Theology is for Eggheads?

On December 7th, 374, St. Ambrose became the bishop of Milan.

He is known for two things: he was the greatest preacher of his age, and he discipled a young convert who would be known to history as St. Augustine.

Ambrose was a great man. We would probably realize this more than we do if he had not been eclipsed by his famous convert.

St. Augustine became one of Christianity’s most influential thinkers. In fact, both religious and secular scholars think of him as one of history’s most brilliant men.

We rarely honor theologians like Augustine and Ambrose now. We tend to deride them for being out-of-touch with “real life”. (Whatever that is!)

The timely use of the word “theologian,” can evoke laughter from pulpit and pew. We think of 'theologian' the way one writer described an ancient Egyptian philosopher who became so enthralled by observing stars that he slipped in cow manure and broke his leg. Philosophers, theologians and other sorts of theoreticians are poor dreamers, captured by the smell of old books and the sounds of dead languages. Their irrelevance is so staggering that we shake our heads in disbelief when we realize they are still around.

This is a relatively new attitude though. Past generations of Christians held their scholars in high esteem.

I would like to convince you to do that too.

With that, I may have already lost most of you. But I hope not.

I do understand that the very word “theology” makes many people want to die from boredom!

I think I know why.

Sometimes “theologians,” get a kick out of using highly technical jargon. That lets them know who is or is not “in their club.” They throw around Latin and Greek. They quote obscure thinkers we have never heard of. We think we could understand them if they would just speak in plain English. But they don’t.

Theologians often make theology sound like a root canal!

All I can say is “don’t let their poor communication skills keep you from learning about God!”

That is, after all, what “theology” means: “the study of God.” Therefore, if you have ever prayed, you are already acquainted with theology!

So why would we need formal theology in that case? Isn’t devotion and piety enough?

“Theology just makes simple things complicated,” many people claim.

Is that true? Do theologians just make simple things complicated?

I think they often do and they shouldn’t.

However, there is a real difference between being “simple” and being “simplistic.”

Who wants to hear someone say, “Will you please engage the switching device for the purpose of making a positive connection for the flow of electricity to the incandescent filament?”

We want them to say: “Please turn on the light.”

That’s simple.

We don’t want to hear them say, “Don’t worry about the electric bill, or an old light bulb, or a switch that overheats. Such things take care of themselves. Let’s not worry about all of that. Let’s just enjoy the light.”

A person who talks like that is not “simple,” he’s simplistic.

In fact, he may even be a simpleton!

Simple people are virtuous; simpletons are slothful.

Some Christian leaders are simple. Some are simplistic. Some are simpletons.

A theologian should learn to be simple, like Jesus. He should not be simplistic, like Larry the Cable Guy.

Being simplistic you see, is just another name for sloth.

Theologians must not be slothful; but they must learn how to communicate with the rest of us.

That’s what Ambrose did.

Augustine did too.

And C. S. Lewis!

Sometimes, I even do it. (I just had to work my way into this illustrious club.)

Theology must, in as simple a way as possible, help ordinary believers understand the implications of God’s Word. That sometimes requires an explanation based on the Bible’s original languages, or a quote from a person who lived in another century. It never calls for humiliating others because they do not understand the theologian’s specialized vocabulary.

You may ask, “Why do Christians even need theologians? Don’t we all have the same Bible?”

Well, yes. We do.

Unfortunately, reading the same Bible does not automatically lead us to doctrinal unity or to the essential teachings of scripture.

We would all like to think that we (unlike others!) always let the Bible speak for itself. However, the truth is, we all read the Bible through the lenses of our own private experiences and personal opinions. We tend to be loyal to the views of whatever branch of Christian faith we encountered as children or as new believers. Because of these human elements, despite our sincerity, we often reach different conclusions about the things than the writers of the Bible intended.

A godly and humble theologian can help us untangle the knots that time and custom can wrap around our minds. They can help us discern the difference between “orthodox” and “obstinate, and between “simple and “simplistic.” They can teach us the history, language usage and purposes behind a particular Bible story or teaching.

Most importantly, a good theologian can help us see Jesus, like Ambrose did for Augustine; like Augustine did for Medieval Europe; and like C.S. Lewis did for many of us.

During Advent, we will talk a lot about the shepherds and how those poor and unlearned men recognized the Lord of glory in the face of a little child.

However, there were other people in that story.

At the center of the nativity was a little baby boy, kissed by a star. The light of that star wooed wise men from far away in the East.

When they saw that light, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

Some of them still do. And when they arrive at the cradle, they say the most wonderful things, like St. Augustine, Ambrose’s famous disciple:

“Late came I to love thee, Ancient Beauty; late came I to love Thee.”

Buddha and The Manger

Several years ago, while studying comparative religion, I read a Buddhist prayer.

“I take refuge in the Buddha.
I take refuge in the Buddha’s teaching.
I take refuge in the Buddha’s community.”

The prayer moved me.

It lead me to ask myself, “Can a Christian make less of a commitment to the Lord Jesus? What do we say about the Lord’s teachings? What do we say about His church – his community?”
So I adapted the prayer and often pray it, usually with considerable feeling:

“I take refuge in Jesus.
I take refuge in His teaching.
I take refuge in His church.”

If you think about it, the prayer describes the meaning of authentic theology, to “the study of God.” Studying God involves listening to God speak through the scriptures and His church. It involves coming to know Him through prayer, worship and obedience.

Today is my wife Trish’s birthday. We have been together for thirty-six years now. That’s a long time. When I married her, I had no idea that my reactions to her would gradually mold my own personality and make me into a different person. However, that is what has happened.

When we were newly married, I found comfort and pleasure in her company, especially in erotic life which was a new experience for both of us. As the years went by, we had children and formed a family which became a different kind of comfort – a place to root my soul in the deepest kind of human love possible. As we continued our journey, we discovered knew things about one another – some things that we liked and others we did not. Each discovery provoked a response and molded our lives in a different way.

I am a different person than I would have otherwise been because of who I married. Where one takes refuge gradually creates him or her into a new sort of person.

Some people have claimed that Martin Luther wrote the carol, Away in a Manger, for his children. That’s very unlikely. The carol is not that old. It doesn’t matter though. The idea is that even one of Christianity’s most influential theologians might well have written such a simple childish song, is important.

It is a song about taking refuge in the family of Jesus, into which we have been invited. We don’t have to be Roman Catholic to feel deep appreciation and honor for the Mother of the Lord who is, in some sense, a mother to all those who believe. We learn from her to say “let it be done unto me according to your will.” We can all feel secure and safe with an example of Joseph the carpenter who will guard and defend the world’s most precious gift with his life.

So we join the holy family in our hearts and imagination. We take refuge in the gift of all ages and commit ourselves to learn the ways of God and to follow them, even if it takes us – like it did the three kings – through field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.

This little child came to “fit us for heaven,” as the older lyrics claims, not just “take us to heaven,” as the newer (and poorer) version puts it.

We comfort ourselves in this refuge, the family of Jesus, to which we now belong. In their company we are being fit for heaven and delivered from evil. We feel such things in the depth of our soul as we sing the simple lyrics:

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care
And fit us for heaven
To live with Thee there

Creeds and Carols

According to the legend, the twelve drummers drumming represent the Apostles, as well as the early Christian creed that bears their name.

Well, advent is a wonderful time to think about what we say we believe.

Christmas carols are excellent teachers too! Of course, you have to actually listen to the stanzas of the carols – especially to the ones we don’t usually sing anymore.

To see what I mean, just Google Hark the Herald Angels Sing and read the old lyrics.

Then try Joy to the World. Meditate on the words.

The carols are theologically richer than most of our sermons these days. If you take the time to digest them, they will feed your soul.

Obviously I’m not talking about singing merely the bits and pieces of cannibalized lyrics that pass for modern Christmas music! I’m talking about learning the blood and guts of ancient Christian culture.

You could make this one of your Advent adventures: to finally understand the lyrics of the carols. Read through all the stanzas of We Three Kings. Read over the words of more obscure carols, such as Once in Royal David’s City. Expand your spiritual perception beyond the doctrinal provincialism of our age as you listen respectfully to past believers.

Once you understand the lyrics of the great carols, you will have no problem understanding the meaning of any of the great creeds.

You’ll also come to know why the creeds are important for cultivating a healthy spiritual life.

Of course, creeds bore people.

That’s just life. Learning the multiplication tables bored me too, once upon a time.

Heck, paying bills bore me! But if you ever want to advance beyond coloring Sunday school pictures and really develop a robust adult faith, this may be the place to start: with the doctrines of our faith that the carols express. Then, perhaps, you may take a few minutes and memorize the two central creeds of the church.

That’s a very subversive thing to do now. Modern Christians don’t tend to like anything structured, formal or (gasp) “historic.” Creeds can be downright creepy for modern Christians.

You’ve probably heard people say something like, "Christians don’t need creeds or doctrine! They just need Jesus!"

I have certainly heard them say things like that.

It sounds good, even pious. But just ask another question,

“So, who is Jesus?"

A fervent believer will usually say something like “well, the Jesus of the Bible, of course."
Then ask, "And what does the Bible say about Jesus?"

You will soon realize that any answer to these simple questions reveals a doctrinal viewpoint.

So we all have doctrine!

Some of our doctrines are “homemade,” just pieced together from our life experiences, old teachers, preachers, and, frankly – and much more than we realize -- our personal preferences.

All believers will, sooner or later, develop a theological system, formal or informal, that form his or her beliefs and practices.

The question then is not whether we have a doctrine or not. It is impossible not to have doctrine.

Therefore, a conscientious Christian will ask, “How does my doctrine compare to what the Bible teaches? Secondarily, he or she will ask “what have the saints through the ages believed?”

These questions reveal whether we are (or are not) marching to the steady beat, the common rhythm, of our faith, the one St. Jude claims was “once and for all delivered to the saints.”

As we really meditate on the teachings of THAT faith, we may discover how seriously we have tended to erode that faith and to morph it into something that past generations might not have recognized. After all, if their words –as we experience in the carols and creeds – seem increasingly alien to us, perhaps it is because what we normally practice and preach is increasingly alien from them.

Why is this important? It is important because beliefs have consequences. It is, therefore, important to consider the implications of a belief before we adopt it. And, to claim to believe something without understanding the implications lacks integrity. If the child born long ago really was God, and the early followers of that child really received what He wanted the world to know, then we should dedicate at least a part of our lives to understanding their message.

It is also important to review the beliefs we unconsciously collect. We all do that. Then, we have a habit of continuing to believe those things simply because we already believe!

However, what we believe determines how we behave. If our beliefs are not sound, how can our behavior be otherwise?

These are the reasons why a Christian should periodically do prayerful thinking about Christian doctrine. That way, he or she can live in peace and integrity with what he or she claims to believe.

Memorizing and meditating on the creeds will help you form a healthy doctrinal foundation. However, learning the lyrics of the carols will do it too.

Even the apparently silly ones, like “five goooood ---en riiiiiings!”

It makes me think of something that my true love once gave me, and which I hope will be the words of my dying breath:

“I believe in the Jesus Christ … who was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate, who died and rose again. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

Or, if you prefer, you can use the piecing words that Isaac Watts wrote in 1719:

"No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found."

Copyright © 2009 Dan Scott. All Rights Reserved