Sunday, May 22, 2011

Theology, God and Romans

"Theologie richtet sich auf Gott, nicht indem sie Gott zu einem Sonderthema neben anderen macht, sondern indem sie alles im Licht der wirksamen Gegenwart Gottes wahrnimmt, zu verstehen sucht, erforscht und durchdenkt" (Ingolf Dalferth's Radikale Theologie, p.15)

This is a bit of an aside, but hey ho. I think Daniel Kirk began his very helpful book on Romans by saying something like: Romans "is about God, dummies"! The more I read Romans, the more I appreciate how right he was: theology cannot be bracketed in exegetical work on that letter. If it is to be understood, it must also be studied, researched and considered in light of the God it speaks about. This is why the tensions between parts of Romans 1-3 and the rest of the letter are so important to admit and think about.

4 Comments:

At 5/23/2011 5:20 PM, Blogger Ed Gentry said...

Good quote. Its easy for one in the Bible guild, who is accustomed to snubbing my nose at our cousins in systematic theology, to forget that it really is all about God.

 
At 5/23/2011 6:18 PM, Blogger Chris Tilling said...

Yes, amen. And I think in this respect, so-called "theological exegesis" is an important voice for the future of NT research.

 
At 5/26/2011 10:38 AM, Anonymous Mark said...

Yes, good quote. What we now call 'systematic theology' was in early days of christianity always practiced within and along with exegesis for the very good reason that the whole thing about the bible and christian faith is God, now, then and forever. (which was by the way a wonderfull way of overcoming the 'garstige Graben' to put it anachronistically) It might improve exegesis a lot I suppose if we got more in that habit again. At least it makes commentaries more usable for pastors.

 
At 5/26/2011 4:45 PM, Blogger Chris Tilling said...

Thanks Mark, I couldn't agree more!

 

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