#studying theology

[angeltreasure]

Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Blessed are they who mourn, they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart, they will see God.

Blessed are the peacekeepers, they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

[flagellant]

yeah we might be brothers in christ but so were cain and abel so shut the fuck up before i decide to find a rock about it

[ominouspositivity-or-else]

*The Eucharist is the body of Christ under the appearances of bread and wine.

**God is bound to these sacraments, meaning he always gives grace through them when they are done, but he is not bound by these sacraments, meaning that God can do literally whatever he wants and can of course go around them and provide grace in other ways.

***7 sacraments, listed: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

Feel free to add nuance in the tags or talk about why you find the teachings strange! Let me know if there's anything utterly baffling that I didn't include!!!

Also please remember to be respectful!!! Not everyone knows theology like you might!!!

[godslove]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞

[eddis-not-eeddis]

In my early twenties I know more theology than most men in the churches I've attended who are twice my age. This isn't a boast, I am no scholar. I say this in abject horror and despair.

[nikoisme]

So our professor was talking about guardian angels and stuff during religious class and the way he described it sounded fun. Like,, i have this buddy that tags along with me until death. Makes a disappointed face every time i mess up. Swats at the devil to keep him away from me. Probably keeps me from tripping on a rock and dying. My wingman perhaps. And we travel through heaven and hell for 40 days after my death before i go in front of god or something. Will they hold my hand. Like,, will they coach me and hype me up before the judgement like "you got this" and give me a thumbs up. "God here's the human i've been assigned to watch over" and presenting me all like "don't mess this up".

I don't think my priest would be at all happy with this interpretation LOL

[psalmlover]

by r_varashe on pinterest

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

I feel like it's important to be clear that evil is systemic. I mean back when I was being dragged down the conservative pipeline I might have denied that but like. Moses, Jesus, Peter, Paul, John: they all teach that oppressive nations are being energized by unseen spiritual evils. Evil is absolutely built into structures we have made as humans. But the clarification is really important: humans put them there. Which is what should separate Christians from secular leftist: yes there is systematic evil but no destroying the systems won't get rid of them. The problem is in the human heart which is corrupted and sick, in need of not just medicine but the Great Physician: Jesus the Anointed One.

[tracinggodsstory]

Jesus Knew Disciples Would Be Hated By The World

Jesus knew carrying His mission forward in the world would not be easy. He was hated by the world. He knew that the disciples would be hated by the world. 

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:18-19)

He knew that the world would hate them partially because they would be associated with the one the world hated (Jesus). But he also knew they would be hated because as they grew in love, obedience, and fruitfulness, they would have the same effect on the world as him.

But Jesus says be bold - be courageous - for the Spirit will be with you, “He (the Spirit) will testify about me. And you must also testify.." (John 15:26-27)

Take comfort in knowing that the type of people Jesus has called us to be, the type of people He showed us how to be, the type of people that change the world, the type of people that help push His Kingdom forward, are the ones that the world hates. Jesus isn’t calling us to be liked by the world. He is calling us to love Him at all costs. To follow Him at all cost. To continue His mission at all costs.

[thepatristictradition]

Suffering is not What You Think

(The Penitent Magdalene)

So often you hear, when people leave their churches, their gripes surround suffering. Why would God allow suffering? Why would God allow babies to be murdered and die of cancer? Why would He allow war and cannibalism and pedophilia? Why did God allow me to see my mother die? Why did he allow this or that?

What I cannot help but notice is that the people saying this are never talking about their own suffering.

"Why does God allow war?" said a cowardly young man who has never seen bloodshed. "Why does God allow cancer?" said a woman who is perfectly healthy. "Why does God allow abuse?" said a man who had the privilege of watching the sex abuse crisis of the RCC play out on the TV screen and not in the sacristy. "Why did God allow my mother do die?" said a daughter who is still alive.

We may mourn, and we ought to mourn, the sorrows and the fallenness of this world, but witnessing suffering is not the same as suffering.

(Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone)

This was never more clear to me than when I spent a summer arguing with my anti-natalist, atheist sister. She would spend hours berating my poor mother and father for the heinous crime of having children. During one of these spats, my sister turned to me and said, "How can you support natalism?" which she said like a slur, "your grandmother abused you from the moment you were born."

Now, this is true. Truer than she knew, or, if I have it my way, will ever know. My grandmother (who was my and my sister's primary caregiver) always despised me because I was born with a deformity. Her hatred only intensified when my sister was born. My sister was, in her eyes, perfect. As a child, my sister would ask for me to be abused in front of her, for her amusement, by my grandmother.

My sister witnessed plenty of my suffering, but she experienced not an iota of it. And yet, she used my suffering as a way to say that all of human life is suffering. She used it to discredit the worth of all human life.

(Ophelia)

I find this is always the case. When I was an atheist, I was confused by people who brought up the "problem of suffering". I never viewed my suffering as something that made my life worse. Even as an atheist and a child, I saw clearly how the suffering I experienced and was experiencing was driving me toward a larger purpose. This pattern of thought followed me into the sexual abuse I experienced in middle school and into my conversion.

My atheist associates, whose suffering I know well, likewise never cite their suffering as a reason for their disbelief. When you really get down to it, "God is a big meanie" is not a reason to reject His existence, say these associates of mine.

It is only being a witness to suffering-- usually an impotent witness-- that causes this specific kind of apostasy. Even if my sister had stopped encouraging it, I still would have been abused. Her behavior would have made little difference. It is the same for the sufferings I listed earlier. Regardless of what we tell ourselves, no boycotting, no Instagram post, and not even tax evasion or immolation will stop the Genocide Israel is purporting against the Palestinians. We, far removed, poor, and powerless foreigners, are impotent. We can do nothing to help someone with a terminal illness not die-- it's terminal. We can do nothing to help the kidnapped children we see on the news, taken from their homes halfway across the country. We cannot bilocate, live forever, or have infinite money.

When these people say, "Why does God allow suffering?" they are actually asking, "Why does God allow my impotence?" The implication is that, of course, they would solve these sufferings if only they were not impotent. Is this the case? I don't know; who am I to judge the heart of another man?

Whatever the case, it is clear to me that witnessing suffering is of some different metaphysical nature than the actual experience of suffering. I've written a little about this privately, so I will get around to expanding upon it in further posts.

[angeltreasure]

Corporal Works of Mercy

Feed the hungry.

Give drink to the thirsty.

Shelter the homeless.

Clothe the naked.

Care for the sick.

Help the imprisoned.

Bury the dead.

[lovewardeath]

Personally, I see God as a different entity compared to me saying The Gods. Confusing? Let me explain.

When I speak of The Gods, I am talking about The Gods I worship, which are the Hellenic ones…Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite, etc. They are the deities of something, love, war, etc.

But when I say God, I mean the Universe. To me, God is someone who created more Gods, (to help the workload lol), and or to make sure each person had a God that resonated with them. I get this belief from Hinduism.

But I still believe this, I believe God has different manifestations in order for each believer to relate too, to feel connected too. Some people see this as Soft Polytheism.

But I don’t. I don’t think each pantheon is the same, I don’t believe Aphrodite from Greek is the same as Freyja from Norse mythology. They are their own individuals.

I see it as God created pantheons for some groups of people who didn’t feel connected to the Norse deities, for example, so he created the Hellenic ones, etc etc.

This is just my belief! I have no intention to disrespect anyone!

I don’t know, it may seem bizzare. I guess you could say I created my own system of belief, but it’s omnism at like a strange way lol.

[entanglingbriars]

My friend @apenitentialprayer (who you should be following if you're interested in Catholicism) asked me to expand on my belief that Genesis 3 is an etiological myth for puberty. The following understanding is emphatically not my own, but it comes from my rabbi and I'm not sure whether he published it so I don't have a citation.

Anyway, the basic argument is that we should read the phrase "knowledge of good and bad" (הדעת טוב ורע) ha-da'at tov v'ra (Genesis 2:17) in parallel with "[he] learns to reject the bad and choose good" (לדעתו מאוס ברע ובחור בטוב) l'dato ma'os bara u'vahol batov (Isaiah 7:15). In Isaiah, learning the difference between good and bad (more literally knowing the difference; da'at in Gen 2:17 has the same root as dato in Is 7:15 (dato is a conjugation of yada)) is a metaphor for maturing. If we read the phrase "knowledge of good and bad" in Genesis 2 in the same way, then we can reasonably infer that the consequence of eating the fruit of the Tree is maturation as such rather than the acquisition of forbidden knowledge.

So, what happens when we do that? Human beings in the Garden of Eden have two things in common with God: immortality and the image in which they are made. When they eat from the Tree they gain "knowledge of good and bad" which we've inferred means aging and (specifically) going through puberty. After puberty humans acquire a third divine characteristic: the ability to create life.

The curses that follow for the man and woman then describe the inevitable consequences that they will face by going from childhood and adulthood. The woman will carry babies and have pain in giving birth. She will desire (תשוקה) t'shukah (the verb is used for non-sexual desire in Gen 4:7 and for sexual desire in Song 7:11) her husband. The man will have to labor to bring for the food previously provided by his Parent (i.e. God). And of course both will die (which does happen to children, but is not an inevitable part of childhood the way it is for adulthood).

(Note that the interpretation that the Serpent is Satan comes from later Christian eisegesis is not actually a part of the myth as presented in Genesis 3.)

[godslove]

[a-queer-seminarian]

Hello, sibling. Do you have resources for intersex Christians? Anything counts, trust. I'm an intersex Catholic and feel very alone in my community. I know God loves me and made me perfectly, but I would love to see fellow intersex Christians talking about our bodies, identities and faith. God bless you

Hey there. My heart goes out to you in your loneliness; you are beloved by God, and you are perfect as you are, even if human beings deny and erase you.

I am also sorry that the broader queer community also too often fails to remember intersex folk and include y'all in our efforts towards justice. You deserve solidarity, deserve to have your pain and your joys listened to as much as any of us.

And, I am happy to tell you that yes, I've got some intersex faith resources for you!

Let's start with intersex Christians talking about their experiences, and then we'll get to some intersex-resonant scripture.

...below the readmore.

Intersex Christians sharing their stories

Stories of Intersex and Faith — a documentary! I have not watched it yet because it costs $20 for an individual to rent it, but if you are interested but the cost is prohibitive, please let me know and I'm happy to rent it for you! .

"I'm an Intersex Christian — and It's Time the Church Listened to Me" (article, major trigger warning for discussion of medical abuse & trauma on a young child; to avoid it, you can skip to paragraph beginning: "The heart of the issue is that church still sees me as problematic...", after which are discussions of trouble with church but also suggestions for improvement) .

Interview with Sara Gillingham, author of the previous article (video, 51 minutes) .

And here's a Facebook video: "What do you wish more Christians knew about intersex people" (video, 2 minutes) .

Another FB video by the same person on how churches can be more supportive of intersex people (video, 3 minutes)

An intersex Catholic Saint?

If you haven't heard of Madre Juana de la Cruz, who would point to her pronounced adam's apple as proof that she had been "male in the womb," check her out!

Now let's check out some intersex-resonant Bible stories, plus intersex theology

For a concise, accessible look at intersex readings of various biblical figures, check out my webpage here... . as well as my webpage here for interpretations of Jesus himself as intersex (and trans)! (The intersex part is fairly brief, but includes links some scholarly essays if you want to learn more about intersex Jesus) . Please note that the focus of my site is trans theology (because that's my focus most of the time), but where a passage is also applicable to intersex folk I make sure to bring them in too, with links to further reading. For instance, did you know Abraham and Sarah were considered intersex by some rabbis in the Talmud?? .

"Male, Female, and Intersex in the image of God" with Lianne Simon and Megan DeFranza (video, 1.5 hours) — great intro to some intersex theology if reading isn't your thing

Intersex in Christ: Ambiguous Biology and the Gospel by Jennifer Anne Cox (book) .

"Intersexuality in Scripture” by Sally Gross (essay free online) . Note that this essay is from 1998 and the language used reflects that, but Gross is one of the foundational intersex theologians. . Also if you want to skip over all her intro paragraphs defining intersex, skip to the paragraph starting "As a brute physical phenomenon, the bodiliness of people who are born intersexed challenges cherished assumptions...")

Sex Difference in Christian Theology by Megan DeFranza (book)

_______

I hope some of those resources can help you feel a little less alone. There are other intersex Christians, including many who lead, write, preach!

I'll close with a regret: I was trying to find any kind of virtual community for intersex Christians, or even just intersex people in general. I wasn't able to find such a place.

If anyone knows of some online intersex support groups or communities, please share! Or if you have other intersex Christian resources you wanna add, share those as well.

I can suggest that you check out this webpage of intersex advocacy groups across the world. If there happens to be one by you and you get involved, I wouldn't be surprised if you met some other intersex Christians there.

Wishing you well, sibling. When you feel alone, may the intersex Christ enfold you in love. When you feel like "the only one," may the stories of faithful intersex people past and present bring you encouragement.

[eesirachs]

i know that this is a wide scope question but what philosophy books/authors do you think are necessary for a theological self study with a liberation slant?

if i were composing an undergraduate intro class to liberation theology i would include gutierrez, romero, cone, gaudium et spes, ateek, dolores williams, wariboko, khumalo’s chapter in life under the baobab tree, althaus-reid, saidiya hartman, grace cho, and hortense spillers. this covers liberation theology done from the following frameworks: black theology, womanism, latin american theology, palestinian theology, african theology, korean feminist theology, and generally, post-colonialism