Comments on: Introducing Blue Collar Theology

By: Blue Collar Theology 1: Prolegomenon to Theological Prolegomena « Provocations & Pantings

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 02:33:16 +0000

[...] Collar Theology 1: Prolegomenon to Theological Prolegomena A week ago I shared with you the start of a new series called “Blue Collar Theology” (to see the rationale and goals [...]

By: ThirstyDavid

ThirstyDavid — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:08:32 +0000

Sounds great! My expectations for this series are high. Don’t disappoint me!

Seriously, though, you’re absolutely right. This is exceedingly important.

By: Timmy Brister

Timmy Brister — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:52:29 +0000

Jeff,

Great to hear from you man! Hope you are doing well my friend. It has been my experience of never having been brought up around a theologically-minded church. I hope to write on this more in the days to come. In fact, I did not read my first book until I was 19 years old. I had very little if any doctrinal understanding; rather, the most theological thing I had before that was going through a series on eschatology in a Dawson McAlister workbook–and that only because I was fascinated with Y2K.

Connie and KK,

Your interest and investment in theological pursuit (i.e. knowing God better) is incredibly encouraging. Thank you for sharing and tuning in. I would love to hear more from you in the days to come!

Mark,

Yeah, it has been a long time coming! A lot of it had to do with this summer being way busier than I had ever planned. But alas, I am happy to finally get this deal going. I am really excited about it. It’s really cool that someone remembers me mentioning that (and kind of scary too!).

By: Timmy Brister

Timmy Brister — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:44:04 +0000

Whoa! Thanks for all the great feedback. I hope to not disappoint(!).

Joseph,

It was nice being able to catch up with you on the tram last night. As I stated and attempted to nuance in my post, I do not believe that higher education should be done away with; rather, I don’t want it to become a surrogate or substitute for theological education in the local church. Ideally, it should be a both/and not an either/or scenario. In our desire to provide theological training for the “low brow” culture, we should not abandon academia and pursue rigorous Christian scholarship (although that should also be done in the local church as well).

Perhaps my post reflecting on Dr. Mohler’s seminary report would be applicable here. Here’s the link:
http://timmybrister.com/2007/05/02/boyces-vision-mohlers-report-and-my-reflection-on-reform/

Last year at T4G, Dr. Mohler made the appeal to put him out of business. While that is not necessarily my ambition, his point has been well-received and taken seriously.

By: GRBC Recommended Reading « The Littlefields

GRBC Recommended Reading « The Littlefields — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:47:00 +0000

[...] GRBC Recommended Reading As you all know I have recently decided to post online learning opportunities sporadiacally to encourage continued learning. You can check them out on the tab at the top of the page named “Online Learning.” In that page you will find links to previous talked about resources. I hope in the future, upon the recommendation of my wife, to link back to the original posts also. Before I start my rant on this new learning resource I want to point out Timmy Brister’s Blog named Provocations and Paintings. He is going to start a new series on Blue Collar Theology and I recommend that you keep up with it. You can read the first blog here. [...]

By: Mark Prince

Mark Prince — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:49:46 +0000

Timmy (aka dude),
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this series since you teased about it in the spring sometime. I pray God’s blessing and divine guidance upon you as you develop this series.

By: KK

KK — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:07:22 +0000

connie I so agree with you about women and their view of theology. I am a lover of theology – to study about God is the most wonderful thing we as children of God can do. I love digging deep and seeing God reveal himself to me. The past 10 years have be sweet with my heart being shown the truths of reformed theology found throughout scripture. As a ministers wife, with no children, I have found this to be my hearts cry – to have the women in our church to see the importants of knowing God in all of his glory. I am hoping to attend the Together for the Gospel conference in the spring with my husband. I know that it is mostly a pastorial conference but as the wife of a pastor who also wants to be equipped to handle the issues of the truth with the women in our church I find conferences such as this most helpful plus I love hearing godly men preach, and preach, and preach. Many of my favorites are going to be there. Just want to encourage you to press on with the place the Lord has planted you. Timmy I look forward to your series too.

By: connie

connie — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:14:20 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more! As a matter of fact, last fall I began blogging about theology–primarily for women–because there are so few Christian women who are able or willing to discuss their theology. I first noticed it while my husband was in seminary, many seminary wives were unable/uninterested to discuss theology with others, much less with their own husbands. Now I see it among Christian home school moms who are unable/unwilling to apply sound theology to their own life and family.

Sadly, many women don’t even realize that they HAVE a theology–good, bad, or otherwise–much less how it impacts their thinking and actions. I’m looking forward to your series on this. Blessings!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:13:49 +0000

Timmy:
I am jacked about this upcoming series you are contemplating! This issue is what motivated me to leave my practice and come to seminary. I found in my own life and in those around me an absolute lack of anything that remotely resembled an understanding of God much below the Prayer of Jabez level, I am ashamed to say. This issue is what I find I am most passionate about, helping the church get to know Her Lord even deeper! Thanks for putting “pen to paper”, so to speak, on this matter!

By: Joseph Gould

Joseph Gould — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:48:59 +0000

Timmy,
To a very large degree I agree with your conviction that the ideal place for theological education is the local church. However, I wonder if there are some particular theological and biblical subjects most suitable for a seminary or another institution of higher education. The most obvious example I can think of are the biblical languages. Is the local church the ideal place to study Greek and Hebrew? And in addition, what about a man like Dr. Gentry as SBTS, who is crazily awesome and efficient when it comes to learning ancient languages?

I am interested in your thoughts on this, although I realize this may be slightly off the main focus of your post.