I Like Theology

I think I'm finally beginning to figure out what I would want to study if I were to go to graduate school: theology. I first would get my M.Div (Master's of Divinity--that's basically the one-size-fits-all pastor's graduate degree) and then go for graduate work in Christian theology. I've come to this conclusion for a couple of different reasons.

I love philosophy; it was my major for a while (of course then again, what wasn't?). I've sat in at least three of our philosophy prof's offices at Bethel and just chatted away about stuff. I've taken numerous classes and written dozens of pages. But I fear if I were to study it for too long I would just end up an agnostic. There's too many smart people, moral people, Christian people with good theories and ideas that all disagree with each other. I would just end up reading them all and throwing my hands up in there and giving up. And philosophy by itself waxes too impractical.

I also love Biblical studies. That too was a major I've had. But quite frankly I just don't have the passion for the languages that I would need to excel in graduate work for it. Don't get me wrong--I think Greek and Hebrew are immensely helpful, useful, and darn near necessary for a deciphering this two- to four-thousand year old document we call Scripture. But I just don't excel in that area.

But theology seems like a perfect mix. I think it's practical, useful, and necessary (at least for me) to have well-rounded faith and relationship with God. Though "penal substitutionary atonement," "Dispensationalism," and "Covenant Theology" probably don't mean a whole lot to my readers, I think they're immensely important to have a clear view of Truth, which fictional character Palmer Joss of the movie Contact, calls the quest of both religion and science, i.e. a search for that which is true.

My other reason I want to study are share my love of theology is because people say things that imply the academic or intellectual side of Christianity has nothing to do with the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. I think that this is just silly. It was Jesus Himself who added "mind" to Deut. 6:4, "You shall love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, and strength." In Mark 12:30 Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Therefore academia isn't poison to Christianity. In fact, it's an important - if not crucial -  part of it.

I'm not suggesting that we all become theologians, philsophers, or Greek scholars. But we should be loving God with our mind, whatever that means for each of us, and as a pastor-to-be, I want to be a part of helping people do that.