 11th

The fields of philosophy and theology are often grounds of debate. While some hold these two to be relevant and dependent on each other, others find them to be completely independent of each other. In John D. Caputo’s work, Philosophy and Theology, he expresses his view of these fields as companions. Caputo states, “Think of philosophers and theologians as fellow sailors on [the] ocean,” depicting his view of the interdependence of these two fields (Caputo 69). Through his illustration we can find the influence philosophy and theology can have on each other in facilitating our toleration of such a mysterious future and world.