The Theologian's Table

What a year 2016 was. I think, as far as the American public is concerned, it was one of the most difficult periods we've seen in quite a while. When people weren't busy becoming divided over such a controversial election season, we were waylaid by the many deaths of prominent and highly influential celebrities. It is this area in which I'd like to focus my attention on, death. Princess Leia and Kathy - Artist, Rick L. At the time of this writing, Carrie Fisher's death was perhaps the most shocking, which was then followed by the death of her mother (only a day later!). Celebrities like Bowie, Prince, and Fisher are given the status of icons or even idols. People view them in a somewhat supernatural way simply because of what their music and acting has done for each human who is influenced by them. When one of these idols dies a couple things happen. One is that we remember that they were human and not some god who could stave off death with their talents. Another...

Turner Field,  Atlanta I'm not a hardcore sports fan. In fact, I'm close to not being a sports fan at all, much like one of my favorite theologians, Roger Olson, who does not understand some of the character traits sports fans have. I do, however have a soft spot for Baseball. This soft spot was instilled by people like my maternal Grandfather who was a ride or die Red Sox fan. I must admit, I have a profound loyalty to that particular team. With that said, I have found that I have also been drawn to the professional teams in the areas I've lived in. For example, I've been to quite a few Minnesota Twins games, and now that I live close to Atlanta I have been to a few Braves games as well. While the game itself is fun to watch and it is easy to feed off of the energy of the crowd during a good play, what I enjoy most is the ambiance of where most stadiums are located, and that is often in the heart of the city. From places like Fenway Park and even Target Field it...

Jonah, the prophet of God who didn't want to do God's work. Not because it was necessarily hard, but because he knew what God was like. Jonah knew what would happen if the people of Nineveh repented and that's he what was running from. There is a good possibility in life where you might enter into a situation like Jonah's. God will examine your life and challenge the secret hate held in your heart. The thing of it is, is that  sometimes this hate can be directed at a problem that God thinks needs to be addressed where more than one person can be affected. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's a work issue, or maybe it's a case like Jonah's where God has called you to minister to a large group of people you do not care for and place a lot of blame at their feet. As the book of Jonah shows, however, God is a provocateur, He is insistent that the people who make themselves available to Him carry out His will. After trying to run from God, being thro...

At the height of their idolatry, the Israelites worshiped a Canaanite deity named Asherah (Hosea 4:12-13). This deity was depicted sometimes as a nude woman and sometimes as a tree. When I learned of this I was struck by the connection between Asherah's depictions and the Creation story in Genesis. Eve after all, did spend most of her time in the garden of Eden naked and then helped to usher sin into the world by eating the fruit of a tree. While I could admittedly be reading too much into the text, I believe that Asherah could be a perversion of the first biblical woman. Jealous of God's creations, the serpent in the garden sought to twist everything God had done, but his perversion with humanity only started there and continued through history. It is troubling that the serpent perverted a woman into a false deity to replace God. It is troubling that humanity was tricked into eating something that brought separation from God. And it is troubling that humanity brought sin and...

Dear Tim, At the rate you are going now you will graduate with your bachelors in Bible and Theology by December with honors. You will additionally be starting graduate school with the purpose of becoming a professor and a theologian of some sort. But in your quest for knowledge there are some things you'll need to remember: While you are investigating the relevance of terms like theotokos , people will be struggling to pay their electricity bill. While you are discussing the atonement theories of the Church fathers, the political cycle of the world will increasingly divide humanity. And while you are debating with others if James' epistle is a polemic against Paul's views of justification, parents will be losing their children to heroin overdoses. Tim, keep your feet on the ground and your heart rooted in the Gospel.

A Devotion for 2/21/2016.                      What is a person’s worth? Since the dawn of civilization humans have been asking this question and have developed many attempts to answer it. We have not become good at answering the question. We live in a pluralistic world where we have created many faiths in which the person must climb their way upwards to find some kind of enlightenment. Even the Christian Church has had a hand adding to the difficulty of the question by often downplaying the worth of a person.             One way we try to answer to this complex, human question, is through the practice of trying to find acceptance among others. As humans we think, “Well if I just work hard enough and make enough money then I’ll prove my worth to everyone,” or, “If my body looks this certain way then people will finally start noticing me,” and “If I say the right things, w...

Millennials Find Jesus - J Ward - Flickr There have been a lot of noisy articles and blogs out there about how my generation of Millennials have been leaving the Church, or how the contemporary worship model is not cutting it for them anymore. Popular Christian bloggers, such as Rachel Held Evans, have written  why they left their traditions, whereas mainstream news outlets have only speculated on the issues of the church and Millennials based on statistics from the Pew Research Center . Luckily, for the 5 whole readers of my blog, I have decided to add my voice regarding this subject! My church-going history has been somewhat diverse, it went from Pentecostal to Baptist to Anabaptist to Non-denominational (Baptist lite) and currently back to something resembling Pentecostal. The latest transition has been transformational yet challenging as my wife and I decided to leave the non-denominational church we have attended for the past two years. We are now struggling to find a ...