A few weeks ago I attended a symposium with several friends where we discussed the nature of communion or the Eucharist. Over the course of the evening the views of several theologians were brought up as the foundation for various members' understanding of communion. This made me pause and take stock about what theologians have been foundational to my worldview and I discovered that my influences are much more literary than theological and the few theologians who make my list did so, not based on their theological writings but rather on the stories they told. Here is a short list of some of the most influential.
Cosmology: Neil Gaiman (The Ocean at the End of the Lane, for example)
Eschatology: J.R.R. Tolkien (The Silmarillion)
Soteriology: C.S. Lewis (The Great Divorce)
Ecclesiology: Richard Adams (Watership Down)
I think this is because I am driven by story. I place more weight on a well told story than I do on a rational argument. I think story is solid because it is better at describing the way the would can be whereas argument is limited in this fashion.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
What the Gospel is really about
I've been thinking about this for some time and I feel like it is important to know in order to understand what Matthew is getting at with his Gospel. Jesus didn't come to save people's souls. He didn't come to open the door to heaven so that when we die we get to live happily ever after. He came to save people and to open the reign of God here on earth. The kingdom of Heaven is not a retirement plan but a living breathing political reality that throws everything we ever thought about life, the universe, and everything upside down.
The funny thing about it is that what we currently see as upside down is actually right side up. The kingdom of Heaven in the book of Matthew is representative of the world working the way it was designed to work. That which was broken is being made whole. The questions are so much bigger than "If you died tonight, where would you go?"
The Gospel is ultimately the good news that the way things are is not the way things are supposed to be, nor is it the way they are going to end up. Life, the Universe, Everything is on the mend in the kingdom of Heaven and we can either get on board and get to work fixing it or we can continue to pursue the old broken way of doing things.
The funny thing about it is that what we currently see as upside down is actually right side up. The kingdom of Heaven in the book of Matthew is representative of the world working the way it was designed to work. That which was broken is being made whole. The questions are so much bigger than "If you died tonight, where would you go?"
The Gospel is ultimately the good news that the way things are is not the way things are supposed to be, nor is it the way they are going to end up. Life, the Universe, Everything is on the mend in the kingdom of Heaven and we can either get on board and get to work fixing it or we can continue to pursue the old broken way of doing things.
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