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Alister McGrath Theology Basics (2018) Overview — Transcript

by Alister McGrath on Exploring Christianity · 2,320 words · 357 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:02hello my name is Alistair McGrath and
0:04I'm a theologian at Oxford University
0:05and theology has been taught and studied
0:08here at Oxford since the 12th century
0:09and in fact it continues to be a vibrant
0:12field of study and research in this
0:13university to this day now people study
0:16theology for all kinds of reasons for a
0:19start is really interesting but it can
0:21also help you to explore your faith and
0:24to make connections with literature with
0:26the Arts and with Natural Sciences and
0:28if you're not a Christian I think you
0:30may still be interested in learning what
0:33Christians believe and what they do with
0:35those beliefs now this video is the
0:38first of a series of 11 short
0:40presentations designed to get you
0:42started with my textbook theology the
0:44basics and each of these presentations
0:47is about 15 minutes long and you can
0:49pause them at any point if you want to
0:51reflect on what I've been saying after
0:54this introductory presentation the next
0:5610 presentations will introduce you to
0:58each of the chapters of theology the
1:00basics and the eleventh and the final
1:03presentation includes some advice onward
1:05to go next after you finished working
1:07through this book so let me begin by
1:11telling you about why I wrote theology
1:13the basics in the first place and many
1:16of you will know about my textbook
1:17Christian theology and introduction
1:19which is now in its 6th edition and this
1:21is very widely used but it's a large
1:23book it's 500 pages long and while many
1:27of its readers appreciate the
1:28comprehensiveness in this book some
1:31found it too long and too detailed they
1:33wanted an overview of the field not a
1:36detailed analysis and the publisher and
1:39I realized we needed to develop a
1:41shorter and a more accessible book so
1:45the publisher and I both felt it was
1:46important to respond to these requests
1:49and we came up with the idea of theology
1:51the basics it's a sketch map of the
1:54landscape of Christian theology and this
1:57shorter book clearly met a real need and
2:00we developed it further in response to
2:02readers feedback and it's now in its
2:04fourth edition now theology the basics
2:07is pitched at a slightly lower level
2:09than Christian theology and introduction
2:11it doesn't really deal with questions of
2:13history
2:14or method in any detail although these
2:16are sketched in the books frontmatter
2:19it's ten chapters deals simply with the
2:22main themes of Christian theology and
2:25it's gained many readers because of its
2:27accessibility it's a third of the length
2:30of the more comprehensive textbook
2:32Christian theology an introduction which
2:34is much more details and extensive in
2:37its coverage in fact many readers have
2:39told me that theology the basics is
2:40actually a great introduction to this
2:42longer textbook and I'd be glad to know
2:44what you think now many of the readers
2:47of theology the basics wrote to me
2:49asking if I could provide some
2:51additional teaching resources to help
2:54them get more out of the book and maybe
2:56you're one of those people well I
2:58thought this was a great idea and so
3:01I've developed a series of eleven video
3:03presentations to introduce the book as a
3:05whole and each of these individual
3:08chapters and I've tried to make these
3:11presentations accessible and engaging
3:13laying out the groundwork that will help
3:15you get the most out of this widely used
3:18textbook you'll find it much easier to
3:22make sense of each chapter as a result
3:24of this and grasp its theological
3:26content and I can use the medium of
3:29video to do things I can't in the book
3:32itself above all to use images to help
3:34you explore theology I can show you
3:37pictures of theologians or images of
3:39where they lived or worked I can put
3:41names terms and texts on the screen so
3:44you can see them as I engage with them
3:46you can see me and hear me as if I was
3:49present with you as you read the book
3:51and it's a much more informal and
3:54satisfying way of studying Christian
3:56theology so let's begin with a question
4:00just what is theology the word theology
4:05has been used by Christians since the
4:073rd century to mean talking about God so
4:11we could use the more precise term
4:13Christian theology to mean talking about
4:16God in a Christian way and that's an
4:19important point after all the word God
4:21means different things to different
4:22religious traditions or schools of
4:25philosophy
4:27so Christians think about their faith
4:29and theology is the word we use for both
4:32this process of reflection but also its
4:35outcomes and although the term theology
4:39originally focused really on thinking
4:40about God it's gradually come to be used
4:43in the more general sense to mean
4:45thinking or talking about the core
4:48themes of the Christian faith so let's
4:50look at how some Christian theologians
4:53have tried to capture the essence of
4:55theology here's the view of Karl Rahner
5:00one of the 20th century's greatest
5:02theologians he writes this theology is
5:05the science of faith
5:07it's the conscious and methodical
5:09explanation of the divine revelation
5:13received and grasped in faith now that's
5:18a helpful definition although it focuses
5:19mostly on the idea of intellectual
5:22comprehension and I think theology is
5:24about more than simply rational
5:26understanding it's also about helping us
5:29to engage with the beauty of God's
5:32creation so according to Sarah Coakley a
5:34British theologian who's taught both at
5:36Harvard and Cambridge University's
5:38theology is what she calls an integrated
5:42presentation of Christian truth which
5:45attempts to provide a coherent and
5:47alluring vision of the Christian faith
5:50now this approach mingles an emphasis on
5:53the intellectual aspects of theology
5:55with our welcomed recognition of its
5:58imaginative capacity to build a
6:01compelling vision of reality now if you
6:04want to know what I think let me tell
6:06you I see theology as a reflective
6:08inhabitation
6:09of the Christian faith through which we
6:12become aware of Christianity's capacity
6:14to engage both the rationality and the
6:17beauty of our world as 11th century
6:21theologian Anselm of Canterbury once
6:23remarked theology is basically faith
6:26seeking understanding yet it does more
6:29than help us grasp the intellectual
6:32riches of the Christian faith
6:34it also sensitizes us to the capacity of
6:37God's creation to disclose something
6:41of the beauty of God we can think of
6:44theology primarily they're not
6:46exclusively as a discipleship of the
6:49mind a profoundly interesting and
6:51satisfying exploration of the
6:54intellectual riches of the Christian
6:56faith
6:56and their implications for the life and
6:58witness of the Christian Church it's
7:02about reflecting positively yet
7:04critically on the Christian faith a
7:06process which embraces and involves our
7:08reason our emotions imaginations and our
7:13actions so to study theology involves
7:17thinking through the fundamental ideas
7:19of Christianity it's about trying to
7:22figure out what is the best way of
7:23understanding some aspect of the
7:26Christian faith such as the basis and
7:28nature of salvation so what are these
7:31different approaches to theology come
7:33from how do we decide which is the best
7:35and what are their implications what
7:38difference do they make to the business
7:40of Christian living sometimes this means
7:43figuring out why the Christian churches
7:45committed themselves to ideas which at
7:48least on first sight seem complicated
7:52for example why to Christians believe
7:55that Jesus Christ is truly divine and
7:58truly human rather than the much simpler
8:00statement that Jesus Christ is truly
8:03human or to take another very familiar
8:06example why should anyone want to
8:08believe that God is a Trinity one God
8:10three persons when this seemed so much
8:13more complicated than simply believing
8:16in God doesn't this just make faith
8:19unnecessarily difficult well the answer
8:21is no reality is rather more complicated
8:25and human reason would like it to be
8:27something I came to appreciate from my
8:29own days as a scientist when I was
8:32specializing in quantum theory at Oxford
8:35so part of the inner dynamic of the life
8:39of faith is a desire to understand what
8:42is believed theology can be thought of
8:45as the Christians discipleship of the
8:47mind
8:48it's about wrestling with a rich
8:50Christian vision of reality and
8:52realizing it resists
8:54complete reduction to words and many
8:57theologians have found an analogy here
8:59in Jacobs wrestling with an angel a
9:02penny Oh which is an event described in
9:05the book of Genesis
9:06this event is depicted here by the
9:08French engraver Gustave doré a and you
9:11might enjoy looking at this image and
9:13reflecting on theological significance
9:15you see the key point is a Jacob had to
9:19retire wounded from this struggle he
9:23realized he cannot master or conquer the
9:26angel and you know you and I have to
9:29learn to live with the tension of a
9:31faith that we can only partly understand
9:35in the end it resists our attempts to
9:39reduce it to what we can understand or
9:42what we can control
9:44so for Christians theological reflection
9:47can lead to personal enrichment and the
9:50deepened appreciation of their faith for
9:53the great Christian theologian Augustine
9:55of Hippo there's a genuine intellectual
9:57excitement to wrestling with God and
10:00Agustin spoke about his sense of longing
10:03to understand more about God's nature in
10:07God's ways and the transformative impact
10:10this had on his own and on other
10:13people's lives and other Christian
10:16writers have stressed the practical
10:18importance of theology noting how it
10:20undergirds preaching or spirituality or
10:23worship or pastoral care now thinking
10:27about God takes place at many levels in
10:30church study groups in Bible studies and
10:33University College lectures through
10:35preaching and in academic seminars yet
10:38the study of theology has relevance
10:41beyond the Christian Church a good
10:44understanding of Christian theology will
10:45be invaluable to anyone studying Western
10:49cultural history or literature or art
10:51after all
10:52Christianity is made a massive
10:54contribution to music to the visual arts
10:57and literature and many of these works
10:59are both shaped by and express
11:02theological ideas so let's look at a
11:06theme that's of may
11:08importance for Christine theology the
11:10transformation and enrichment of our
11:13vision of reality and you see theology
11:16offers us a lens through which we can
11:19see ourselves in our world in a new way
11:22and a new testament and early Christian
11:25writers use the Greek term Metanoia
11:28again Metanoia to refer to this
11:31transformed way of thinking this Greek
11:34word is traditionally translated as
11:36repentance but the Greek word Metanoia
11:38actually means a lot more than this it's
11:41about if you like a transformation of
11:44the mind or a mindful realignment it's
11:48about our minds and imaginations being
11:50infused with the realities of the
11:53Christian faith leading to a change in
11:55the way we see and understand ourselves
11:58and our world now that's why some Paul
12:03invites his readers to be actively
12:06transformed by the renewal of our minds
12:09rather than being passively conformed to
12:12the world quote from Romans chapter 12
12:14but you see this is not an instantaneous
12:17event it's rather a gradual process of
12:21transformation which requires
12:23nourishment and development through
12:25discipline and practice and studying
12:28theology is about absorbing appreciating
12:32and expressing the deep and
12:35life-changing logic of the Christian
12:38faith so let's turn to the textbook
12:41itself Christian theology the basics has
12:44ten chapters and they aim to explore the
12:47major themes of Christian theology in
12:49accessible and engaging way and the book
12:53is loosely based on the Apostles Creed
12:55which is one of the most familiar and
12:57widely used summaries of the Christian
13:00faith it's regularly used in public
13:02worship and it's often the subject of
13:04sermons textbook and study guides and
13:07it's simple structure creates an ideal
13:10framework for exploring some of the
13:13central themes of Christian theology so
13:16as we bring this presentation to a close
13:18let's look at the topics of its 10
13:21chapters first we begins the theme of
13:24faith what does it mean to believe in
13:27God is this rational then we begin to
13:30look at a notion of God itself what is
13:34God all about will come to deal with
13:37doctrine the Trinity later but in this
13:38second chapter we're focusing on the
13:41Christian understanding of God which
13:44leads into the third chapter which deals
13:46with the Christian understanding of
13:49creation and that's followed by the
13:52fourth chapter with steals with a person
13:55of Jesus Christ of central importance to
13:58Christian theology and one of the most
13:59interesting chapters in this book but
14:03the fifth chapter extends this
14:04discussion of Jesus looking not so much
14:07at who Jesus was but rather what Jesus
14:11did it's all about salvation who Jesus
14:15is what Jesus did salvation is about the
14:18work of Christ not so much the person of
14:21Christ then in the sixth chapter we come
14:24to talk about the Holy Spirit that's
14:27become very significant the Christian
14:28theology today because of the rise of
14:30the charismatic movement we've looked a
14:33spirit we're in a place to begin to
14:36think about the doctrine of the Trinity
14:38which really brings together our
14:40understanding of God of Christ and the
14:43Holy Spirit and that's the topic of the
14:45seventh chapter in our eighth chapter we
14:49look at the doctrine of the church what
14:52is this thing called the church what are
14:54the different ways of understanding it
14:56and in Chapter nine we move on to look
14:59at another question relevant to the
15:01steam the sacraments like baptism the
15:04Lord's Supper what are they what are
15:06they all about and then in the tenth and
15:09final chapter we look at the Christian
15:12hope what is heaven all about so that's
15:18an overview of this series of
15:19presentations and I look forward to
15:22speaking to you again very soon when we
15:24turn to look at the first major
15:26theological topic of this book the
15:29nature of faith thank you so much for
15:33listening

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