While working on the powerpoints for this weekend tonight, I decided to change up my normal listening routine and switch from music to the podcast. Now, I hadn't bought into this podcast craze until just recently, and quite honestly I'm surprised I have. What spurred me on this quest was the fact that emergent has started putting up podcasts of the recent emergent theological discussion that took place at Yale featuring Miroslav Volf. I am a sucker for theological discussion, but have never been one to listen to books on tape or people talking. Even when I decided I had to tape a lecture to understand it, I would find the parts that I zoned out during and just listen to what I really needed. So I'm pretty shocked that I'm getting into this whole podcast thing.

Anyway, tonight I listened to the first podcast from the theological conversation with Volf and was just blown away. I mean, sure there was quite a bit of introductory material, but there were a couple of things that Volf really put well. Suddenly instead of just doing the powerpoint I was going back and forth and taking some notes from the lecture while trying to find adequate pictures for this weekend.

I think the most poignant thing that Volf stated had to do with what Tony Jones refers to as his practical theology. Volf sees his work going beyond systematic theology or historical theology, "to start thinking about theology as theology for a way of life so that theology is not simply the way that I make sense of a theory of scriptural claims." I see this as theological application. If we only sit and argue the points made and how the points are made, we get nowhere. But as Volf goes on, both thinking and acting make for an integrated way of life.

I see this going on in my life daily. As I've made the transition out of the academic aspects of theology and religion, I found myself further away from that which drew me in than I expected. God has placed people in my life here in Albuquerque that constantly remind me that my role is not just thinking, or not just acting, but a combination of the two that firmly aligns me with God's will in my life.

I see this blog in many ways as my sounding board for myself in discovering where this path is taking me, that is why, no matter what I will always see it as pairing social justice with a search for a more progressive theology. Even when I just reflect on the week, or mention something funny, the journey is one that is constantly teaching me new ways to reflect on life, reflect on God, and reflect on where my path lies. I'm thankful for those that encourage me on my journey, as they pick me up when I stumble.

Afterall, as Volf made in one of his final points of the first podcast, "there is nothing outside of the scope of God."

This entry was posted on Monday, April 10, 2006 at 11:06 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.