What, exactly, does a theologian as theologian have to say about films? Or, really, about popular narrative altogether? There is a need to ask this question, because “theological criticism” is frequently attempted — not least by myself over the history of this blog, with varying success — but infrequently considered on its own, as a [...]
Tags: An und fur Sich, avatar, baptism, Bible, biblical narrative, Christ, christ figures in film, Church, Creation, Criticism, culture, discourse, Israel, liberation, life, methodology, mythology, Narrative, old testament, old testament theology, Rhetoric, ross douthat, theologian, theologians, Theological Criticism, Theology, theology and film, Walter Bruegemann, watership down, witness
A while back, I posted about how each theologian needs to define theology in order to credibly proceed in his chosen science. In the ensuing comment-dialogue, it became apparent that back of my assertions lay a conception of two kinds of theology: frozen (or static) theology and progressive (or dynamic) theology. This conception seemed to [...]
Tags: church dogma, divine faith, intellectual knowledge, karl rahner, kinds of theology, nature of theology, rc church, revelation, sufficiency of scripture, theologian
One of the tasks of every theologian must be to determine the answer to this question. He or she knows the tradition in which they long to work—but the temptation will always be to regurgitate what previous theologians have written. The value of such regurgitations is purely rhetorical or commemorative, a maintaining of inherited knowledge. [...]
Tags: 20th century, contemporary society, economic groups, liberation, literary criticism, literary critics, oppressed groups, racial groups, sources of theology, textbook writers, theologian, theologians, theological truth
Is it disrespectful (or perhaps merely amateurish) to talk about why we enjoy certain kinds of inquiry? Or is it bad form these days to treat study, like meals, as a source of pleasure as well as a regimen or diet? I enjoy theology, philosophy, literature, and music. I also have certain overweaning impulses to [...]
Tags: flavors, good books, good company, good manners, intuitions, knees, old men, philosophers, prose style, spectators, theologians, Theology, word of god
Theology is a kind of theorizing.
Many people don’t realize this. For some, a document like the Westminster Confession of Faith would be demeaned if it were called a collection of theories. To be theoretical is to be ephemeral, debatable, even disprovable. But confessions are theoretical—ephemeral, debatable, disprovable—even much more generally accepted confessions, such as the [...]
Tags: apostles creed, Ben Myers, Bible, Christ's body, eyes of faith, nature of theology, reading scripture, scientific theory, Scripture, theoretical nature, theories, Vollenhoven, westminster confession of faith, word of god and the word of man
