What might “faith seeking understanding” mean when applied not only to the biblical text but to everyday life?
So begins Kevin Vanhoozer’s introductory chapter to Everyday Theology. In other words, what would it look like to interpret and make sense of everyday life theologically, understanding the “patterns and products” of culture then “embodying gospel truth in [...]
Archive for February, 2008
Everyday Theology (1) » Reading and Interpreting Culture
Posted in Book Reviews, Culture, Kevin Vanhoozer, Theology, cultural exegesis on February 28, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Art’s Prophetic Burn
Posted in Art, Theology on February 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A guest post by Sarah Lodwick
In Ian Morgan Cron’s novel, Chasing Francis, a chapter titled “Art is the Grandchild of God” uses a dialogue to point to burgeoning Protestant involvement in the arts. The conversation summits with this:
I lifted my glass. “To beauty!” I said.
Liam and Carla replied, “To beauty!”[1]
Cron leaves off exactly where Protestants [...]
Theology is a Risky Business
Posted in Uncategorized on February 23, 2008 | 6 Comments »
What does it mean to be a theologian? Martin Luther has an answer:
“By living – no, much more still by dying and being damned to hell – doth a man become a theologian, not by knowing, reading or speculation” (Vivendo, immo moriendo et damnando fit theologus, non intelligendo, legendo aut speculando). Second lecture on Psalm [...]
Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability
Posted in Book Reviews, Disability, Theology on February 21, 2008 | 13 Comments »
A guest review by Elizabeth Lynch
Amos Yong, Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability in Late Modernity (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007), xiii + 450pp, $23.00.
Amos Yong’s book begins on the premise that placing disability scholarship in conversation with theology will, at the intersections between the two, give rise to new insights that will inform [...]
Paul’s Theology of Suffering (Part 3)
Posted in Book Reviews, Suffering, Theology on February 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This concludes our study of L. Ann Jervis’ look at human suffering (At the Heart of the Gospel: Suffering in the Earliest Christian Message). In her final chapter on Romans she makes what I believe are her most transparently theological – and insightful – contributions of the book yet.
Romans: Embracing Paul’s concern for those not [...]
Up Next » Everyday Theology
Posted in Culture, Kevin Vanhoozer, cultural exegesis, tagged Everyday Theology, Culture, Kevin Vanhoozer, cultural exegesis on February 17, 2008 | 2 Comments »
There are few theological tasks so necessary and underdeveloped as helping to train the church to think theologically about the world around them.
Because of this, we have decided to blog through the book Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends (Baker Academic, 2007), one of the books in Baker Academic’s thoughtful [...]
Prayers » Bernard of Clairvaux
Posted in Prayers on February 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
High and Holy God, give me this day a word of truth to silence the lies that would devour my soul and kind encourgements to strengthen me when I fall.
Gracious One, I come quietly to your door needing to receive from your hands the nourishment that gives life.
Amen and Amen.
Reactions » Caravaggio, “Doubting Thomas”
Posted in Art, Reactions on February 15, 2008 | 11 Comments »
We start a new series on visual art today called “Reactions.”
Caravaggio (1571 -1610), “Doubting Thomas” 1602-1603, Oil on Canvas
Reactions?
Rowan Williams on sharia law
Posted in Current Events, Politics, Rowan Williams on February 11, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Ben Myers (Faith and Theology) has written some helpful comments concerning the ongoing flap over Archbishop Rowan Williams’ recent lecture.
Myers writes, “It has been fascinating to observe all the hullabaloo over Rowan Williams’ recent lecture on sharia law. The press’s infallible capacity for misunderstanding is matched only by the politicians’ spectacular ignorance of jurisprudence – [...]
Paul’s Theology of Suffering (Part 2)
Posted in Book Reviews, Suffering, Theology on February 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As I read At the Heart of the Gospel I am continually impressed with L. Ann Jervis‘ graceful presentation. Moving easily between exegesis and exhortation, at times it feels more like I am reading a sermon than a textual study.
Philippians: Suffering that Shapes
During my pastoral ministry, I prayed with grieving mothers, cried with family members [...]
L. Ann Jervis responds to my Christological questions
Posted in Atonement, Paul, Suffering, Theology on February 8, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Guest Blogger: L. Ann Jervis
Note: When beginning an extended discussion with a particular book, such as At the Heart of the Gospel, we invite the author to participate in the dialogue for our accountability and to enrich the discussion. In the following comments, L. Ann Jervis responds to the “nagging Christological question” I posed [...]
On Reading Scripture & Wisdom
Posted in Inquiring Honestly, Interpretation, Scripture on February 7, 2008 | 2 Comments »
What does wisdom have to do with reading Scripture?
Here at Theology Forum, we believe the ability to read and engage theological texts in a judicial and irenic (peaceable) spirit is something to be cultivated. Far too often it seems, readings are done polemically or in ways that harm the Christian community. So, toward opening up [...]
Paul’s Theology of Suffering (Part 1 continued)
Posted in Book Reviews, Church, Paul, Suffering on February 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As we saw yesterday, Jervis (At the Heart of the Gospel) makes three interwoven claims from 1 Thessalonians. First, she connects Christologically the suffering of Christ to the suffering of believers through Paul’s exhortation to “imitate” Christ in 1:6. In some mysterious way, she urges, God actually uses the suffering of believers toward his redemptive [...]
