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06.01.06
Germans and theology
Men interpret the bible, women are responsible for social affairs
A blog entry by Peter Aschoff has pointed me towards an interesting article in the Süddeutsche about the BGG church in Stuttgart. I share Peter's assessment that the article was written based from a positive yet critical viewpoint.
What struck me was the emphasis on the negative view of “theologizing” as well as the rather conservative view on the roles of men and women in the church. Maybe that came from the intention of the author to find parallels between the BGG and american megachurches. If the examples given in the article are factual, they are also examples for the reservations of evangelical and charismatic circles towards theology that questions interpreting the bible only literally.
Through reading N.T.Wright's commentaries on the New Testament in the last year I noticed that such foundational knowledge about dealing with the bible and the contents of the bible is rarely taught in many churches – at least according to my own experience. And that is not only true for charismatic, but also for traditional churches. I still hope there will be someone who will translate this series by N.T.Wright to German… even thought it's a Herculean task.
Maybe the church again is at a point where the leaders of the church have good theological knowledge, but don't teach the members of the church to work on an intelligent, well-founded faith themselves. That's a pity, since that should be prevented by church renewal in whatever form.
While staying in London, I thought about this topic a lot. There are a number of false dilemmas that we strongly believe in: Either a sermon is relevant to our lives but superficial, or it is deep theologically, but exhausting to listen to, boring and irrelevant. Or, to express it differently: Either a church is young, funky and interesting, or it has “good bible knowledge”. Either the bibel is true in a literal sense, or it is just a collection of myths without historical basis (which, interestingly enough, is a preconception shared both by liberal and conservative circles). Either the leadership exercises strong control over the church member's lifestyle and decisions (a model favoured by a number of charistmatic churches), or everybody does what they want and they don't live a “real faith”. Either the spirit (literally) sweeps us off our feet, or we are a “dead church”. Either men and women are the same in every single aspect, or the traditional understanding of male and female roles are the only correct way. Either the bible is totally influenced by culture, or totally acultural.
I believe that in all cases the truth is somewhere in the middle. It is much easier to just agree with one side or the other than to go and find a way through the jungle in the middle, but it is worth it.
Currently I am asking myself how I can improve my theological foundation. The Leadership Academy would be a good opportunity, but I would like to do something that goes beyond the normally accepted scope and conventions in Germany. My brother recommended the Moore College's Correspondence Course to me. Maybe I'll find something else?
Well, I will continue to read Wright's books. And I found a few interesting books in my brother's study as well:
Posted by crenz, 06.01.06 14:39
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