Theology Archives - Wisdom & Folly

Last month I attended the annual Westminster Confession Conference at Providence Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference theme was “The Last Things: On the State of Man After Death” and featured Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary professors Richard Gamble Jeffrey Stivason, David Whitla, and C. J. Williams, as well as Pastor of Gospel Fellowship Presbyterian Church, Matthew Everhard. The conference was hosted by RPTS.

While there are some theological issues that Christians struggle to find relevant, personal eschatology is not one of them. We are all going to die, some of us sooner than we expect. So we should all take a serious interest in the topic. As Scripture says, “Death is the destiny of every man. The living should take this to heart.” (Eccl. 7:2).

The speakers at the Westminster Conference covered a range of issues in a way that showcased their areas of scholarly expertise. Below is my summary.

David Whitla, “Wariston on Death: Griefs Observed in the Diary of a Scottish Covenanter”

Church historian David Whitla kicked off the proceedings with an interesting talk entitled “Wariston on Death: Griefs Observed in the Diary of a Scottish Covenanter,” which focused on the 17^th century Scottish Presbyterian Covenanter and member of the Westminster Assembly, Archibald Johnston, who was eventually honored with the title Lord Wariston.

Whitla’s talk explored Wariston’s theology of death, his experiences of death, and his preparation for death. Whitla noted how Wariston’s hopeful eschatological convictions were tested to the extreme in his personal life, as he experienced the death of his first wife (after just eight months of marriage), the death of six children that he fathered with his second wife, and the death of numerous other family members and friends—experiences which deeply informed his perspective on life and enhanced his preparation for his own death.

Wariston was arrested for anti-Royalist activities. His captors tried to kill him by draining his blood and poisoning him. But he survived and was shipped back to England, convicted of treason, and sentenced to death. He was actually cheerful on the day of his execution, facing death with purpose and confidence and praying for many people before he died. With the noose around his neck Wariston said, “I beseech you all, people of God, not to shrink at suffering . . .” Then he said to the executor, “Are you ready?”

Among Whitla’s applications were that Wariston’s story teaches us that our theology of death may inform our experience of death. It illustrates how the grace of God helps us through life’s sorrows and enables us to die well ourselves.

Matthew Everhard, “What Happens Five Seconds After You Die?

The next talk, delivered by Pastor Matthew Everhard, was “What Happens Five Seconds After You Die? The Doctrine of the Intermediate State.” Using Philippians 1:19-30 as his launching point, Everhard began by posing the basic question, What is the intermediate state? The answer is that this is the condition between one’s earthly life and the resurrection of the dead that comes after Christ’s return. He went on to make the critical observation that this passage teaches the dichotomous perspective on human nature. Human beings are composed of a body and soul. Reformed theologians reject the trichotomous view (which makes a further distinction between soul and spirit). And what is the soul? It is the living essence of the person which accounts for their will, consciousness, perceptual capacities, etc.

What happens to the body after you die? Everhard broke it down like this. Five seconds after you die, your soul departs from your body. After five minutes, the body begins to decay. After five hours, the body enters rigormortis. After five days, the body bloats. Five weeks after this, the skin is dissolving. Five months later, the body has all but decayed, leaving mostly bones. Five years later, the bones are deteriorating. This all confirms the biblical idea that we go from dust to dust.

What happens to the soul? Our soul goes immediately to God. No purgatory. No soul sleep. Directly to God. As the Apostle Paul says, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8). This is also confirmed in the account of the death of Stephen in the book of Acts and in Jesus’ remark to the thief on the cross, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Everhard also addressed a few other questions along the way that are a bit more challenging, including, Are those who die ahead of us aware of us in heaven? If so, to what extent? And what are we to say about the many near death experiences that are the subject of much recent study? As for the former question, says Everhard, Revelation 5:11 suggests that those in heaven are indeed aware of us, as this passage reports that saints in heaven are crying out to God for justice on earth, saying, “how long?” And the writer of Hebrews refers to our having a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1). As for near death experiences, Everhard observed that there does seem to be a lot of confirmation of biblical truth in many of these accounts. As someone who is pretty well-studied on the NDE phenomenon, I would say Everhard is quite right on this score.

Richard Gamble, “There is No Escape!”

Systematic Theologian Richard Gamble’s talk was entitled “There is No Escape!” He discussed three main themes: Christ’s bodily resurrection, our bodily resurrection, and the last judgment. Among the important biblical themes regarding Christ’s resurrection are the facts that it is a provable historical event, that Christ’s resurrection body was a significantly changed body, that his resurrection was achieved through divine power, that his resurrection is a divine vindication and foundation of our justification before God, that Christ’s resurrection provides assurance of our final redemption, and that Christ’s resurrection is essential to our thinking about the kingdom of God.

As for the resurrection of our bodies, Gamble noted that this is confirmed in multiple places in both the Old and New Testament (e.g., Gen. 5:24; 1 Kings 17:17-24; Job 19:25-27; Mt. 12:40; 1 Cor. 15:13-20; John 3:1-15), which is why all of the creeds and confessions affirm the resurrection of the body. Among the important features of our own bodily resurrection are the facts that our mortal bodies are perishable but our resurrection bodies are not (1 Cor. 35-58) and our bodies will be completely liberated from corruption by sin, as with the rest of creation (Rom. 8:21).

As for the last judgment, this is described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10. Among other things, Paul notes that God will judge persecutors and oppressors; he will repay with afflictions those who afflict us. And, as Malachi says, “all the arrogant and evil doers will be roasted like stubble” (Micah 1:4). And from the destruction that comes with this divine judgment of the wicked, there is no escape.

Gamble observed that God wants to stir us up in the hope that final divine judgment will come. Knowing God is a righteous judge will encourage us, knowing that all of this wickedness will be judged and condemned. At the last day, God will pour out his glory upon us, those who have obeyed his Gospel. All of this will be preceded by Christ’s return, the date of which we do not know. In the meantime, we must be ever alert and soberly watchful.

Jeffrey Stivason, “B. B. Warfield: Hell on the Cross”

In this lecture “B. B. Warfield: Hell on the Cross,” New Testament scholar Jeffrey Stivason discussed several aspects of the doctrine of hell. He raised the question why Jesus had to suffer the punishment of hell for us and cited Anselm’s reasoning in response—that there must be satisfaction when God’s honor is defaced. Stivason noted that Protestants typically regard this as part of the reason for God’s wrath but explained that it goes beyond this. The seriousness of a debt or wrong is relative to the person wronged, which Stivason illustrated by saying that lying to a court judge is worse than lying to one’s wife.

A further question: Jesus only suffered for a few days at most in hell. How could that atone for the sins I committed that warrant eternal torment? To answer this, Stivason said we need to back up and ask, what is hell? Here he appealed to insights from B. B. Warfield in answering this question, beginning with the concept of the pecuniary aspect of hell. According to Warfield’s account, in our fallenness, human beings have a debt that must be paid. There are several biblical passages that suggest Christ’s crucifixion is a payment of sin. Scripture tells us that Jesus gave himself as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), that we were bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20), that the church was purchased with Christ’s own blood (Acts 20:28), and that Christians are “ransomed” by Christ’s blood (1 Pet. 1:13-19).

So the cross is a satisfaction of God’s wrath, not just a display of divine deliverance or expression of love. How do we understand the debt and how it must be paid? Analogically in terms of obligation and liability. Here Stivason brings in the analysis of Reformed theologian Geerhardus Vos. On Vos’s account, the rebellion against God is an infinite infraction, so the debt paid must be of equal value. The infinitude of Christ’s payment consists in his dignity or worth. He is infinite, so his suffering counts as an infinite payment. Christ’s suffering has the same value in the sight of God as our infinite suffering, hence its sufficiency to pay the debt we owe.

C. J. Williams, “Glorification: The Last Link in the Golden Chain”

The conference concluded with Old Testament scholar C. J. Williams’ talk, “Glorification: The Last Link in the Golden Chain.” Williams began by noting that the Bible describes our eternal glory as unspeakable and indescribable. So how are we even to think about this?

We are encouraged in Scripture to think about the matter, after all. And the Bible does give some information about what our heavenly glory involves. This is summarized in the Westminster Catechism question 90, as follows: We will be “made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the company of unnumerable saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of God the father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to all eternity.”

Williams went on to expound on the main themes of this statement. First, we will be fully and forever free from all sin and misery and filled with inconceivable joys. We won’t just be restrained from sin but our natures will be transformed so we have no inclination in a sinful direction. We will be neither able nor willing to sin. We will be free from all suffering that characterizes this world. He will wipe away every tear (Rev. 21:4). Also, heaven is not a place of merely conceivable joys but also of inconceivable joys. As the apostle Paul says, “eye has not seen nor has ear heard the things that God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Secondly, we will be made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul. Our physical existence will not be ended but will be transformed, such that we will have spiritual bodies, fully activated with the experience of God. This will not be a state of static contemplation but active enjoyment of God. The Lord’s servants will serve God. So the glorified condition is an active one (cf. Rev. 7 and 22). The prophet Isaiah pictures the perfected state as involving building houses and tending gardens (Isa. 65). And Isaiah 25 and Revelation 19 both picture a banquet and feast. These images suggest there will be a genuine continuity between our lives here and our lives there.

Thirdly, our heavenly state will be in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels. This reminds us of the vastness of God’s kingdom. Our fellowship with others is one of the great blessings of our glorification. Our fellowship with others will enhance our fellowship with Christ.

We will have the blessing of getting to know those who came before us. Drawing on the thought of Puritan theologian Thomas Watson, Williams suggested that our knowledge in heaven will not be diminished but increased, which implies we will deeply know one another and be “delighted in each other’s company.” We will be united with Christ but this does not mean that our relationships on earth will be discontinued. These will continue, but the true joy of glory will not be anthropocentric but rather theocentric, which leads to the final point.

Fourthly, we will live forever in the glorious presence of God the Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Scripture promises us that God’s servants will see his face (Rev. 22:4), that we will see him as he is (John 3:2). This is not abstract contemplation but rather a personal, transformative union. Here, again, the Puritans had much to say. Thomas Watson said regarding the beatific vision that we shall behold the glorified body of Christ; “God’s infinite majesty shall overwhelm us.” John Owen claimed that when we behold the glorified Christ we will experience our fullest union with the triune God. Williams noted that the promise of seeing the glory of God should motivate us to serve him well. As Richard Baxter put it, we should live here as if we are in “the suburbs of heaven.”

Overall, the Westminster Confession Conference was a refreshing time of theological reflection on several dimensions of personal eschatology and an powerful exhortation to seriously consider our destiny as mortals in this world in the light of God’s justice and mercy.

January 11, 2022January 11, 2022

The Stargazing Christian Leader

By Jim Spiegel

In his classic work The Republic, Plato uses the analogy of a shipmaster to illustrate some important points regarding leadership of a state. In order to properly steer a ship to its destination (in Plato’s day anyway), the shipmaster must always consult the stars to orient himself geographically, since the stars are the only fixed directional guide out on the open sea. And yet one who observes a good shipmaster continually consulting the stars in this way might think he is distracted—an impractical stargazer!

The situation is similar with good Christian leaders, who are properly also theologians, since they, too, must constantly “look up” in the course of their work, consulting eternal, lofty truths as a directional guide. And they, too, might appear to be distracted from practical matters. Yet, they are actually being very practical. Like the shipmaster, they orient themselves morally and spiritually according to what is constant and unchanging in order to steer their “ship” (their local Christian community) through the turbulent waves of life.

So what are some of those immovable biblical truths according to which Christian leaders should steer their ships? It seems to me that a good Christian leader, whether a pastor or leader in a Christian school or other organization, must do two things: remind those they lead of their identity and their purpose. Many leaders fail to do this, perhaps because it seems to them ponderous, abstract, or simply impractical, given the many pressing issues they face. But I can’t imagine anything more practical than to know your identity and purpose as a Christian.

The apostle Paul, one of the leaders of the early Christian church, does exactly this in all of his epistles. A good case in point is Ephesians 2:1-10. In this passage Paul reminds us of who we were before our transformation in Christ: dead in our sins, slaves to fleshly desires, and servants of the devil, thus “by nature deserving of wrath.” He also notes who we are now—our identity as Christians: alive in Christ, saved by grace, and destined for eternal riches. These observations culminate in Paul’s remarkable observation about our purpose: that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10). That is, we are the handiwork of God who are also ourselves handiworkers. So Paul is telling us that we are working handiworks.

This might seem ponderous and abstract, but it is profoundly practical as all good theology is. And the practicality of these truths are evident in the fact that they are encouraging, affirming our value as children of God, and highly motivational. What could be more motivating than to know that your work has eternal significance?

So as a Christian leader, I will always dwell upon and remind those I lead regarding their identity and purpose in Christ. This might make me appear to be a theological stargazer, but it will help me get the ship I captain to its destination!

March 27, 2017

The Theological Significance of Carpentry

By Jim Spiegel

I get a spiritual high out of doing home construction and renovation. I know that sounds strange, but its true. Building and repairing things actually makes me feel closer to God. For many years, I didn’t know why carpentry had this effect on me, but I’ve finally figured out why.

It started about twenty years ago when I built my first book case. Then came another and then another. Eventually, Amy asked me to build an entertainment center, and from there my projects expanded to, among other things, tables…

stairs…

beds…

and a buffet…

Alongside my furniture construction there grew an increasing interest and competence in home repair, from basic plumbing and electrical to roofing, drywall, and flooring, especially tiling. My latest renovation project, which I completed just this week, was on our downstairs bathroom in our “new” house (built in 1920) in Upland. Here is the progression of the project…

Of course, these projects are satisfying, if only because they are practical and make a home look better. But I believe the joy I experience in doing (and finishing) this work derives from aspects of carpentry which trace back to the imago Dei in human beings:

Carpentry is creative—As is clear from the first chapters of Genesis and, well, the entire world around us, God is a fundamentally creative. That we humans are divine image-bearers explains why we are also irrepressibly creative. Carpentry is an especially significant mode of creativity, because it features both practical and aesthetic goods. The products, if done right, are both functional and beautiful. That’s an accurate description of the divine artwork that is the physical universe, and to the extent that we engage in creative construction, we mirror this divine creative activity.

Carpentry is redemptive—When you live in old houses, as we have for the last fifteen years, there is always plenty of repair and renovation to do. To repair and improve is essentially redemptive and thus Gospel-like, a fulfillment of the biblical mandate to address the consequences of sin. Construction repair work is the “healing” dimension of carpentry.

Carpentry is a whole-person activity—Carpentry involves not just one skill but numerous particular skills which require competencies with a variety of tools as well as design and measurement tasks. It is physically and intellectually demanding, and it also requires significant value judgments pertaining to everything from finances to aesthetics and even ethics. If being a servant in the Kingdom of God requires challenging and developing as much of yourself as possible, then carpentry is the ideal discipline for such training.

I would add that as a teacher and scholar I also find a special satisfaction in carpentry because the result of one’s construction toils are tangible and, at least potentially, indisputably excellent. Even the most well-constructed lecture, argument, journal article, or book can be disputed or casually dismissed. But there is no (reasonable) disputing or dismissing a superbly constructed table, bed, buffet, or bathroom. Here, again, there is a parallel in divine creation and redemption. God does not offer us mere arguments that he is powerful, wise, innovative, and gracious. Rather, he demonstrates this in his creative and wise construction of the universe as well as his innovative and gracious ministry of redemption on earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And, speaking of him, I wonder if it is just a coincidence that Jesus’ vocation for most of his adult life was apparently that of a carpenter or craftsman of some sort (cf. Mark 6:3). Hmm….

September 30, 2015

Our Grape Harvest

By Jim Spiegel

I’m no horticulturalist, but there is one domain of fruit cultivation where I am quite competent: grapes. In our backyard we have a very large grapevine, which I’ve been lovingly tending for the last 13 years. And every September its grape harvest time, and this always means lots of grape juice for the whole family. The process is straightforward but labor intensive.

First, I pick the grapes in clusters.

Next, I pull the grapes off of the stems and rinse them. Then, its time to mash them into a mush.

After adding some water, I boil them—usually for about 20 minutes.

Next, I strain them using a colander. About five pounds of grapes yields approximately one gallon of grape juice concentrate.

For the final step, I add water (approximately doubling the volume) and sugar (say, 1.5 cups per gallon). The result is a rich, still relatively concentrated grape juice that is as loaded with antioxidants as it is full of flavor.

As I said, I’m not really into horticulture, nor am I a culinary artist. But this annual endeavor gives me a much greater understanding and appreciation for both of these vocations. It also has enabled me to see the spiritual illustrations in both domains. Interestingly, Jesus used metaphors from agriculture (e.g., the parable of the sower, the vine and the branches, the wheat and the tares, etc.) as well as the culinary realm (e.g. the wedding banquet, communion, the bread of life, etc.). The annual Spiegel grape harvest reminds me of these and tunes my mind to many other such metaphors . . . as well as blessing my palate and nourishing my body with garden-fresh juice!

November 1, 2013

New and Old Treasures

By Jim Spiegel

A passage in the book of Matthew really struck me recently. Specifically, Matthew 13:52. The context of the verse is Jesus’ speaking about the kingdom of heaven and how at the end of the age the righteous and wicked will be separated and the wicked thrown into hell. Then Jesus says, “every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

As a Christian philosopher who is especially interested in ethics, I suppose I am—or at least aspire to be—something like a “teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven.” So when Jesus offers a simile related to this role, it catches my attention. What could he mean here by “new treasures as well as old”? One thing that comes to mind is scholarly insights, old and new. In teaching the history of philosophy, I constantly emphasize the treasures in Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, Locke, Edwards, Berkeley, Kant, etc. These are some of the towering intellects of Western thought, and their insights about the good life and, in many cases, the nature and purposes of God are considerable. As for new treasures, I think of contemporary Christian philosophers such as Robert and Marilyn Adams, Alvin Plantinga, Eleonore Stump, Peter van Inwagen, Richard Swinburne, William Lane Craig, Linda Zagzebski, Robert Roberts, and Alexander Pruss. In recent decades, these scholars and so many others have provided us with “new treasures” related to the intellectual life and virtuous living.

We should remember that Jesus himself was a teacher in the kingdom of heaven, and of course he modeled perfectly the bringing out of new and old treasures. Whenever he taught, he drew from and applied the Old Testament scriptures but also made new innovations as a teacher, using unique parables (unlike anyone else in history), stunning hyperbole, creative metaphors, and other figurative devices for teaching theology and ethics. Indeed, his method was a balanced blend of new and old treasures, something that all Christian educators and scholars should strive to emulate.

December 11, 2010

A Theology of Sports—Part 4

By Jim Spiegel

Thus far I have extolled the benefits of sports, but it would be remiss of me not to note a few caveats: First, athletic competition is not an end in itself. Notice that each of the benefits I mentioned underscore this fact, for the moral, aesthetic, and social values of athletic competition and spectatorship are each good because of higher ends, such as personal character formation, the betterment of society, and acquaintance with God’s glory. To return to Paul’s remarks in 1 Timothy 4, the value of physical training should be understood in light of the value of godliness. This is central to a Christian perspective on sports and is a crucial antidote to the obsession with sports which is a growing plague in our culture.

To put this point positively, involvement in sports, as an athlete and as a spectator, is healthy part of a well-balanced Christian life. The Christian mind must be fed from all cultural quarters, from the arts and sciences to civic engagement and domestic politesse. Four-square cultural nutrition also includes sports, just as exercise—yes, even being an amateur athlete—is necessary for optimum physical health. But we must, in the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes, avoid all extremes. And focusing all of your spare time on sports by watching ESPN non-stop or playing fantasy leagues to the detriment of your work and vital relationships is just wrong. And as a former Sports Center junkie, I speak from experience.

Because sports are so entertaining, they can become a distraction from the things that are most important. Whether you are an athlete yourself or mainly a fan, there is always the temptation to overdo it, to allow your participation in or spectatorship of sports to consume you and cause imbalance in your life. Beware of this distinctively American vice. Just because it isn’t regarded as vicious in our culture doesn’t mean it can’t be a serious problem.

My second caveat would not have been necessary a generation or so ago. But, sadly, today it is: Winning is not the only thing that matters. You are familiar with the old adage that what matters is not whether you win or lose but how you play the game. This dictum sounds quaint to us these days, a relic of a more relaxed and refined time. But it is deeply rooted in a Christian worldview which recognizes the proper role of athletics as a means to moral-social ends such as building character and enriching relationships.

Today’s American sports culture no longer accepts the old adage, and perhaps this is itself symptomatic of the demise of Christian values generally in our culture. Today the catch phrases are “Just win baby” and the Lombardi-ism “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” We find these expressions amusing and may even pretend to endorse them ourselves. But they are anti-Christian in so far as they place pride and vanity above the true ends of athletic competition—physical health, character formation, and social enrichment.

Here some will object, “If winning is not important, then why do we keep score when we play sports?” In response, I would note that I did not say that winning is unimportant. I do think it is one gauge that can be used to assess how well one competes. And to this extent, winning is a valuable motivator. Indeed this is why keeping score is a motivator. We play harder when we keep score. This shows that most of us do play to win.

But do most of us play to win just so that we can have objective proof that we are playing well? We all want to be excellent at what we do, including sports. And to win suggests that we are meeting that goal. I admit that this motive is noble and idealistic, but it’s not a realistic answer for many, perhaps most, of us. If we’re honest with ourselves we’ll admit that we can be quite happy when we win even if we don’t play well, and we can be deeply disappointed when we lose even if we did play well. This shows that we are motivated by something more than just playing well.

So what does motivate us to win and not just play well? I’m afraid in many cases what we play for is just the right to be able to say “I won.” And if we are ever satisfied just to have won when we didn’t play well, this is proof enough that all we wanted was to be able to declare “I won.” Well, obviously, this is a vain and prideful motive for playing hard. To be able to tell others that you won is a braggart’s motivation and a sign of small mind, not Christian maturity. But it’s no surprise that this prideful motive is so common, even in Christian circles, because it has been embraced wholeheartedly by the American sports culture.

Sports and Shalom

Christian community aims ultimately at peace or, in theological terms, Shalom. This is a feature of our purpose as a Christian society in the eschaton. God promises to reward us with rest. (cf. Heb. 4:10-11) Because of this, theologians properly recognize the significance of leisure, as a pointer to Shalom. In recent years more writers have addressed this topic explicitly, which is a much needed foil to our workaholic culture.

Sports are a worthy leisure time activity for spectators. And to kick back and relax by watching a game can be itself a gesture toward our future Shalom. I say it “can be” because sometimes we take our games too seriously and turn our spectatorship into something quite the opposite of peace. We are all familiar with the tragic news stories of riots at soccer games, brawls between parents at little league contests, and the drunken rowdyism at football games. These are sad confirmations that in this fallen world sin has managed to corrupt even leisure and relaxation. Indeed, human depravity has left no activity untarnished by sin.

But the good news of the gospel is that Christ is a thorough redeemer. He has come to transform human nature itself and thus to redeem all of our undertakings, including our work as well as our leisure. By the power of the Spirit we can demonstrate how to be balanced and virtuous athletes and sports fans. And we can demonstrate grace even in athletic competition. That God has blessed us, even in this fallen world, with the privilege to engage in and observe athletic competition is an aspect of his common grace. We Christians should respond in kind by being gracious in competition and when rooting for our teams. Even in such apparently small ways, we can live redemptively.

December 7, 2010

A Theology of Sports—Part 3

By Jim Spiegel

In the first two installments of this series, I discussed how sports have aesthetic value and provide clear examples of excellence. In this post I want to highlight another significant way in which sports are valuable.

3. Athletic competition builds character. It seems to me that the most significant benefits of sports pertain to the impact that athletic competition can have on the competitors themselves. By participating in sports athletes develop leadership skills, teamwork and dedication to a shared goal, an attitude of service and mutual submission, discipline and poise under pressure, and many other virtues, including patience, courage, and self-control. Athletes also learn how to graciously deal with disappointment and to persevere through difficulty and pain. We might even say—if it’s not too melodramatic to put it this way—that athletes learn that grief is the price you pay for love. This is true for fans too, as any Chicago Cubs fan knows.

Every sport provides a microcosm of the human experience, and this includes the fact that it is our lot to suffer in this life, as Moses reminds us in Psalm 90. The sooner you grasp this fact, the better your chances to make it through to the end without losing your mind. You don’t have to be a fan of the Cubs or Detroit Lions (I happen to be both!) to know that the love of a game or a particular team carries with it both joy and sorrow. While the joys and sorrows on the field or court pale in comparison to the birth of a child or loss of a loved one, they do provide healthy metaphors for these and other more serious life experiences. And I would even say that to have been exhilarated or disappointed in these less significant ways provides valuable preparation for life’s greater joys and sorrows.

November 29, 2010

A Theology of Sports—Part 1

By Jim Spiegel

In my previous post my alien friend challenged the notion that sports are inherently valuable. My actual view is not quite as extreme as that of this unrelenting extraterrestrial (who enlightened me on many other subjects, I should add). I do believe that athletic competition has value in many respects, even if this value is always, or usually, instrumental in nature. In this post and several others to follow, I will count some of the ways that sports are valuable. In so doing, I will ground my reasons in biblical values. So my analysis will constitute a sort of Christian theology of sports.

1. Professional athletes provide clear examples of excellence. Whatever your own vocation might be, whether you’re a teacher, carpenter, dentist, social worker, accountant, or auto mechanic, you will only excel if properly inspired to a high level of performance. Professional athletes in particular inspire us to excel at whatever we do. For one thing, the fact that someone is a pro baseball, tennis, or basketball player tells us that he or she is one out of a million. Consider how even those baseball players that we criticize as among the worst in Major League Baseball are still in the top percentile compared to all baseball players in the world. And so it goes for all professional athletes. When we follow professional sports, we regularly expose ourselves to excellence, and this is all the more pronounced among the superstars, whose feats on the field or court often leave us shaking our heads in amazement.

In Philippians 4:8 the Apostle Paul tells us, “If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.” I take this to be a strong endorsement to appreciate many things in the world of sports, since there is so much excellence to be found there. Dwelling upon excellence of any kind is inspiring, motivating us also to aim high and require of ourselves similar self-mastery. Paul implicitly recommends this in 1 Corinthians 9 where he compares spiritual discipline to athletic competition. And elsewhere he recognizes the significance of sports at least as a powerful analogy for “training for godliness” (cf. 1 Tim. 4:7). This point should not be lost on us Americans, who glibly declare “no pain, no gain” when it comes to becoming better physical specimens but balk at the idea of hard work in the spiritual life. Let’s admit it—prayer, Bible study, fasting, and the other disciplines of the faith are hard work. But the payoffs are great. Athletic competition provides a wonderful image of this truth, as Paul explains. If only for this reason, sports have value for the spiritually devout.

October 21, 2008

Theological Roadtrippin’

By Amy Spiegel

In picking up Ed Cyzewski’s new book Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life, I had many different expectations. Ed, Jim and I had exchanged several e-mails and I greatly appreciated Ed’s style and humor. I was looking forward to my first nonfiction read in a while and happily accepted Ed’s request for Wisdom & Folly to be included on his blog tour. What I didn’t expect was a cross-cultural experience.

One of my most convicting and enlightening experiences occurred immediately after I graduated from college. Why is it, by the way, those two so often road trip together? Just once I would love to have Enlightenment show up on my doorstep unexpectedly and say “Hey, I thought I would leave Conviction sleeping on the couch this time. How about some mind-blowing insights, just you and me?” Anyway, what was I saying? Ah, yes-mind-stretching and self-mortifying experience. I embarked on an overseas missions trip with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to Ukraine. I can’t really say why I went on this trip (it certainly wasn’t for any of the reasons one should), but I definitely learned a lot from it. I had traveled overseas before, but more as a sightseer and general laborer, never in a one on one situation, day in day out. Frankly, it was exhausting. As the days stretched on and I felt myself being drained of what little spiritual energy I had at the time, I found myself clinging more and more to anything American. I drank Diet Coke at every opportunity, gobbled candy bars like there was no tomorrow and wept at the sight of the American delegation making its way into the Olympics. I didn’t want to share my precious symbols of home with anyone, which very much went against the communal mindset of the Ukrainians. I was happy to buy you your own, but keep your distance from my Snickers, okay comrade? One day two friends and I had had enough of the boiled beets and hot tea for lunch and headed to the nearby village with visions of pizza dancing before our eyes. As we neared the village, our faithful leader came thundering down the path to stop us. We had unintentionally offended our Ukrainian friends by shunning the prepared food and showing off our ability to buy an alternative. With great embarrassment and not a little righteous indignation, we returned to eat lunch with the rest of the group. (I believe humble pie was on the menu that day.) It was then that I began to reflect on just how ingrained certain values were to me as an American: independence, individualism and consumerism, to name a few. Not all bad in the proper context, but they nonetheless placed me in a certain context both culturally and economically. If I wanted to minister to these students I had traveled so far to meet, I was going to have to check some of these values like luggage at the gate, knowing I might never see them again.

This is the challenge that Ed Cyzewski gently but forcefully issues in Coffehouse Theology. If we are to attempt to understand God and his inspired word, the Bible, we must understand ourselves and the context in which we live, because our biases and cultural beliefs form a lens through which we see the world and the scriptures. As Ed puts it “Once we understand where we come from and who we are, we can then step into the important task of knowing God through Christian theology.” For me, just as with my experience overseas, this book was an opportunity to be challenged by a different perspective and come to understand myself as well as others more clearly. I didn’t always agree with Ed, but I could certainly appreciate where he was coming from and also appreciate the magnanimous spirit with which he presents all sides of important debates. As Ed says, he isn’t so much interested in convincing you one way or another, but rather opening a healthy dialogue, and he does just this with a light and humble touch. (Plus, I must add, I greatly appreciated his somewhat random cultural references and the use of parentheticals.) I would definitely recommend Coffeehouse Theology to anyone interested in theology as a way of better understanding God in everyday life and especially within our postmodern context. Within its pages, you just might find Enlightenment hanging out all by his lonesome, ready to go wherever the road might take you.