THOUGHTS ON GODBLOGCON…a week or so later

GodBlogCon clarified something for me that was in desperate need of clarification: I’m not trying to influence the entire world.

There. I said it.

I’m trying to influence 15-20 collegians, most of whom do not read my blog. Apparently blogs are boring: they have too many words and are not interactive. Go figure.

I’m also trying to influence myself. I exist in an extremely academic environment. I work at Biola University. I’m about to graduate with a Master of Divinity and move on to a Master of Theology in the spring. In all of this, I am trying not to become so academic that I’m no good to regular folk. I want to be bilingual—to speak ‘academic’ and ‘hometown.’

One of the most important ideas brought up at GodBlogCon was the suggestion to use blogging as a way to process, as a way to think through theology. I know for some who read/skim this blog, what I write here is most certainly not theology. Well, you are wrong. The notion that theology is a dry, intellectual exercise, far removed from daily life is one cause for a church full of Christians who do not have the tools or skills to study the Scripture and think through how they should live.

The Saturday morning session with David Wayne brought it home. Before the presentation, he led us in a discussion on the definition of theology. During that discussion something came out of my mouth that puts in context what I hope to accomplish in my Th.M.: “theology is the conduit between bare Scripture and daily life.” That’s it. Too often theology stops before meeting daily life. Most often the first steps—the part where we exegete and think and pray and ask funny questions and maybe ramble in disconnected blog posts—is left undercover. Well, this blog is my wanderings through those first steps of theology. The end result—some 2-3 years hence—will be buckets of polished curriculum and a 100 or so page masters thesis (with an entirely too long title). Until then, I ramble on, baring that process. In all, I pray that my ramblings will impact those 15-20 (and more!) collegians, and will prepare me to impact seminarians and pastors later in my journey.

As for you, dear reader, I hope not to bore you. If I do—if you require more polished blogs—or less polished forums—then this blog may not be for you. If you are seeking to put Birks on your theology and hit the street, comment away, post on your blog, join the journey.

‘Nuff said.

Tag(s): blogging theology