Review Essay, Keeping the Balance
B. The Devotional We need to maintain our relationship with God in the family of God’s people.
— (3) — Don’t let your personal time with God be squeezed out Regular prayer and bible-reading are very important. Jervis reminds us that the Bible is like “God’s love-letter to you”. We mustn’t lose sight of the reality of the things we are writing about. She suggests obtaining some reading notes that “will push you towards practical applications”.
— (4) — Seek out good teaching and Christian support You need to be among others “who love the Lord Jesus and who will support you”. Jervis advises getting involved with the Christian Union and trying to spend time with people who want to know Jesus better and live according to His word. In her case, she found it especially helpful to meet up with an older Christian on a regular basis to study a scripture passage and to pray and chat together. “You need other Christians”!
C. The Operational We need to do theology the Christian way.
— (5) — Find out about resources There are lots of good evangelical books written by credible authors that may not always appear on your reading lists. It’s good to find out about those and ask older Christians what books they found especially helpful when tackling various challenges.
— (6) — Always read the primary text for essays and pray for wisdom “To study theology effectively you will need to know what the Bible actually says!” It isn’t good enough (either for your exam or for your spiritual life) to simply “take on a load of second-hand ideas” about the Bible. “You still need the Spirit of God to help you understand the Word of God, and you need humility to take it on board and obey it”.
Evangelical Foundations for “doing” theology, Nigel M. de S. Cameron (31pgs)
Outline provided by the author:
| Introduction | 49 |
| How do we “do” theology? | 49 |
| What is theological method? | 51 |
| Where do we start? | 53 |
| Inspiration | 55 |
| Plenary, or verbal, inspiration | 58 |
| Infallibility | 59 |
| Revelation | 62 |
| Theology and the Bible | 64 |
| Unity in diversity | 66 |
| Theology and tradition | 68 |
| The work of the Spirit | 72 |
| Theological studies and theological study | 73 |
The third essay focuses on Evangelical foundations for doing theology. Nigel M. de S. Cameron, a professor of theology, sets out to explain the proper methodology for studying God—something he believes evangelicals can do in a way no one else can!
Category: In Depth, Spring 2006
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