I love theology. I enjoy thinking hard about who God is. I find it fun to sit around and talk about things like God’s relationship to time (What does it mean to exist before time began?).
I’ve said that the basic premise of this blog is that we cannot love those we don’t know. Certainly studying theology doesn’t necessarily help us know anyone. A Muslim could spend hours reading a book on infant baptism in order to better know his Christian neighbor only to find out that his neigbhor is a baptist and doesn’t believe in infant baptsim. But it can still be helpful.
My neighbor is Eastern Orthodox. Many Christians in the Middle East are Orthodox. I don’t know a lot about them and some of the things I’ve heard were pretty concerning. So I decided I should learn more and read some books on what Orthodox Christians believe. Currently I’m reading The Orthodox Church by Timothy Ware. It has been very helpful in correcting some misconceptions about the Orthodox Church (though differences still remain) and has also increased my interest in my neighbor.
So I do think theology can be helpful in getting to know one another (though it can never substitute simply asking each other questions). To that end I will occasionally post links to places we can learn more about Christian and Islamic theology. I’m not nearly as well versed in Islamic theology, so if any Muslim readers have suggestions I’d be happy to take them.
I’ll begin in my next post.
Man, this is an awesome idea. As to your actual thoughts, I would think that theology is the study of Your God, so for me theology is the study of my God, and by extension Christ and the Holy Spirit. We study things that might actually be apologetics in order to learn about other cultures and beliefs, at least I think that’s how it works.
When I was stationed in Japan, I started learning about Shinto and Buddhist thought…clearly that’s not “theology” by the actual definition, but more along the lines of apologetics. That’s not entirely the same as what you’re talking about here, but it’s not too far off (I think!).
I am headed over to the next post now. Thank you for this lesson!
Dan,
That is an interesting distinction between theology and apologetics. The problem, though, is that with this definition of theology it is impossible to speak of one person studying the theology of another religion. Also, I would define apologetics, not as the learning of other cultures and beliefs, but the defending of one’s own (which could include the refutation of another’s).
Blessings.
I agree with you about apologetics, but then I’m not sure what to call it. I know it doesn’t really matter. The important thing is to just learn about other faiths. Don’t mean to put a monkey wrench into it. Theology just didn’t seem to be the word for me. I have to think about that some more. Having said all of that, I do look forward to more posts on the subject!
i would recommend schmemman’s work for some understanding on the Orthodox church’s unique contributions to the Church. i think the difficult thing about searching for books on islamic theology is that in islam, the emphasis is more on law/practice than on theology/knowing. allah doesn’t reveal himself, only his will. so, i think i would encourage you to read the hadith (as many as you can) and study the various schools of law within islam. you may have already done this, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind.
I would second the Alexandar Schmemann rec on must reads for understanding Orthodoxy. In particular, check out “For the Life of the World” by Schmemann, probably the best book I’ve read. Enjoy your blog bro, and thanks for loving Muslims.