In my British Literature class today we talked about John Milton. He was an amazing poet (He's the one who wrote Paradise Lost, by the way. You have to have heard of him!) but what's especially interesting to me is that he pretty much read everything there was to read. (Seriously. His dad supported him for 6 years while he did this.) It allowed him to really engage his thoughts on various doctrines, and he worked through them pretty thoroughly. My prof talked about another student she's had who took it upon himself to work through Reformed doctrine and look at why he selects or rejects (or isn't sure about) particular threads of thought.
Speaking of theologians, I had a great discussion over dinner with Eric and Phil about Luther (and about drinking alcohol in a Christian context, but that's an entirely separate discussion) and how Luther was pretty much brilliant.
Anyway, it's really challenged me to think about doing the same. Maybe not as systematically as some might do, but to still be intentional about the way I think about God and His interaction with the world. It's something I enjoy a lot in the first place, but sometimes I take a pretty neutral stance on things because I'm a) lazy b) afraid of getting in over my head or c) I just haven't taken the time to think about it. None of those are good excuses for taking theology and my own beliefs more seriously.
Not to mention, as a Barnabas Leader next year, I really have a chance to get into this while being held accountable. We'll see where it takes me. :) (A few topics I have in mind... women in leadership, predestination and kenotic Christology!)
love.
bjv
PS- In BritLit we also talked about George Herbert. Haven't heard of him? You're missing out. Look at some of his works here... A personal favorite of mine is "The Pulley" but in class we talked about "Denial" and "Virtue" which were also quite good.
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