In the history of theology, there have been many issues which for those who are not “professional†theologians seem rather abstract. I know that there are times when I drive my wife crazy talking about some minutia of theological detail which has no connection to her world as a pre-school teacher, and she has never had a taste for the kind of hypothetical speculation which makes systematic theologians so excited. She is, however, very patient and tolerant, and I can even get her to do final proof-reading of manuscripts before I send them out. I think that most people are like my wife and as I have grown older, I try to think more about the work of the theologian as a service to the Church. I try to think from the perspective of how the issues which occupy so much of my time can be brought into the larger conversation of the Church and the people who are my brothers and sisters in the mission of God. As the recent survey of the theological opinions of American evangelicals demonstrated, there is work to be done to make these doctrinal truths more well-known as well as why these issues are important for people to know and to get right in their theological thinking. [Read more…] about Theotokos – Mary as the Mother of God. An Advent Devotional
Virgin Mary
Advent Table Topic: Be Alert for Announcements
Kathleen Norris writes:
I once heard a Protestant clergywoman say to an ecumenical assembly, “We all know there was no Virgin Birth. Mary was just an unwed, pregnant teenager, and God told her it was okay. That’s the message we need to give girls today, that God loves them, and forget all this nonsense about a Virgin Birth.” … I happened to be sitting between some Russian Orthodox, who were offended theologically, and black Baptists, whose sense of theological affront was mixed with social concern. They were not at all pleased to hear a well-educated, middle-class white woman say that what we need to tell pregnant teenagers is, “It’s okay.”
I realized that my own anger at the woman’s arrogance had deep personal roots. I was taken back to my teenage years, when the “de-mythologizing” of Christianity that I had encountered in a misguided study of modern theology had led me to conclude that there was little in religion for me. [Read more…] about Advent Table Topic: Be Alert for Announcements