Question 9 Connor Galyen

"What can you do to maintain humility as you learn theology?"

Something that Bird mentions in the later part of the reading really impacted me during this reading. It went into how to approach theology, especially when it comes to forming our own theologies. One aspect of this that he talks about exponentially is naive biblicism. This is the act of Christians using solely Scripture to make their own Biblical propositions and theological doctrine. Bird states that the problem with this method is "the assumption that all you need for theology is the Bible and all you want to get out of theology is creating propositions to be affirmed". Simply put, I need to be humble in my interpretation of Scripture as it relates to my personal theology and the way that I see the Scriptures. I cannot create my own beliefs on how I see the Scripture but I must also accept influences from "natural revelation, tradition, experience, and even a degree of culture" (pg. 78). Something that I need to remind myself while I continue to grow in my knowledge of the Scriptures is that I need to be humble in my understanding of theology and continually be seeking wisdom in the Scripture. One sentence that Bird wrote stuck out to me about this subject. He says that "Perhaps also the goal of theology is not simply drawing up a list of propositions, but for us to engage in a performance of the divine drama and the experience the transformation of our imaginations so that we know God better" (pg. 79). I can maintain humility as I learn theology because it is a means to know God better.

cjgalyen wrote:"What can you do to maintain humility as you learn theology?"

Something that Bird mentions in the later part of the reading really impacted me during this reading. It went into how to approach theology, especially when it comes to forming our own theologies. One aspect of this that he talks about exponentially is naive biblicism. This is the act of Christians using solely Scripture to make their own Biblical propositions and theological doctrine. Bird states that the problem with this method is "the assumption that all you need for theology is the Bible and all you want to get out of theology is creating propositions to be affirmed". Simply put, I need to be humble in my interpretation of Scripture as it relates to my personal theology and the way that I see the Scriptures. I cannot create my own beliefs on how I see the Scripture but I must also accept influences from "natural revelation, tradition, experience, and even a degree of culture" (pg. 78). Something that I need to remind myself while I continue to grow in my knowledge of the Scriptures is that I need to be humble in my understanding of theology and continually be seeking wisdom in the Scripture. One sentence that Bird wrote stuck out to me about this subject. He says that "Perhaps also the goal of theology is not simply drawing up a list of propositions, but for us to engage in a performance of the divine drama and the experience the transformation of our imaginations so that we know God better" (pg. 79). I can maintain humility as I learn theology because it is a means to know God better.

It's interesting to me that two people can read the same exact scripture in the same version, and still interpret it entirely differently. What you're saying is super important when forming your own theology. Without humility, we can form theological arguments based on one or a few of the influences Bird mentions. However, with humility we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us discern what should and should not be interpreted from the scriptures. The concept of sheeple is an ever increasing state of mind in the world we live today. It's important that as Christians, we focus our attention on all areas of theology in order to fully understand what we believe as well as share the gospel with others. If we don't truly understand what we're following, how can we truly follow? We can't. I'm excited to see what we will learn from this theological class. I expect to become entirely more humble as I also grow in my theological doctrine.