For someone who blogs a LOT on Christian missions and Missions Theology I don't really immerse myself that much in the "Missions Scene." There is a pretty good reason for this. My wife is a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) supervisor and we have a pastoral counseling center. I end up doing a fair amount of …
Continue reading Christian Missions Books I am Reading Right Now
The book “Character Theology: Engaging God through His Cast of Characters” by Tom Steffen and Ray Neu, published 2024, is a book that I highly recommend to missionaries, church leaders, and theologians alike, despite the frank admission that the book is not really written for me. I think I need to explain this. If it …
(These are my own reflection on a topic that is not my specialty. But since it is quite possible that I don't have a specialty, this seems all right. I may change my mind in a year or two.) I was raised up in an Evangelical or perhaps Fundamentalist Church. There I learned that the …
I have been reading "Character Theology: Engaging God Through His Cast of Characters," by Tom Steffen and Ray Neu. I hope to have a review done in a couple of weeks. However, I was reading a passage that got me thinking: "Recall Charles Hodge’s perspective that the Bible is a “store-house of facts” and “the …
Continue reading What is the Best Way to Teach Theology in Church?
A friend of mine gave a list of the top 10 books he read in 2023. I thought about doing that... but I am not really good at identifying best books versus those that are less outstanding. Instead, I will list the books that have accumulated this year for reading. Hopefully, I will finish at …
Part #1 looked at perspective regarding culture. Instead of rehashing... please READ IT. Now let's apply this to Theology. Theology is a system of symbols and concepts shared (typically) by a group. So while theology may not constitute a culture, it certainly constitutes a major aspect of a culture (or sub-culture). Like culture, theology is …
This cartoon I got from the following article, The Hubris of "Normative" Theology, listed below. It points out the problem of people thinking that after 2000 they finally got theology right. Of course, I am not suggesting a complete relativizing of theology. But to assume that one theological stance is correct and everyone and everything …
There is disunity in theology. Pannenberg, Ebeling, Farley, and others have pointed this out. In some sense, this is obvious, but I would like to discuss this from the point of missions. Traditionally, the 4-fold model of theology is accepted. The four are: 1. Biblical Theology. 2. Historical Theology. 3. Systematic Theology. 4. Practical …