Am I a theologian?
That’s the question that’s been mulling over my head for a while now.
On the surface, that’s a pretty easy question to answer. Being a theologian simply means to say something about God. With that, everyone who attempts to talk about God is, by definition, a theologian.
So blog over I guess?
Maybe what I’m getting after is if I am the type of theologian with something worthwhile to say.
Do I have information worth sharing?
Do I have a point to make?
Do I have something to pass on to others? My wife? My church?
Can I help those around me better understand God and their faith?
With that said, maybe a better question is “Am I a good theologian?”. That will be the point of this blog. For me to flesh out how I think about God, what makes sense, and what doesn’t. And hopefully in a format that others can read and learn from.
Understanding where your starting position is important for seeing where you want to go. So let’s lay out a few things to get started.
Essentially, I’m an average layperson (not a minister) at a roughly Evangelical American church. I’ve self learned along the way, have taken some courses, and have attempted to refine what I think in a number of ways.
While I haven’t attented seminary, and don’t plan to at the moment (upcoming article), I do believe they have a lot to offer in terms of what topics are important to cover. I’ve read a decent chunk of typical seminary books, but I think I’d benefit from starting over and taking the time to process the material more thoroughly. Seminaries offer a lot of guidance in that area.
Here is a rough outline of what I’m thinking about:
That’s it. I’m sure I’ll refine this over time, but I think this is a good start.
I find a lot of joy in making the theology accessible to others. My primary audience will always be the people I attend church with, who love God and want to learn more about him, but are often completely unaware of the depth of discussion about God that has been happening for the last few millennia.
I think this blog is successful if it provides value to people like that. That someone can read what I have to say and feel more prepared to dive into the wide world of theological thought and to believe that they are also theologians.
Anyway, this was a bit longer than I expected! If all this sounds interesting to you, I hope you’ll come back and check out out what else I have to say!