Blog 1: Who needs theology; an invitation to study God The book - Who needs Theology? An Invitation to Study God– is an important undertaking by Roger Olson and Stanley Grenz, the former a career academic and the latter a member of the clergy, which hits at the root of the issue i.e. the role of the clergy as an intermediary between God and the believer. Christendom, it is fair to say, has engaged in this debate for over 500 years. "Who needs theology" is therefore an important read for not just budding theologians or academics in faith but for every believer who is unwilling to outsource the interpretation of faith to schooled clergymen.
¶ … Theology
Blog 1: Who needs theology; an invitation to study God
The book - Who needs Theology? An Invitation to Study God -- is an important undertaking by Roger Olson and Stanley Grenz, the former a career academic and the latter a member of the clergy, which hits at the root of the issue i.e. The role of the clergy as an intermediary between God and the believer. Christendom, it is fair to say, has engaged in this debate for over 500 years. "Who needs theology" is therefore an important read for not just budding theologians or academics in faith but for every believer who is unwilling to outsource the interpretation of faith to schooled clergymen.
The writers lay out the whole range of theological spectrum from lay theology/folk lore to established dogma and doctrine of the Christian Church. The consequent compartmentalization in the book makes for a neat and clear cut division into three categories i.e. dogma i.e. The essentials of being saved taught as foundations of the faith, doctrine which is less important than dogma in terms of salvation and opinion. The last of course is exhaustive and includes all categories of theology as aforesaid. This makes opinion and its sheer diversity by far the most exciting part of the book. Here we discover how the relationship between God is not just a straitjacket but is interactive to the extent that the idea and understanding of God varies from one person to another even when confined within the bounds of a particular dogma and doctrine.
The most important thing about this book is that it is written clearly and without any overt pro-academic bias i.e. The authors' concern is the ordinary Christian and his or her knowledge of God. This in turn makes theology accessible to the modern reader who would not be trained in seminal or theological studies. It also establishes why studying God is an important and worthwhile endeavor for everything thinking believer of whatever denomination or church.
Blog 2: Every believer is his own theologian
Organized religion and its anointed priests have long monopolized the debate on the essentials questions intrinsic to faith and its interplay with lives of the average believer. Immediately following the Catholic-Protestant (Anglican) conflict in England, there were secret papists in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of that country who believed that the central questions of faith need not be a concern of the commoner. The idea that every believer has equal access to God and fundamental questions pertaining to God and faith is what led to reformation in Europe. Similarly the idea of leaving theological interpretation to priests and pastors is archaic, medieval and utterly incompatible with the modern ideas of freedom of thought and expression.
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