One of my great fears about seminary was that I would not be able to comprehend the reading material. I have good grammar skills but a very small vocabulary. When I worked for a company that manufactured computer products for people with disabilities and the supervisor said that we needed to write help files as though sixth graders were going to be reading them, it made perfect sense to me. People could have perfectly good minds but not be good at using big words. I approached theology with the same attitude. It should be written with the idea that people were smart but did not have large theological vocabularies. Things either needed to be explained in a respectful manner, or the word should not be used at all.
My textbook authors were not so gracious. Even when the words were understandable, I sometimes felt as if I had started a movie in the middle of the story. I checked more books out of the library in order to fill in the holes in my knowledge base. Of course, that meant that I spent more time scanning and reading. I'm afraid I earned a reputation for being a nerd--and I still didn't feel like I really understood the scope of theology or church history.
In time, I began to put more and more pieces together. Of course, who can really condense thousands of years of history into one or two textbooks? There is a reason why people can get entire doctorate-level degrees in this field alone!
That is so true.
ReplyDeleteA word can have a lot of history and context behind it.
For instance, I might want to talk about the end of the world, but know nothing of eschatology.
Or I might want to talk about how the sermon had an effect on me and a verse I liked (that spoke to me), but not know what exegesis is.
And there might have been a split in the church.
The condensors who try have a great talent.
Another one which confused me was apologetics.
When theology combines with another field, like psychology or philosophy.