It looked like “Ladies Night” at Theology Pub this week. Although we advertise this monthly event in our Grace magazine, many assumed it was only for men. But in truth it is for adults (men and women) who want to hang out, have fun, and talk theology. Word got out and we were evenly divided this month between men and women. Some of the regulars were missing, but we had a great time eating Shamrock Wings (yeah baby!) while beginning a dialogue about the covenants of God.
We looked closely at a good definition of “covenant” by O. Palmer Robertson, discussed the nature of these covenants, their place in the history of redemption, and how this study is relevant to us. Understanding the covenants is not a throwback to medieval, religious scholasticism which often sought to understand theological minutiae. The covenants reveal the character of God, his plan of salvation and the goal of history. At evey point in history humanity’s relationship with God has been covenantal. This is true today even of those who do not know Jesus. Therefore, the study of the covenants is important and practical. I wont lay out all of the arguments here, you’ll just have to come to Theology Pub to join in the conversation. Next month we begin to look closely at the covenants themselves. If you want to read along side our discussion, a good place to start is O. Palmer Robertson’s The Christ of the Covenants.
I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship; husband to Jen; Dad to Katherine, Elias, Madeline, and Kilian. If you're in town you can probably find me in the local coffee house or running through the neighborhoods.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
you should do a 40 Days of Covenants study
I found Cardinal Ratzinger’s book “Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, the Church, and the World” to be a really interesting explanation of covenant theology. He sounds almost Reformed, but he places the eucharist at the center of the New Covenant based on Jesus words at the Last Supper. very interesting.
Funny John Mark. lol.
Just for clarity, and for the benefit of those who are joining us for Theology Pub – Ratzinger is not reformed, and his theology is not “Covenant Theology.” His theology naturally deals with the covenants, and will have some overlap in seeing unity in the covenants, but it is a different theology all together. This doesn’t mean Ratzinger is not worth a read, but I would caution most away from it.
HAHA!
have you read his book? i probably should have been more clear. He sounds almost reformed but he ends up a million miles away. He develops the continuity of the covenants similar to reformed folks, but he brings in incarnation/Christology and takes the new covenant in an entirely different direction(transubstantiation, eternal sacrifice of Christ).
Joe-
Is Jenny crying in the picture? Are the rest of you laughing at her for crying? Just wondering. Just like the last picture, do you ever smile? Maybe we should take a collection and get you smiling lessons.
(Yes I am just jealous that I have to work nights and can’t be there. So the way I make myself feel better about that is to make fun of those who were there.)
Joe doesn’t like to show his front teeth (one has a skull and crossbones on it and the other has “666″ inscribed in gold).
It’s platinum.