May 08, 2010
Practical Theology
Posted by Joe Paravisini in Gospel Living - Theology | Comments (2)
Theology (the study of God) is incredibly important. In fact, it is part of our human nature to need it. In the creation narrative, as we see the various spheres that God created, the only portion of creation where God interjects in a personal way is when he creates mankind. He speaks to them, begins a relationship with them, reveals information about who he is, who they are, and what their purpose is in relation to him. No other part of creation has this privilege, or need. Paul Tripp defines the attempt to live without theology as "sub-human". Jesus himself goes as far as stating (quoting Deuteronomy) that man receives his very life from the words of God.
So clearly, theology is immensely important, and the ultimate source for theology is the divinely inspired word of God. It is a good thing to read and study the bible. It is a good thing to hear competent preachers expound and proclaim from the word.It is a wonderful thing to learn the story of God, the various attributes of God, and how he has related to them throughout history. However, we humans love to take good things and twist them in terrible self-serving and God-dishonoring ways.
The definition of practical that I think applies perfectly to this is "concerned with the application of knowledge to useful ends, rather than with theory, speculation, etc. practical science". With this definition, the endless speculative debates between two brothers who maintain differing theologies, the lecture-style preaching coming from many fundamentalist pulpits that aims to fill heads with facts, the pride of quoting hundreds of verses from memory, or knowing all of the latin theological terms all become suspect.
I am by no means advocating bible-less or preacher-less or church-less theology. I am saying that good things can be learned for the wrong reasons, and there is amazing danger when this happens.
I suppose this a topic that could be clarified greatly with some dialog...
Posted by Joe Paravisini in Gospel Living - Theology
