Elisheva’s Biblical Perspectives: Part 2 –– God’s Luminaries

Meet God’s Luminaries

In today’s programme we continue to look at an introduction to Christian theology. Christian community is vital to our understanding of Theology. Also developing our relationship with God through prayer is important.

Two of the theologians that I introduce in the first chapter of my book Getting to Know God: An Introduction to Christian Theology are St Augustine of Hippo (354 C.E.- 430 C.E.) and Simone Weil (1909-1943).They came from different parts of the world and lived in very different eras. Augustine was from North Africa and became the most celebrated theologian of the Western world. He is still important for today and we can learn much from the books that he wrote. In the programme I read an excerpt about Augustine from my book Growing to Love God: An Introduction to Christian Spirituality. This book is available through Amazon. Simone Weil was born in 1909 in France and fled to England. She was from a secular Jewish background and came to faith in Jesus. Listen to more about these two theologians in the programme.

I address the challenge of finding out about Jesus. Since he is part of the triune Godhead I also look at God the Father and the Holy Spirit later on in the book.

In the programme I explain the meaning of the word theology. This leads on to questions of life such as “Why am I here?” and “Who is God?” “Who is Jesus?” and “What is the purpose of being on the earth?”

Theology also has resources to address the problems of today’s world. While the Bible may not have anything to say directly about some of the problems we face it can certainly help us decide how we can approach them in a Godly and just way.

Many of the questions are unique to each person. God has a plan and purpose for this earth and for each one of us. How do we discover answers to these questions? The Bible helps us to understand our relationship with Jesus and enables us to grow daily and guides us through life.

It is important in the study of theology to grapple with the big questions. As we look at Jesus we ask “Why did he come into the world?” A branch of theology is Christology which comes from the word Christ or Messiah and deals with the issues of the person and work of Jesus. At the end of Chapter One there are some study questions. One of these is “How can the study of theology help us to reflect on the questions of life?”