Post your case study below in the response area 300-500 words.
This is going to be a “real life” case study. You are to find a person who would be willing to sit down and talk to you for thirty minutes to an hour. This person may or may not be a Christian. With your Student Notebook in hand the topic of your conversation is going to be explaining the theological process in session 3.
• Ask these questions before you begin:
1. What is Theology?
2. How does a person come to an understanding of theology?
3. What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology?
• After this, explain the different categories of theology.
• Then go through the theological process chart and the charts explaining the common mistakes that people make with regard to the use of the Bible in this process.
The object of this assignment is to help people understand the theological process in relation to Scripture.
After you are done, write a half page to a page summary of the encounter and hand it in. Online student are to post their summary in their class forum. Grades will be based upon the completion of the assignment, not the effectiveness of the presentation. Everyone who completes this will receive credit for the case study.
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September 9th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Case Study One
Background:
My case study subject had previously taken a church based homilectical class. I would classify them as a lay theologian, in that they are thoughtful about doctrine and have a clear definition between essential and non essential doctrine.
1. Theology was stated to be the study of God. In fact based on the literal interpretation.
2. The possibility of a full understanding of theology was questioned. To do the best that we can, my subject stated, “It would have to include studies of historical text and reasoning. It would also have to involve a grammatical, literal and historical understanding to properly obtain the context.
3. The major problem was stated to be the neglect of getting the back story, the general idea of the context.
During the case study it was great to hear that my subject was knowledgeable of step one. It was obvious that my subject had and continues to put thought into their theological process. I then went over the Process and used the carts. The process was easily understood and greatly appreciated. It was great to help in expanding theological process of another, granted little resistance existed. I am left wanting to perform this case study with a devoted folk or tabloid theologian.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Very good kwesi. Thanks for sharing. I hope that it was benificial for you and your audience.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Case Study 1: The Theological Process
I chose a friend whom I love dearly and value highly. She is an atheist in belief and prides herself on her intellect. With her education in Biological Anthropology she enjoys studying people and their behaviors.
Response to Question 1:
The study of the psychological foundation of religious order. Theology defines the building blocks of the dogma of a religion. Could be anecdotal, could be a philosophical treatise. The study of the documentation of an icon’s life which gives you a basis for the beliefs you hold to.
Response to Question 2:
I don’t think most people do. People do have options through university, but you would have to be in a strong liberal arts school. Even within devout followers of ‘x,y, or z’ religions, they don’t know why they believe what they believe. People are not studying the texts. People can come to an understanding of theology through their religious leaders, but I would argue that this is the exception.
Response to Question 3:
Regarding it as the ‘end-all-be-all’ source of truth. In studying all the councils and understanding the processes that determined what the bible is today, it is odd to consider it to be definitive. So much of it was based on the politics of the day and time. It’s a mistake that the bible is viewed as definitive. It should be considered as a piece of a bigger story/picture. Most people just don’t look at it critically at all. It is the same with other religious traditions, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam…most of the followers don’t look at their foundational text critically.
She was encouraged to know that the theologica process allowed for looking at other texts. She couldn’t see how the process could always arrive at a practical application to her life – much less anyone else’s. The conclusion could be a non-application. For example, Abraham and Hagar – she feels there would be no practical application to anyone today. I suggested that Abraham should have trusted God’s promise and waited. She wasn’t sure what to do with that. I found her responses interesting, insightful and in some cases mis-informed, but I didn’t argue.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
IT Case Study 1
I originally did this when I first went through this program by self study, so these answers were from I think it was 2006. But interestingly when I went through them again I got mostly the same answers with significant addition only to a couple (noted below).
I put the questions to my wife, and got some good answers.
1. What is Theology?
Her answer: study of religion (Added 2008: study of God). So I said any particular part? answer: doctrine. I think this fairly summed up the aim of theology. Generally I think people study it to firm up their understanding or current conclusions on various doctrines.
2. How does a person come to an understanding of theology?
Her answer: through reading the Bible and Commentaries on it. Again this seems like a reasonable answer. I never used to think it need involve much more than those and maybe basic tools like Strong’s Concordance and Vine’s Expository Dictionary. I think this would be the case for most people.
3. What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology?
Her answer:
- that it’s more like history and not applicable today - taking it in as head knowledge, but not putting into practice
Added 2008: misunderstandings coming from preconcieved ideas of God based on experiences or what one hears from other people; biases
She also said that mistakes are very common with people blindly following the popular speakers like televangelists, and others who tell them what they want to here. In her native Kenya, it was common for preachers to come and preach a ‘prosperity gospel’ which sought to manipulate strong desires of the people there for better economic conditions.
I proceeded to explain the categories of theology, and the theological process, as well as how mistakes can come from deviating from a solid process. She seemed to see from there how these mistakes can come about so seemingly easy. I went a little bit into Rhome’s point about how a lot of heresy came from people interpreting scripture their own way.
All in all it was a good little talk, probably one that would never occur without going through a program like this!
September 15th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Case Study Number 1
During this “real life” case study, I found a person who was willing to sit down and talk (reluctantly) for 1/2 an hour. I interviewed a friend of mine who is not a Christian.
I asked my friend the following questions:
1. What is Theology?
My friend could not give an adequate definition of theology, but after we broke down the wording he delivered with, “The study of God”.
2. How does a person come to an understanding of theology?
My friend did not know how people come to an understanding of theology, but after much prodding conceded that most people just look around themselves and figure it out from their environment, family, and cultural influences.
3. What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology?
My friend thought that “people who believe those nut cases who teach the Big Bang” etc. are the ones who make the common mistakes with regards to the Bible and theology.
After this, I explained the different categories of theology. He had little or no interest in learning about the theological process or categories of theology.
I then took him through the theological process chart and the charts explaining the common mistakes that people make with regard to the use of the Bible in this process. He was disinterested and unimpressed.
The objective of this assignment has been successful to some degree because in spite of himself he gained a better understanding of the theological process in relation to Scripture.
I pressed him for a little more information after we completed these steps and we ascertained that he was a essentially a folk theologian and an agnostic.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Case Study #1
For this study i interviewed one of my good friends, his name is Juan. He has been a Christian for a short time and i would describe him as an open-minded guy who is willing to learn. This exchange took place in my “office” upstairs.
1. What is Theology?
He had notions of what it may be but struggled to articulate his ideas. I helped him hammer out a definition based on his thoughts. According to him, Theology is tangible evidence that supports Scripture.
2. How does a person come to an understanding of Theology?
Based on how he defined Theology, he believes that a person comes to a better understanding of Theology by studying the evidence for Scripture.
3. What common mistakes do you think people commit with regards to the Bible and Theology?
I was really impressed by the answer that he gave to this question. In summary…
-Misinterpretation and taking passages out of context
-People do not research enough to validate and support their beliefs
-People do not think through it enough
After showing him the Categories of Theology…
He told me that he never knew about these categories. Although it seemed very foreign to him he was quite interested.
After showing him the Theological Process Chart…
He really liked the chart. “If more people correctly followed this process there would be less misinterpretations.”
CONCLUSION:
The interview ran smoothly and both of us enjoyed it. Juan accurately depicted many of the problems that plague us concerning Theology. This case study showed me that many people within the church are aware of some of the problems, but they are left ill-equipped and misinformed to give a solution.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Case Study #1
I chose to talk to someone who could represent a large group of women. The woman that I talked to is married and has two children. She also works part-time in the x-ray department at a hospital, and to me is a great representative of an average woman in her 30’s (at least among the people that I know personally). She grew up in a Catholic home and church and religion were very important to her mother. She no longer attends a Catholic church (which upsets her mother), but has learned that knowing God is about your relationship with Him through Christ and is not based on rituals and traditions.
Q. What is theology?
A. The study of religion, the bible and Christianity.
Q. How does a person come to an understanding of theology?
A. By what their parents have taught them and through experience. (She described how her husband shared a school bus along with students who attended a Catholic Church and they made him feel bad because he did not go to church, and that effected how he felt about Christ and Christians in general. She also explained the way she grew up with regard to religion. She just went through a lot of traditional rituals that really did not mean anything to her, she just said and did what she was told to say and do. This seemed to make her mother feel good but didn’t mean anything to her).
Q. What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology?
A. People use their own judgment, but don’t really understand what they are reading. They take one passage of scripture and make it mean what they want it to mean. Someone will focus too much on one section of the Bible, instead of it as a whole.
She found the charts to be useful and informative. Also she felt the Systematic approach was a better way to form an overall theology.
September 28th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Case Study 1
I sat down with my wife and had a great discussion over dinner with these questions. She, like me, was raised in a very legalistic faith, went away from it, and is now trying to learn a deeper way to be a follower of Christ. She has never studied theology is a formal setting, but is very interested in the subject.
Question 1:
Theology is the study of religion. To Christians, it is the study of everything encompassed by Christianity.
Question 2:
People come to an understanding of (Christian) theology from the Bible, Christian speakers, Bible studies, books, and fellow believers. I asked her if a person should derive their theology strictly from the Bible or if they should use other sources, and she said that it was very important to use other sources and to study with others to get different points of view, while always keeping the scriptures as the main source and weighing all other sources against it.
Question 3:
A common mistake that people make is thinking that they can interpret the Bible correctly on their own just because they are a Christian. Conversely, others rely too much on the opinions and interpretations of Christian leaders without reading the Bible for themselves. Another mistake people commonly make is taking scriptures out of context and using them for their own purposes.
I then went through and explained the different categories of theology, the Theological Process, and the common mistakes people make with the Bible and theology. She found it very informative and interesting, and agreed with the Theological Process. She will be leading a class soon about loving God with your mind, and was interested in using some of the charts to help explain these ideas to others.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Wow, just reading over these case studies and they really seem to display a wide variety of respondents and responses. Interestingly they also show that a wide variety of people see the problems in how theology is done, the mistakes made, etc. A recurring theme seems to be the respondents seeing mistakes in or otherwise inadequate interpretation of scripture - ‘not thought through’, etc. This seems to validate the purpose of this program pretty well.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Case Study One.
For this case study I invited a man from work, who is a very outspoken Christian, to sit down and talk. He loves to preach and his fellow workers are his captive audience. This man does not attend church and says that he sees no need in it. He claims he and others are the church–not an organization. His theology is basically self taught from reading the Bible, but he does frequently watch Charles Stanley.
1. What is Theology? Darrold’s reply: The study of God. A collection of written or passed down information about God. He also mentioned the manner or beliefs of doing things like chores or raising a family.
2. How does a person come to an understanding about God? Darrold’s reply: hearing and learning the word of God. Religious ideas passed down through the family—tradition,
3. What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology? Sometimes people think the bible is old, it happened a long time ago and so why should we be concerned with it. Or the excuse that there are so many different interpretations.
I then reviewed the different categories of theology and shared the theological process chart with him. He was impressed and agreed with the comparing scripture with scripture. However when I tried to describe the timeless principles our conversation drifted to a conversation he had earlier that involved angels and predestination. He made the comment that, although he couldn’t support it from scripture, that since God said he knew us before we were born maybe we were angels waiting to be born and tested. I was limited by time so we couldn’t go further into this. But I thought it interesting and an example of jumping around on the process chart.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
The subject of this case study is my husband, Andy. Both of us are extremely interested in and daily involved in some sort of learning about theology. This deep hunger began in us at a faster pace about 6 or so months ago. He just started this semester at Asbury. Although we’ve both been raised in Christian homes, neither of us has ever really taken significant time to study outside of our own private bible-reading time. We both want to work in ministry, but are just starting out in this new direction with which God sort of surprised us. Anyhow, I thought he’d be a great subject since we’re both just starting to learn these things.
Question #1- What is Theology?
“The study of the basis for religion and spiritual ideas.”
Question #2- How does a person come to an understanding of theology?
“Through the study and practice of a specific set of religious beliefs and doctrines, and through seeking to answer the questions of meaning and existence.”
Question #3- What common mistakes…?
“People tend to do three things: 1) rely on the accuracy of men instead of God; 2) misunderstand the meaning of the scripture which leads to false assumptions about God; and 3) focus too much on specific differences between doctrines, or apparent contradictions in the scripture, without seeking understanding. They also don’t begin with an understanding of biblical inerrancy.
I went through the entire lesson with him, and he really ate it up. He said it makes him feel better prepared for his next semester class “Method and Praxis” (or something like that). He said he learned a lot, and that it gave him a little clearer understanding on some things. “I’m glad that I’m able to put a name on what I see so many people doing.” (He’s referring to ‘Eisogetical Theology.’) He also said he’d change/add to a couple of his answers to the above questions.
#1- “The study of God. I didn’t know about (or at least didn’t label) all the subcategories before today either.”
#2- “I see that people often take from a lot of different sources to put together their theology. Systematic theology is more all-encompassing than I realized.”
October 4th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Case Study #1
Background: My schedule is pretty compressed so I decided to interview the most convenient person for me – my wife. She was excited to do it. It gave her a chance to see some of what I’ve been learning! Hopefully it’s not TOO long - I didn’t do a word count…
(Question #1) What is Theology?
“The study of God” was the first thing out of her mouth, quickly followed by ‘the study of religion’. After asking her a few questions to clarify the difference between religion and its “object”, we arrived at “the study of the divine or the transcendent” as a general definition for theology.
During this conversation she asked if we were talking about Christianity specifically or religion in general. She has studied cultural anthropology (her Master’s is in Psychology) so she tended to toggle between giving answers from her own point of view and trying to give ‘universal answers’ that would cover as many different people as she has studied. More on that later.
(Question #2) How does a person come to an understanding of theology?
I modified the question to “How might a person approach theology or go about studying the “object” of theology (i.e. God or the Divine)?” I did this because I wanted to focus on how a person goes about learning more about the “Divine” vs. how one goes about learning how one “learns to learn” about the divine. I wanted the answer to focus more on how we gain doctrine with some confidence as opposed to how we learn a method for gaining doctrine. It didn’t work… =)
Again, she started with “Bible Study” (solo & with a partner or group), sermons, and reading theological books but we quickly ended up talking about studying other cultures and their outlooks on the Divine/Great Spirit/etc. Once we’d shifted from doing theology to studying how others did theology, I asked, once we have an idea of how various people and cultures have studied and conceptualize the Divine, how to we determine if any of the approaches have merit? How could we contribute to their conversation in an effort to discover which of several opposing concepts are correct?
This brought us back into using logic and feeling together to find a path that both resonates with us and is logically coherent with itself and with other things that we know to be true. One picks a path and uses the suggested methods of that religion (in addition to the tools that brought you to the religion in the first place!) to make progress. If it is true, the “progress” should help you make more sense of the world, others, and life in general - this seemed ’self evident’.
She also made the point that, in all of this, a HUGE part is Divine Intervention in a variety of ways. She went into a bit of her testimony about how, after being raised nominally Christian, she dabbled in astrology, fortune telling, New Age, etc. and God pulled her back to Christianity DESPITE herself.
(Question #3) What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology?
1. Taking verses out of context.
2. Not taking the time to understand the historical context – the situation of the people involved.
3. Reading the Bible as literature and not as the “Word of God” with a view towards having a relationship with Him.
4. Seeing a passage from the reference of your emotional state at the time and not accounting for it somehow. It’s hard to separate the self from the self’s emotional state but an attempt must be made if unfair and erroneous “associations” are going to be avoided.
Working through the initial questions took up most of our time. I then reviewed the different categories of Theology (as presented in class) and the Theological process. None of it was surprising since she has (what I consider) a fairly mature approach to Theology already but the refinement that it provided was helpful. Especially enlightening was reviewing how the process may be ’short-circuited’, the mindset associated with such mistakes, and the kinds of errors that tend to be the result.
She noted that ‘the Analogy of Scripture’ (viewing potential, eternal principles in light of those espoused in different parts of the Bible) would likely be considered a big leap by many. I thought about it for a bit and responded that it’s only a big leap if you don’t presuppose a God behind it all – if you make 2 of the mistakes that she mentioned in approaching theology: 1) reading the Bible merely as literature and 2) not reading it as a means to an end – strengthening your relationship with God. And I think that both of these mistakes can be avoided by taking Christ’s view of scripture. If, from reading the Gospels, Christ’s self-evident moral authority isn’t’ enough to get them to take his view of Scripture (at least provisionally) then there are many “pre-biblical” apologetic arguments that may be useful.
October 5th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Just catching up on the recent case studies posted. There’s still a recurrent theme in seeing mistakes primarily in how people interpret the Bible although there’s a little more elaboration on how this is manifested. There’s also more validation for the program in seeing mistakes come from lack of thought applied or in not taking the time to apply more thought.
Well, this a lot better than the case studies in the self study version of this program where I only got to see my own case study posted, lol.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Case Study #1
My wife seemed to be a prime subject for this case study, since she loves Jesus but hates theology. We all know plenty of these folks. She and I have recently returned to the faith after a long absence through college and beyond. She is watching me go through this class out of the corner of her eye. So I thought it time to get her involved. Last night we sat down and went through the lesson as I understood it. First question.
What is Theology?
Her initial reaction was “the study of the nature of God”… the Christian God specifically. I liked the idea of specifying “nature” in the definition. I also included the idea of exploring his specific attributes and his relationship to humanity.
How does a person come to an understanding of Theology?
She pointed that the answer to this question was the first part of her answer to the first question. Study! Study the bible, other written works, and his creation. Experience and relationship
What common mistakes do you think people commit with regards to the Bible and Theology?
1) believing interpretations blindly
2) singling out one verse and interpreting without context
3) overly dogmatic about things that are not essential
4) attributing beliefs to the Bible that don’t appear in the Bible (Folk Theology)
We then covered the different categories of theology. She gravitated strongly towards the systematic approach and the analogy of scripture. We both come from research backgrounds and appreciate a rigorous approach that utilizes as many sources as possible to converge on an issue.
The most lively discussion revolved around the methodology for studying theology and the pitfalls when bypassing or ignoring steps in the process. At this point I actually think she enjoyed “Theology”.
This is a great discussion to have with others. My son is next!
October 10th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Just returned to see if there’s more - only one new one but still these reports keep on being good reading! It’s amazing how so many can zoom in on the problem of bad interpretation right off. It’s as if all of us know there’s a problem there, but what exactly to do about it is the tricky question.
October 11th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Case Study #1 (I kept posting this in the wrong place - I got it now!):
My wife was my volunteer (she was the only one who was interested enough to invest the time - what a GREAT woman!).
What is theology?
“Studying about God.”
How does a person come to an understanding about God?
“From church, from their parents, from Sunday school, from what they read in the Bible, and from how they see God move in their own life.”
What common mistakes do you think that a person commits with regards to the Bible and theology?”
“They let their feelings decide if they are going to obey what they read and what they are taught instead of taking God at His Word. And, they let their emotions decide for them if what they are hearing someone teach is the truth or not without studying it for themselves. I thinbk something else that is very common is listening to someone teach something, and just because they’re on T.V., or they are in a big church, or they just happen to like what hey hear, they don’t check out the teaching on their own. A lot of false teaching get’s believed that way.”
***We then went through the categories of theology and walked through the theological process charts. My Case Study Volunteer (okay, my wife…) responded:
“Until you became my pastor, I always read the Bible and figured that whatever God was saying there applied to me somehow. I used to sit in church and, whenever I heard a message about some sin or something that we needed to do differently, I was convinced that God intended everything in that message for me, and all I had to do was figure it out and I would be okay. I would go to the altar and ask for prayer, and I would stay there, asking God to speak to my heart and show me just what it was I needed to do. I was exhausted!
Now I know that we have to study the context of what the text is saying - who wrote it, what did they mean twhen they wrote it, how did the people they wrote it to understand it, what was going on when it was written, why was it written when it was, and all of that. Then we have to find out how the Church has taught about these things, what different views of the passage or the truths there are, and which of those makes the most sense within the context of what we have learned already and what we have read today. THEN we find out how that applies to us today.
You always tell us, ‘Nothing is in the Bible for no reason. There is always something to be learned, even if it is just to help us understand the nature and character of God better.’ So, I guess you need to see this as a confirmation that you have been doing it right, huh?”
October 11th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Mitch Epstein – Case Study #1 – Intro to Theology
I interviewed my pastor who was already familiar with this topic, naturally, and he was quite impressed with the level of knowledge that I was gaining about the study of theology in this course. (Props go to Michael, Rhome, and Carrie.)
Question 1: What is theology – the study of God. Getting an understanding on what God has clearly revealed to man, through Word and creation. (General & special revelation). General revelation includes our ability to understand God with our conscience as well as the revelation of himself in creation. Both convince and convict us of who God is. Then the Word is the final blow.
Question 2: How does a person comes to an understanding of theology? By understanding the different categories, independent study, reading books, looking for someone in congregation to disciple you, and/or take a class on theology. Make it a lifelong study—one never truly arrives at a complete understanding of God until glory. The Holy Spirit reveals what he wants us to know and to be on guard of “Phariseeism” where we pretend to know everything, apply nothing, and subsequently make knowledge an idol. Make it a goal to know about God so that we may truly know Him—knowing about him is not true theology.
Question 3: What common mistakes does a person commit? When one doesn’t understand the law and interpretation, one is in danger of taking things out of context, picking and choosing, only having a head knowledge—without intent to apply. We then went on to explain the rest of the common theological errors discussed in class.
As I went through the case study, I found that I was really teaching the topic of theology to someone else. While trying to teach it, I was able to better correlate the different sections of the chapter. As it is said, ‘to teach is to learn twice.’ I find that I know have a much better grasp on the material than I did when only passively listening to Michael teach. My pastor and I spent most of our time together trying to name some different examples of the different categories of theology and the common errors that people make in regards to theology. Naturally, we are all very prone to these errors because when we come to try to understand God, we have biases and presuppositions as to the nature and will of God. Intellectual honesty, from a Christian perspective, involves putting those biases aside and asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand what God is really trying to say in a certain area, and how it applies to our life today. An additional challenge, though, is trying to trust God enough to let him show us his will through an exegetical approach. If we don’t come with the understanding that God exists and wants us to understand Him and know Him better, than we cannot even find motivation to put our biases on the alter and study systematically. The most challenging thing that happened in our conversation is that I realized we are both prone to having a more biblical theology than a systematic one. I was quite surprised how knowledgeable I was about this material to have an intelligent discussion with a pastor about these topics. My weakest knowledge area, though, was in understanding liberal theology.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
More good reading! I’ve heard a different variation of the saying Mitch referred to, it goes, “The best way to learn anything is to teach it.” I think this program really applies this concept in a low pressure conversational way with these case studies.