Tonight I went to Cru and to my suprise (and delight) the passage was Romans 9. The people from my core group at Wheaton Bible know why I think this chapter is so cool. Thanks to Clayton and Company, predestination became a topic of great interest for me and a bunch of the other guys in the group.
Anyway, the guy that spoke, Pat, gave one of the best messages that I have heard on this passage for the amount of time that he was given. It was clear, concise, and scripturally backed. He really emphasized how election does not mean that God is unjust but rather how just and loving he truly is. I’m going to write a little bit more on this tomorrow when I have time. Get pumped.
February 27 2008 | God and Theology | No Comments »
One of my friends (and also former pastor), Clayton, recommended a book to me a while back called Everyday Theology. The original reason that he told me about the book was because of my previous post on recent Church Architecture; he said there was an essay in the book about it so I decided to go to the bookstore and pick up a copy.
So far the book has been pretty interesting. I haven’t read much, just the “introductory essay” as I guess you could call it. In this first section Kevin Vanhoozer (the editor) takes on the challenge of presenting culture as something important to understand and interpret through theology. Although parts of the essay were unnecessarily wordy and repetitive, he did a good job of this. Having been to many churches down here at school and a few back in Wheaton, it is easy to see that people have varying views on the importance of theology and culture. Vanhoozer put it this way:
Christians have become increasingly aware of the need to engage culture as part of Christian mission and theology. Some commentators believe that popular culture affords new possibilities for evangelism and theology, others believe that popular culture represents simply the latest variation on an idolatrous theme. It is better not to rush to judgment on this question. Everyday theologians must understand culture before they either exclude or embrace it.
The trend that I have found with the churches I have gone to is that the younger the people running the ministry or the church, the more they choose to embrace culture in the first way Vanhoozer mentioned. When the heads of the ministries are older, they tend to attempt to distance themselves from many aspects of popular culture. It has been very interesting seeing this trend develop first-hand as I continue having different church experiences. I think I fall more into the first group; I go to a big public school, I have a blog, I’m a musician, etc. I use the things that some people call trendy and see them in a positive light or in an evangelistic manner.
I’m hoping that by using the insight that I find in this book, I can gain a better understanding of cultural trends and how they should be interpreted through a biblical lens. As I read more of the book, I will be adding posts about passages that intrigue me.
February 02 2008 | Church and Culture and Theology | No Comments »