#theologynerd

[mystikalseeker]

This is a quite from Jason Brown's review of When God was a Bird by Mark I. Wallace. Jason writes at humansandnature.org, and you can find Mark's book everywhere you can buy books. #God #Theology #holyspirit #Animism #christiananimism #christianity #nature #bookstagram #books #booknerd #theologynerd #ecology #allcreaturesaresaints (at Ortega Hills) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLZ0QG8lbxG/?igshid=12ujer7ce1rnd

[themindfulstoicsurgtechpoet]

I wrote this after visiting Mammoth Cave and hearing about Stephen Bishop, the slave who explored the cave and led people through. I was going to an Eastern Orthodox Church at the time and was a theology nerd, so I envisioned Bishop like Christ in the triumphant descent into Hell (or Hades, Place of the dead usually depicted under ground such as in this Icon) between the time of his Crucifixion and his Resurrection to lead humanity out. Bishop explored the cave under candle light, which is also an important symbolic part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Bishop’s crossing of a deep cavern, called the Bottomless Pit, enabled more of the cave to be explored. It was an interesting part of the cave’s history and I wanted to pay my own respects to him with this poem. . . . . . #ericoverby #mammothcavenationalpark #mammothcave #stephenbishop #slave #blm #christ #easternorthodox #theology #kentucky #poetry #kentuckypoet #iconography #ikon #orthodoxchristian #orthodoxicon #theologynerd #cave #caveexploring #caveexploration #bowlinggreenky #blackhistory #blackhistorymatters #poetrylovers #orthodoxchurch #catholicchurch #catholic #christianity #historylovers #history (at Kentucky) https://www.instagram.com/p/CG03PvYpmVX/?igshid=oila9zu5u4g3

[agameforgoodchristians]

The Revised Uncommon Lectionary is available in print and eBook on #amazonbooks. Check out the #samples. #christianblogger #faith #biblestudy #Kindle #Comedy #Nonfiction #theology #christianity #god #bible #spirituality #apologetics #scripture #philosophy #bibleverse #theologynerd #religion #theology #revisedcommonlectionary #uncommonlectionary #goodchristians #commentary https://www.instagram.com/p/B6wlFw-jTZI/?igshid=1j3ldkepoixfk

[thescottsmithblog]

There is much, much more going on in the Gospel account of the Wedding at Cana than meets the eye. Why does it sound like Jesus is speaking disrespectfully to his mother? Why does Jesus refer to his mother as "woman"? Why does Jesus create wine from bath water? All this and more at www.thescottsmithblog.com #theologystudent #theologynerd #theologyontap #theologymatters #theology #christian #catholicchurch #catholic #catholicism #catholicyouth #catholicfaith #virginmary #blessed #blessedmom #blessedmother #blessed🙏 #jesuschrist #pope #popefrancis #christian #jesuschrist #wedding #weddinggift #weddingatcana #bible #bibleverse #biblestudy

[theonewithwaytoomanyfandoms]

Finished my Theology Senior Thesis today, making that my final paper written during my undergraduate career! #humanitiesmajor #theologynerd #senioryear🎓 (at Saint Louis University)

[seascapesandsalt]

Ordered this tarot deck while sick and on NyQuil. I studied the Cathars in college and am interested to see how this deck interprets their theology. #witchythings #tarot #cathars #albigensiancrusade #theologynerd #witchy

[brojtaylor]

The books 📚 collected & acquired from #SBC17 = #TheologyNerd #swag 🤓 #NerdLife (at Phoenix Convention Center)

[thetattedwretch-blog]

New blog post is up. thetattedwretch.wordpress.com #thetattedwretch #reformed #reformedtheology #bible #churchhistory #oldtestament #newtestament #theology #theologymatters #theologynerd #theologynut #theologystudent #christian #christianity #christianliving #biblicalworldview #apologetics #protestantism #protestant #gospel #scripture

[notebooks-and-laptops]

@designatedloveinterest yes! Theologynerd is me - my other handles were too long for Uquiz. And it is because when I am not crying over fictional characters and writing fics about them being super gay and in love, I'm a theology student! Which people think dont go together but like...they do man. I get to study all this stuff about humanity HOPING for more and the interconnectedness of us all and love and stuff and like...I'm a romantic so...it just fits. I'm particularly interested in feminist theology, liberation (marxist) theology and queer theology when put into comparison with classical theological principles and thinkers (such as Augustine, Calvin, Julian of Norwich - basically anyone who isnt Martin Luther his work bores the shit out of me). Idk if this answers your questions but hopefully it helps a little bit :-P

What Geraskier Specific Trope are you?

Yeah...I was procrastinating doing work again. Whoospie. But here is a quiz for y'all Geraskier shippers

[adjbx]

Tonight #nabpr and @theologynerd #nabpr18 https://ift.tt/2IFAsre

[backseatpope]

@theologynerd @trippfuller The Trumpattitudes

[agameforgoodchristians]

Need a #newyearresolution? Read a book! The Revised Uncommon Lectionary! #theology #christianity #god #bible #gospel #jesuschrist #truth #faith #christ #churchgames #salvation #spirituality #scripture #philosophy #grace #faithalone #bibleverse #theologynerd #religion #oldtestament #newtestament https://www.instagram.com/p/B6pA0-ZBd8r/?igshid=563a6hgiice8

[thescottsmithblog]

Was Thor based on Jesus? www.thescottsmithblog.com #thorragnarok #theology #thor #theologynerd #catholic #catholicism #bible #bibleverse #christian #christianlife #protoevangelium #typology #messiah #midgard #ragnarok #armageddon #thorshammer #crucifixion

[aaronk]

I won at social media and this is what I got. #theologybeercamp @threeweavers @theologynerd (at Hatchery Chapel)

[kbomar52]

When Your God Fails Part 2...

A couple of years ago before entering seminary and diving into the deep end of theological studies I thought differently about God, and myself and everything else in relation to God. Like I mentioned in the last post I have longed for an understanding of God that was not distant from me. Awareness has become a key aspect of my Christian identity. If God is never far from me, with me all day, the question becomes: "Am I aware of it?" But these waters, of the God who is near, go even deeper and into unknown places.

Soon after I had just started seminary, I was wrestling with who God was and what God was like (and still am). I found myself one day out to lunch with my pastor and his wife at a local thai restaurant. As we were just sitting down, they saw a friend they knew and asked him to join us. This man was Rabbi Rami Shapiro, the yamaka gave him away. It’s safe to say I was not ready for Rami. Rabbi Shapiro is an inter-faith guru who, as my former pastor’s wife likes to say, “sees religion and God as playful.” The lunch quickly turned into a theological conversation, but with Rami, it included language from the Jewish tradition as well as Catholic, Buddhist, Sufi, and I’m sure other references I still don’t quite recognize. Here was a Rabbi, who loved and respected Jesus as a rabbi himself, and talked of the Buddha like an old friend. I was not ready for this. I shut down and contemplated how my pastor and his wife were so gleeful in his presence. How could a Rabbi like Jesus? Didn’t that make him a Christian? My whole worldview of Christianity, God and other religions was up for grabs, and I found myself sweating, not just because of the curry!

But that was a few years ago. I have since then continued to swim in these unknown waters, and I like what I’m finding. If God is not far from me, it probably means God isn’t far from everyone else. Growing up I was given (or picked up) a version of God that was over and against everyone who wasn’t Christian. This God was wrathful and even opposed to those who hadn’t accepted Jesus. Even then this troubled me a little because I wasn’t always a “Christian”. Did God’s mind change about me when I accepted Jesus? I don’t think so. I believe now that God loves and is close to all people and all things. In fact, I want to push that language even further. If God is intimately connected to all humans and all of creation, it makes sense for different people over time in different parts of the world to express this same Spirit in different ways. This led me to want to learn about other faiths for the first time. I’d studied other religions in college and high school even, but I never went about those studies with an earnestness to genuinely learn. Instead I studied them in order to know what makes them wrong, and to understand why they are so different. I now want to learn from others on their own terms. I want my faith to be challenged and critiqued even by, especially by, those who see God, reality, and life differently than I do.

This thought process made me want to try lunch with Rabbi Rami again. I emailed him, we called back and forth and set up a time to talk on the phone to try this whole thing again. I intentionally chose a less spicy curry to eat while talking with him! Over the hour and half that we talked I apologized for writing him off initially and learned more about his own life journey. Toward the end of the time, Rabbi Rami encouraged and warned me. He told me that to be a Christian and want to really explore other faiths and learn from them is a wonderful idea, but to expect rejection. He said it’s really hard to be a Christian and be open to “the other” because so much of Christianity for so long has seen itself as the only way. This made sense to me because it reflected my upbringing. Not one of hate by any means, but simply a thought process that said we’re right, which logically makes everyone else wrong. There can only be one truth right?

At the close of our conversation, I asked about his own spiritual practice. "What does an interfaith Rabbi do anyway, I mean who do you pray to?" I inquired. He recommended his book “Minyan: Ten Principles For Living a Life of Integrity”, a guide to spiritual practice rooted in the Jewish tradition but open to learn from others. I devoured the book and was blown away. Last year I was also blessed to study Judaism with an actual Rabbi here in Memphis and it too, was a joy. The more I read Rabbi Rami’s book and the more I read and studied in class, the more I began to see Christianity as a beautiful tree with a root system twice as deep. Why have I neglected the roots for so long? After all, Jesus wasn’t even a Christian...He was a Jewish rabbi!

One of the key concepts from Minyan is that of a Jewish understanding of non-duality. For Rabbi Rami, God is different than what I was given growing up. “God is the source and the substance of all reality, and God is experientially knowable. I do not believe in God as an abstract idea, I experience God as a palpable reality.” Nondual Judaism holds that there is no real separation between God and creation. The famous Jewish Hasidic master the Baal Shem Tov says that the whole world is full of God’s glory (quoting psalm 72) and there is no place and no thing devoid of godliness.

The two words that Rabbi Rami uses to help explain this come from the Jewish tradition. Ayin (emptiness) and yesh (being). These are the two sides of the coin of reality and how we experience it.  If God is in all things, if all of creation is full of God’s presence, then all of creation is connected. All that is is relationally interdependent. There is then no separation. No separate thing. This is ayin: the no-thingness of reality. The idea that all things are a part of one greater whole. You, me, the cheeseburger you ate for lunch, we are all a part of one thing. This is also a deeply Buddhist and Christian understanding. The Buddhist call this interbeing, the oneness of all things. Christians also proclaim that all things are made by, for, and held together in Christ (Colossians 1). In Ephesians the mystery of Christ is revealed that there is no real separation between peoples, Christ is our peace. Jesus shows up to announce the way things are, have been, and will be: that all things are one. This is seen most beautifully in his ethical teachings. He says love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and love your neighbor as yourself. To love others as ourselves is at the heart of this teaching around ayin. It reminds us that we are all connected, that our choices matter and affect those around us, and gives us grace to work toward unity. Throughout the New Testament, the authors mention the reconciliation and restoration of all things. I have to think that means peace, shalom, and unity between people and creation because we are all one already.

The other side of ayin (emptiness/unity) is yesh, which means being. We live in a unified world, but we also have culpability and identity as separate beings. The two seem like opposites, but they coexist in paradox. A simple way to illustrate this is marriage. My wife and I, along with all of creation, are one. We are more intimately connected than we ever realize. In our covenant together we have chosen to be a sign of this unity. We have chosen to work together and become one (ayin) despite our differences (yesh). The two become one. This means diversity and unity can coexist, and the only way we have one is through the other. Again, think marriage. My wife and I rarely agree. When we do, we get giddy on a whole new level. We are different people, think differently, and at times even hold different values. This is often very difficult, but when we choose to understand the other, and serve and love each other, the unity we have through our diversity is amazing. It’s life-giving and sustaining even though we don’t always see things eye to eye. Ayin and yesh, unity and diversity. This is what God is like too.

All things are deeply connected, a part of the unity of God. We are waves on the ocean that is the divine. This way of thinking is hard, because our culture tends to favor the yesh side completely. We live in an individualistic, drive-through, “don’t make eye contact with the checkout guy” world. But to be aware that we are all one invites us to see others differently. It invites me to love and respect my wife differently. It challenges us to see those who rant on our facebook feeds as human beings loved and held by the same God that loves and holds us. It invites us to see other religions not as enemies, but unique and beautiful expressions of the same unity, that same spirit of life that holds all things together.

This isn’t just an idea, it’s a way of seeing others and treating them with grace. To seek to learn from those who are different than ourselves is hard. But it is the way of love. Love is unity and understanding through diversity and sharing.  Love is when, despite the apparent separateness, we see the hidden unity of all things. Now that’s a spicy curry!

[lovelifelike-crazy]

'ragua, thanks for satisfying my obsession with cathedrals. you will be hard to leave. #TheologyNerd #TheAdventuresOfTeachaCharlie #CarlyeTakesOnTheUniverse #LaVidaNicaragüense #WomenInTheology @dordttheology (at Parque Central, Leon, Nicaragua)