Koach

       When posed with the question: what driving question/phrase is the deep connector in your theology? I have been ruminating in the deep questions I have in my Christian life. There is a verse, an incident (among many) in the life of Moses, that always stops me when I read it.
        Exodus 9.16, "Indeed, for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth." Paul cites this verse later in Romans 9 speaking of God's will as ultimate in the creation.
        My theology then has to answer "what is this power?" "where is the power?" "who embodies this power?" "how does this affect my view of God and creation?" "why is this question of 'showing' divine power in me important?" These are difficult and basic questions to answer. The hard part is going to live with these questions and refine my forming arguments around them.

My Dream Job

Every month when Adventure magazine by National Geographic shows up in my mailbox I start dreaming about my ideal job. Fortunately it's not far from what I am doing now, but it is a BIG and somewhat complicated vision.

My ideal job would be traveling to different parts of the world living and studying the different shapes of Christianity in post-colonial, "post-evangelized" cultures. I would love to study with these different Christians and talk theology with them. But, in "talking" theology, I mean discovering what is the core biblical references...the core biblical theology, I suppose...of different cultures of Christianity. The dialogue with these other versions of Christianity would essentially be constructive theology---shaping my own theological arguments---and would be "cross-cultural Christian constructive theology." This process would include intense historical, exegetical, and philosophical content (not to mention multi-lingual proficiency). In some cultures, it may even be necessary to engage in comparative theology to adequately engage in cross-cultural constructive theology.

It's a dream.......

Justice

I was grading student essays about modern perceptions of God contrasted with actions attributed to God in the Hebrew Bible and found myself pondering why students who said divine demands for violence/genocide are in the text because "God is just." Or, students would say "Christianity is peaceful" contrasting their current faith with the "old covenant" with Israel.


God's justice is genocide and damning God's creation? 


If Christianity is "peaceful," why has its history been so bloody?


If we are to hope in a God of justice, a God of power, and a God of love, should we not consider God's idea of power was not to establish a monarchy or empire. God's power is suffering love, and liberation from death. Should we attribute Israel's theological understanding of war and conquest to the reality of God? Would the God who is for creation (why would God NOT be for it?) "justly" order its death? 


I find the perception of God's justice as warring violence to be a human perversion of God because the entire Bible speaks a God whose power and justice defies human reason......defies humanity's tendency for self-destruction.