Gentle reader,
My pedagogical philosophy is not lacking an emphasis on content acquisition, but getting that content into our minds is not where the real fun is, and it’s not what counts most as a successful outcome of education.
We need the content in order to do the really fun, fruitful stuff.
Consider the following questions, bringing whatever you know about the content of theology and refusing any agony about what you don’t know.
Pick one answer to each question. I hope it’s obvious that all the answers are “right.”
Don’t linger; go with your gut.
Then, after the multiple choice, we can get to the fun part.
Which reality most confirms your faith in God?
A) Cats
B) Music
C) Feasts
D) Pied beauty
Which doctrine most urges you to prayer?
A) Pneumatology
B) The Trinity
C) Eschatology
D) Creation
Which small group do you sign up for?
A) Lectio divina led by Augustine
B) Prayer walks with Macrina
C) Analysis of critical exegesis with Martin Luther
D) The Ignatian exercises led by Julian of Norwich
Which image of the kingdom most excites your sense of vocation?
A) Wedding feast: multiple courses
B) Thriving city: jeweled gates
C) Zoological park: no fences between wolves, lambs, leopards, kids, lions, fatlings, and toddlers
D) Global worship service: music, Word, and sacrament all centered on the Lamb
Which of these effects of sin do you need to explore more deeply and notice more thoroughly?
A) Stoppering of reason and crippling of imagination
B) Roadblocks to justice and incentives to violence
C) Infection of the powers: institutions, governments, systems
D) Thorns on roses and analogues to those thorns in all creation
Which theological grouping would bear fruit you want to eat?
A) Neighborhood communities, theologies of food, doctrine of the fall
B) Lay directed prayer meetings, theologies of the body, doctrine of redemption
C) Denominational gatherings, theologies of procedure, pneumatology
D) Private meditation, theologies of vocation, eschatology
Which healthy cross-fertilization does the global church need ASAP?
A) Wesleyan-Baptist
B) Roman Catholic-Pentecostal
C) Orthodox-Lutheran
D) Reformed-Anabaptist
John Constable, Cloud Study: Stormy Sunset, 1821-1822
Now, here’s the real fun.
Share your answers – with me, with friends, with co-laborers for the kingdom.
But don’t just share your answers; share the why.
And be curious. Ask others about their answers and their whys.
Share the good theological and biblical warrants that lead you to choose A) over B). Share the parts of your story that resonate with your gut choices here. And, best of all, share imaginings of and hopes for the kind of good fruit that could grow from this sort of theological examination.
Prayers, dear ones, for fruitful theological education. For good seeds to bear good fruits in your lives and communities. For our theological imaginations to grow legs and berries and melons and root vegetables and communal realities that point to the good kingdom of the good Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen.
Grace and peace,
BFJ
If you found this piece fruitful, I’d be grateful if you forward or share with others.
“Legs and berries” -- I love this!