Critical Review of “Theology: the Basics” Essay

Rauschenbusch, Walter. A Theology for the Social Gospel. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1917. 279 pp.

“Christian theology is a theology of liberation. It is a rational study of the being of God in

Malala Yousafzai, 18 year old Nobel Prize winner and women’s rights activist, once exclaimed: “I raise up my voice- not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back”. The idea of speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves is extremely important when it comes to striving for change, so being able to express the needs of marginalized people is a great and awesome power. Yousafzai’s quote specifically connects to women’s rights, therefore it can be used to support the feminist movement seeing as she is advocating for the equality, in treatment and opportunity, of men and women. Feminist beliefs do not only apply to society, but to theology as well, seeing as the teachings of the bible are extremely influential in the day to day lives and values of religious people. The text that I chose to highlight this idea comes from Elizabeth A. Johnson’s book Quest for the Living God, chapter 5 ‘God Acting Womanish’ because it directly connects spirituality and feminism.

When you think “Christian Worldview,” what comes to mind? I know I automatically think; God, Jesus, Christians, and Prayer. As I have learned through my Christian Worldview class, I have learned that there is a lot more to it and this paper will provide you with what I have learned. Throughout this assignment, I will explain about God, Humanity, Jesus, restoration, my analysis of the Christian Faith, and my reflection.

Across the world there are a surplus of beliefs and systems regarding Gods and religions. There are hundreds and thousands of theologians that claim they have the “truth” about the world and human creation. Although some of these claims may have truth wrapped in them, often times they are covered with fabrication, simply desiring to please the listener and offer the most beneficial reasoning for accepting it. I understand why someone with no religious upbringing or background would not quite know where to start when taking a look at Christianity; however, I’m here to help you understand the amazing aspects of Christianity. These aspects have caused over two billion people around the world to dedicate their lives and ways to follow the center of the religion- God.

The meaning of theology is simple; it is the study of God and religious belief. The definition is plain to see but it’s important to go beyond what is already known. On a deeper level, what is the meaning of theology in respect to a religious community and to a person trying to find themselves in God? How is everyone involved in doing theology all the time? In this paper, there will be an in depth analysis on what theology is, why it is important, and how people are engaged in theology all the time.

Learning Theology with the Church Fathers by Dr. Christopher A. Hall is a great place for a pastor, laity, student, or a believer to start growing in knowledge of the Lord and learning theology. Learning Theology is the second book in Dr. Hall’s three-volume patristic series examining early Church history – Reading Scripture, Learning Theology, and Worshiping with the Church Fathers. Dr. Hall is the director of academic spiritual formation and a distinguished professor of theology at Eastern University in Pennsylvania. He earned his Ph.D. at Drew University, has worked in some capacity at Eastern University since 1992, and has ministered all over the world. Hall offers a simple overview, not focusing on one particular church father, which provides a strong foundational introduction for understanding how theology developed in the early church through the patristic fathers.

The book is composed of twenty chapters each with a separate contributing author(s). Each chapter has the same format as an essay with a brief overview of the section

In this paper, I am going to share my ideas of theology. I believe that one of the biggest mistakes I made in the past was that I was afraid of being rejected, so I wrote a theology paper and tried to give the previous COM what I thought they wanted to hear instead of what was truly inside of me. Fortunately for me, even though I was not given a green light in order to see the Eccleastical Council, I was licensed to preach and this gave me time

Mark R. McMinn’s (2011) Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling establish a way to bring Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality to Christian Counselors. He introduces a replica of how to integrate the three disciplines in the counseling office. The purpose of the book is to instruct counselors how to integrate categories of Psychology, Theology and Spirituality into Christian Counseling. McMinn (2011) contends that many challenges both professional and personal face Christian Counselors on the frontier of intradisciplinary integration. (Intradisciplinary integration is the new emerging frontier for Christian Counselors).

McKnight was so captivated by Jesus and his story that Paul’s ideas where soon left on the backburner, and Jesus and his kingdom vision where in the forefront. Later, after McKnight began his doctoral work, he started to teach Jesus and the Gospels as a professor at Trinity College. McKnight talked

The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon given by Jesus Christ found in the book of Matthew in the Holy Bible. The beginning of this sermon includes a list of blessings called the Beatitudes. Jesus uses these to explain God’s favor towards those who are striving for righteousness. For those who had come to believe and follow Jesus as the son of God, every word that he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount was intended as words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples and were taken as such. For those who were skeptical, the crowd, that Jesus was truly the son of God, Jesus’s words took on a totally different meaning. The Beatitudes, simple words that promote the humility of man, were explicit words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples. Yet at the same time, to the crowd listening, the Beatitudes were an implicit invitation to become men of God by believing that this man is God in the flesh, God in spirit, God almighty, God omniscient, God omnipresent, and God omnipotent.

The sermon at the mount is a collection of teachings and sayings that Jesus preaches to people at Galilee. It takes place after Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. This is the longest teaching by Jesus in a single preaching. It is found in the New Testament in the book of Matthew. It transverses chapter five to seven of the Gospel of Matthew. The main theme of sermon of the mountain is how people should relate with other people and God. The sermon is preached at a mountain when Jesus saw the crowd and his disciples’ were following him, he sat at a level ground on the mountain and started to preach. The Preaching’s can be divided it four major parts; The Beatitudes, Lord’s Prayer and parables.

Just what is theology? This question can have a wide variety of answers, from irrelevant facts about God thought up by men centuries ago, to complicated theories discussed by scholars. Typically, the average 21st century man does not consider theology as relevant. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Theology by definition has the characteristics of both expounding the truth, and impacting the believer with that truth (Himes, 2011). Therefore, theology and the church are intricately combined, in that the church embodies the revelation of God, and is reality, not theory (Himes, 2011). A personal practical theology must begin with revelation, not the individual (Himes, 2011), and proclaim

What is the theology of this passage? The theology in this passage is so rich. This passage is not just a simple prayer or a speech but the prayer is filled with theological perspective. First, Hezekiah says אַתָּה־ה֤וּא הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ לְבַדְּךָ֔. This phrase emphasizes on the doctrine of God. In the doctrine of God, there is an emphasis that God is the only God. And in the doctrine of God, we believe in the Triune God. This is an emphasis to one true God. There is no implication of the triune God, but the claim for monotheistic God is surely present that there is no other God but one God as in Deut 6.