What is Theology?—part 3—Dr. Fry

What is Theology?—part 3—Dr. Fry

Dr. David Fry holds a PhD in Systematic Theology and is the lead pastor of the Bible Holiness Church in Frankfort Indiana.  Portions of  one of his writings have been used here with his permission.

            What counts as theological reading and what counts as reading theology?  A theology book is a book whose express purpose is to shape our thinking about God in doctrine and/or in practice. The richest theology books include both doctrine and practice. The most difficult ones deal only with the doctrine; and the shallowest only with practice. Our job as pastor-theologians is to connect the dots between doctrine and practice (theology is both).

            Pastors ought to read theologically as well as read theology. What’s the difference? Theological reading is more about how we read than what we read. For instance, I am currently reading (more like struggling through) a novel by Rick Riordan written for teenagers. Riordan’s novels put ancient mythology into a modern setting. I don’t particularly enjoy the book, but I’m reading it theologically because several teenagers in my church have read it under the guise of pure amusement. I’ve only read one chapter so far and I can affirm that there is plenty of material to provoke theological thinking. Riordan is not claiming to have written a theology book. But, I would argue, if one does not read his writing theologically then one may be unwittingly shaped theologically. On the other hand, if I wanted to read a theology book I would choose something expressly written for that purpose. This is the difference between reading a theology book and reading theologically—we must do both.

            So what counts as reading theology? There is no neat line that can be drawn. Does Riordan’s mythological novel count as theology? Broadly speaking, yes, if we define a theology book as anything book whose content involves God (or the gods, in Riordan’s case). But as pastors that’s rarely our concern. More narrowly, I define (for the time being) a theology book as a book whose express purpose is to shape our thinking about God in doctrine and/or in practice.

Thought for the Day—G. Wolf 

            Musicians who are reading these posts are probably convinced, at this point, that I have lost my mind. Dr. Fry wrote the original article for pastors and not musicians.  However, I suggest that you do not hold your breath until someone writes this quality of article for Christian musicians.   He was writing about reading theologically as well as reading theology. So, if you will follow my thinking I will attempt to apply some of his thoughts to practicing Christian musicians. 

            Perhaps one should first try to convince musicians that 1) reading is important, 2) that reading theology is important before trying to convince busy ministering musicians to read theologically.  I was struck by the fact that a busy pastor was reading a book theologically because he feared teenagers in his church who had read it had been influenced by Riordan’s novel.  Think about it, how often do you and I read something that the young musicians in our Christian school or our church are reading?  Not only are we ignorant of the things that they are reading about music, we are also willingly ignorant of how these musical writings are shaping their thinking.  How are these writings shaping their musical paradigms?  I confess that I do not often read theologically.