Theology Survey (6): Common Ground

Question: Should Christian theology be about the basics – that which is common ground across denominations or religions?

#1: Theology should only be about the Holy Trinity, i.e. God as the Father, God as the Son, and God as the Holy Spirit and the Bible should be the only authority. I always ask myself “What does Jesus have to say about that?” when a theological or doctrinal issue comes up, but I never really look for the answer.
I want a first-century theology, one pure and new that emphasizes loving your neighbor as yourself. I’m kind of tired of today’s Christianity, which I feel like it’s teaching us to become bookworms and play it safe. I’m also tired of the “I’m right, you’re wrong” mentality – i.e. Brother Jed and Sister Cindy. Technically, we are right but we aren’t reflecting God’s image and helping the cause by judging openly condemning someone to Hell.

#2: Hmmm. Excellent question. Kind of, at least among Christians. But those basics ought to lead to more complex, deep, and rich theological understanding. But these basics will always have offshoots and explanations at which point there will be disagreement. As it relates to other religions: certainly not. Christian theology should be exactly that: the unique ways that Christian texts and experiences get understood and worked out. Where there is common ground with other religious perspectives (religions), this should not be understood as common ground theology so much as overlaps of understanding. But there will be marked distinctives that will give credence to the different naming of theological constructs.

#3: I don't think you can limit theology. We will always be seeking to understand and discover the God who created, and how can we do that without talking about him? The question is not how far we let theology go, but the power that said theology has over us. This again stems from the desire Jesus had for us to be unified. Let us dream about theology, let us debate theology, but let us not be torn a part by senseless theological arguments. Which begs the question what is essential? What are the basics that we must agree on? Jesus. That is no simple feat. Who was he? Why did he come? You ask if we should keep it to common ground. He is the only thing that so many hold dear. Jesus is the unifier. We all understand him in different ways, yet we all captured by his beauty, his majesty, his power. Theology has a purpose, but it will not serve to unify the entirety of the body. I don't think it should be limited to the basics, if there were such a list, but it should find it's place in community discovery.

#4: Again, I guess I feel like it comes down to salvation. If it is an issue that affects that then it is an issue to take a stand on. If it is a minor detail that doesn’t affect much, I don’t think it is worth arguing about. I guess it depends on what you call basics.

#5: The real question I see here is: what’s more important, the political (or denominational) unity of the body of Christ, or theological unity. Which is to say, is it okay to have a diversity of theologies in one church, or should they break away. I believe the ideal should be unity of the church, with one caveat. We must understand there IS one truth, and we ought to always desire it and ask that God open our hearts to it.

#6: I don’t think so, I think need to dive into things deeper. We need to get past the surface of what the bible is saying and you cannot really do that without digging deep and going past the basics

#7: I don’t think that theology should be limited to “the basics”, but I do believe that there will always be certain aspects of God that will remain a mystery until Christ returns; therefore, I think that is often hurts more than helps to “argue” over different views of theology. That being said, we are called to grow in wisdom and understanding and continually add to our learning. In addition, those who are given the gift of teaching should seek to guide and direct the children of God by the leading/teaching of the Holy Spirit; and I believe that the Spirit has a lot more to teach than “the basics”.

#8: No. Denying that there are different ideas about how some beliefs should play out in a modern context isn’t helping anyone. The God of the Bible is one who asks us to look for him and find him, who delights for all to search him out, pick his brain, and know what’s at the core of his heart.

#9: No, I think that would only cause Christianity to become “soft” so to say. We would no longer make each other stronger in the faith because there would be nothing to discuss and challenge our thinking with.

#10: Absolutely not! Theology is the study of GOD. GOD is not bound by the constraints of denominations, HIS character and nature are not different toward different groups of people (as a dispensationalist would argue). Paul makes this point very clear in both 1 Cor. 3 and Heb. 5 (Paul’s authorship is debatable). Both times the author make a clear and distinct difference between simple doctrine and complex doctrine, comparing them to milk and solid food. The Author of Hebrews offers a harsh rebuke to those who are still drinking milk… “12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
Anyone living on milk is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness, Solid food if for the mature! WE must diligently query the scriptures, and be must habitually teach sound doctrine! If we do not, righteousness is unattainable!

#11: This is a hard question in that it is hard to imagine a middle ground across all denominations. Even similar Protestant traditions treat the salvation process differently.

#12: No, there are issues which God cares about that aren’t “basics only.” The reason there are divisions across denominations is because people care deeply about certain things—which isn’t a bad thing. We are given a mind to think and talk about certain things that are important to us, and I think the fact that we are given the Bible to read automatically brings up certain issues of theology that cannot be ignored. As rational creatures, we desire to reason things out and to talk about them, because I think that somewhere inside of us we know that something has to be the right answer.

#13: No, I think theology includes any and everything that involves God or any other gods.

#14: I don’t think the study of God should be that limited. Not sure that you can have spiritual growth and/or foster/encourage growth in others if you stick to just the basics. Seems like a shallow spiritual basis.

#15: This is a bit of a trick question; what do you mean by “Christian theology”? Of which Christian’s theology are we speaking?
Simultaneously, it does seem that one can create a lowest common denominator definition of what it is to be Christian. If you are asking if theology should stop there, I don’t know. Part of me says yes, there are so many questions left to answer before one can know how to live, like God’s knowledge of the future and election, and whether God can ask you to do something immoral. But part of me says no, because if we cannot come to an agreement on said subjects, then how great the danger to live life believing God’s nature to be one way while, and all the while being wrong?
Though this tension exists, I do not see the advantage in simply refusing to ask these controversial questions of theology. So my final answer to your original question is no. I do, however, think that beyond a “basic” education in Christian theology, there should be an emphasis on an education of the heart, some sort of discipleship. Then I think that there will be some who are given to study theology, others who are to serve other who…according to the gifts that have been given to them. And it is not the place of the theologian to be the one who knows more about God, but rather to be the one who is more experienced in observing how people have experienced him historically and talking about how people are experiencing him now, and in clarifying the views of those around him.