{"id":117,"date":"2019-03-25T18:14:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T01:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/?p=117"},"modified":"2019-04-23T17:32:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T00:32:56","slug":"why-study-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/2019\/03\/25\/why-study-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Study Theology?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why study theology? A quick search on the world\u2019s #1 job site (Indeed.com) yields a total of roughly 1 job vacant in the field of theology. That\u2019s not a promising employment outlook. So why study theology if there are no jobs for theologians? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who have studied theology would offer a number of\nresponses to this question. Perhaps the quickest response would be that the\nfolks who value theology\u2014such as Christians in local churches\u2014don\u2019t use job\nsites like Indeed to find their leaders. But even more important, the study of\ntheology is not undertaken merely to \u201cget a job.\u201d Theology is not about a\nparticular career path. <em>Theology is about\neverything<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If life is like a game of chess, then theological study is\nthe Queen of the board. The Queen models two essential features in chess which\nhighlight the significance of theological study for life. First, the Queen\nprotects the value of the King. So long as the King is safe, the game plays on.\nSo it is with real life. In theology, God explains and defines the whole game.\nSo long as his truth is preserved (kept safe), the game continues in an orderly\nway. The movements of those in the game makes sense. Everyone will know which\nmoves to make and which moves to avoid. In chess, the Queen fights\nstrategically to uphold the honor and value of the King so the game continues.\nIn life, theology does the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, the Queen is actually the most navigable piece on\nthe chess board. Indeed, the Queen is able to perform the moves of every piece\non the board except for the Knight. Like the Queen, theological study is about\nthe productive performance of the one who studies it because (again like the\nQueen) theology covers every aspect of life. The theologian should be able to\nmove in and out of all aspects of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Theology answers questions like, who are we? Why are we\nhere? What should we do with our time on the earth? What ought we to value the\nmost? What happens when we die? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As it turns out, understanding God explains who we are;\nunderstanding God explains what is going on in the world. Theology is about\nknowing who created us and who is redeeming us and who is directing time to its\nappointed end. It\u2019s about understanding <em>everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No wonder theology in times past was known as the Queen of\nthe sciences! Studying theology turns out to be the best way to know ourselves\nand the world we inhabit. One famous theologian sums the matter &nbsp;up this way, \u201c\u201cNearly all wisdom we possess,\nthat is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of\nGod and of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the world and its people are important, then the study of God is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/03\/Cochran_Greg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/03\/Cochran_Greg.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/03\/Cochran_Greg-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><figcaption>Dr. Greg Cochran<br><em>Director of Applied Theology, Professor<\/em><br><br><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why study theology? A quick search on the world\u2019s #1 job site (Indeed.com) yields a total of roughly 1 job vacant in the field of theology. That\u2019s not a promising employment outlook. So why study theology if there are no jobs for theologians? Those who have studied theology would offer a number of responses to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}