Years ago a group of ladies met to talk about launching a moms’ ministry at our church. When I suggested offering a Bible study, the one in charge replied: “No, we want this to be a practical group.”

At the time, I was stunned. What could possibly be more practical than studying God’s Word??

Of course I understand she meant something immediately practical. She wanted to focus on the felt needs of young moms in our community. No sleep-deprived mother wants to spend an hour studying Habakkuk. She wants tips on how to get those kids to sleep through the night, how to juggle a job and PTA and housework and homework and sick toddlers while preparing to host a Thanksgiving meal for out-of-state family members.

We naturally and consistently submit to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, taking care of the pressing and the urgent first. The problem is that if something doesn’t FEEL pressing and urgent, we may forget that it’s actually pretty important. (I wrote something adjacent to this in another blog post.)

Another years ago story (and, yes, I’ve shared this before, but it had such an impact on me, I have to share it again.):

A friend confessed to me that she had never read the Old Testament. In her words: “There’s nothing relevant there.” Again, she meant nothing immediately practical.

Studying the Old Testament takes a bit more time and effort than just reading a quick letter from Paul filled with dos and don’ts. But if you neglect the Old Testament, you ignore 2/3 of God’s Word. You essentially say: “The last chapter is enough.”

When we ask WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THEOLOGY? what we’re really asking is HOW IS THEOLOGY RELEVANT TO MY LIFE?

Ah, but maybe there is another question we must ask and answer first.

What IS theology?

A most basic definition: Theology is the study of God.
Theos meaning God and logos meaning word.
Logos is the root of our suffix -ology which refers to study (biology, geology, anthropology, etymology, etc.).

Lest anyone be too impressed: I don’t know Greek. I’ve never studied it. I took Spanish in high school while serving as an ASL interpreter at our church. Then I took Hebrew, which was a terrible decision for someone with dyslexia. I know about six basic phrases in French and a few in Bosnian and Italian, but that’s really just enough to find the bathroom or tell people I like cheese. So don’t expect too much from me when it comes to Greek analysis. I’m only sharing what smarter people have written and I’ve been intelligent enough to read.

So theology is literally “the study of God.” That’s a concise and rather vague definition. Here are a few attempts at greater precision by some respected theologians:

• “Theology simply means thinking about God and expressing those thoughts in some way.”
  — Charles Ryrie
• “Theology is a science of mind applied to God.”
  — Henry Ward Beecher
• “…rational discussion respecting deity.”
  — Augustine
• “Theology is reflection upon the God whom Christians worship and adore.”
  — Alister McGrath
• “…what Christianity is all about, what Christianity stands for in the world.”
  — Kathryn Tanner
• “…a discipline of study that seeks to understand the God revealed in the Bible and to provide a Christian understanding of reality.”
  — Millard Erickson
• “…an integrated presentation of Christian truth… a coherent, and alluring, vision of the Christian faith.”
  — Sara Coakley
• “What the church of Jesus Christ believes, teaches, and confesses on the basis of the word of God: that is Christian doctrine.”
  — Jaroslav Pelikan

Some of that sounds very cerebral, which may be why so many Christians today seem to believe theology is only for the elite. I’ve heard pastors offer a caveat mid-sermon: “We won’t get too theological here…” People are intimidated by the word. We separate beliefs (which sounds easy and soft and comforting) from the study of beliefs (which sounds harsh and academic). But we don’t need to do that.

If theology is what Christians believe based on what the Bible teaches, then theology is for everyone. EV-ER-Y-ONE. Some argue that even atheists have a theology. So, yeah— every Christian should be a theologian. Whether that’s formal and intentional or casual and exploratory, we all would do well to better understand God and articulate what we believe about him.

What makes theology relevant and exciting?

Many want to lump theology and philosophy together. Some universities offer the latter as a religion course. Likening these two, however, diminishes the power of theology, and it ignores a few really significant distinctions.

1: Christian theology is based on the Bible.

We’re not collecting random ideas out of thin air. We’re not drawing conclusions based on imagination or emotions. We have a sacred text that serves as the foundation for our understanding. Whatever we learn from history, science, culture, and experience must align with and reinforce the truths of God’s Word, which is the Bible.

We’re on a precipice here of a much deeper topic: biblical interpretation. One can utilize the Bible to support anything he or she wants. Christians used the Bible to defend slavery for hundreds of years. They used the Bible to rally support for the Holocaust and the Crusades. I’ve seen people use the Bible to argue both FOR and AGAINST abortion. It’s important to recognize that our interpretations OF the Bible are not equal to the Bible itself. Our understandings can be wrong. Thankfully, our understandings can also change, grow, and evolve.

It’s also important to remember that the Bible is not God. It is not part of the Trinity. It is a tool by which we learn about God. There’s a lot more I want to say about all of this, but we’ll save that for another day.

2: Christian theology is personal.

Archeology studies artifacts and history. It’s all fascinating, but completely detached. And dead.

Theology studies the living God. That’s BIG. And exciting!

Seriously, y’all. We get to go directly to the source. We can read and talk and pray and wrestle with the subject. We can ask questions and get answers. This is not an objective, detached study, but a personal and interactive one. And that’s awesome!

Michael Bird wrote: “Theology is speaking about God while in the very presence of God. We are intimately engaged with the subject of our study.”

3: Christian theology is communal.

Just as we are not detached from the subject (God), we are not detached nor isolated from others in the same pursuit (the Church). This adventure of knowing God and making him known, of learning about him and serving him, is something we are meant to do in community. That means with our families, our friends, our neighbors. We’re a team of explorers and we’re supposed to do this together!

I’m going to quote Michael Bird again.

“Theology is something that is learned, lived, sung, preached, prayed, and renewed through the dynamic interaction between God and his people. Theology is the conversation that takes place between family members in the household of faith about what it means to behold and believe in God. Theology is the attempt to verbalize and to perform our relationship with God. Doctrine is corporately pressed, prayed, and practiced.”

We could easily add in a supportive quote here from Deuteronomy 6. Go ahead; look it up.

4: Christian theology impacts how we live in the world.

Theology enables and equips us to be world-changers.

While we can take any study and “apply” it to our lives in some way or another, theology encourages us to apply what we learn and come to believe in a way that impacts the world around us. It guides us to love our neighbors, to generously serve our communities, and to nurture others with grace, truth, and humility. It begs us to eschew selfishness, pride, deceit, and unkindness. It is counter-cultural in the very best ways.

“Theology is not only about understanding the world; it is about mending the world.”

— Miroslav Volf

We started this conversation with the question: Why should I care about theology?

Well, my friend, if you’re on this website, you already do. You just didn’t know it.

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Now that we’ve defined theology and talked about why it’s important, relevant, and exciting…

Who has a good question we can dive into next? Which part of theology should we discuss?