Introduction
THEOLOGY.
Just the sound of the syllables elicits from some Christians a cringe of visceral
disdain. "Surely you don't mean to parrot the primacy of your theological
niceties when real people are starving in Somalia?" The more garden variety
response, however, seems to be a glazed look of incredulity from eyes that
have developed decided predilections for image and experience over word and
text. "Why read The Book when I can watch the movie?" With these and other
such "constructive" criticisms, the budding church leader is dismissed back
to the methodological drawing board to sketch a paradigm for ministry that
evinces more convincing cultural awareness and more persuasive societal savvy.
Perhaps the only other word in Christian use subject to comparable deprecation is doctrine. For many today there are few concepts that cause them to writhe with similar acerbic upheaval. At best, doctrines divide; at worst, they destroy. So we are conditioned to think by an ironically vacuous culture intoxicated by eclectic concoctions of multiple worldviews.
So what is Biblical theology? And what's so important about it that a few churchoholic cranks decided to give it its own web page? Can we really understand it and agree on it in the local church, and if so, how? What are the major topographical contours that can give us a lay of the land, and what are some land marks that might let us know where we are and if we've overstepped the boundaries of Christian belief? What place should Biblical theology occupy in the local church, and, once there, how should it function? Come on in - we'll give you the dime tour. We won't be able to answer all your questions - we still have a bunch of our own to ask. But if you consider yourself a confessing evangelical concerned about the unity and purity of the church, then kicking around this site might be helpful in discovering what exactly it is that we are called to unite around.
