Introduction to Theology
Welcome to the Theology Group curriculum, an eight-week study designed to introduce concepts in Christian theology and help move persons –especially Lutheran persons! - toward a deeper faith life. This curriculum was originally designed for students at Texas A&M and Blinn College who expressed a readiness to move to greater depths and wrestle with harder questions as part of their faith formation. Our prayer in sharing this curriculum is that this study and your group conversations might challenge and help your faith grow to new depths as well.
A few notes before beginning…. Questions! Each session (after the first) starts with a question (for example, Who is God?). In the previous week, the group leader will ask participants to answer this question in two ways: 1) What does your “first faith” tell you about this question (the “Sunday School” answer); and 2) What are the questions/issues you have related to your first faith answer. Identifying first faith responses and critical questions are necessary to move onto the lesson around “deeper faith.”
Readiness! If after the first week, a participant finds that she or he really isn’t ready or willing to engage these questions, that’s okay! It’s important to recognize that this study will not be the right fit for all of us right now – after all, our faith lives tend to move at different paces based on the differing realities in our lives. This study presupposes a level of readiness and openness – so know that if that’s not a good fit right now, that’s okay!
Commit and Conversation! Because the material builds on the previous week’s engagement, and because the material can feel a little intense, it’s best to commit to the full eight weeks. In the original group, we had two requirements: only one absence (if necessary) and have a prayer & conversation partner to process the material with outside of the group.
Companion Reading! Because much of this material comes from the work of Ted Peters, the group leader (or those who have studied theology before) might find it helpful to have Peter’s God – the World’s Future (2nd edition) at hand and/or to be reading it simultaneously. The curriculum attempts to put his and other theologians’ ideas into a more accessible language; accordingly, some of the theological nuance is lost.
Tweak! Undoubtedly, some of the material will need to be tweaked based on differing issues and questions in each setting. To those leading the study: tweak away! Feel free to change, modify, add, delete, and alter as desired. If you have a favorite theologian who fits your context better, great! However this study best works for you, feel free to modify accordingly.
Faith Practice! Sometimes the study of theology can start to feel a little disconnected from our actual faith life. Because the purpose of this group is faith formation (as opposed to just good conversation!), each week, we incorporated some type of faith practice into the study – for example, guided meditation on the theme, walking a labyrinth, affirming our faith together, writing a new liturgy, etc. We did this for the last 10-15 minutes of group time.
Blessings on your journey! Pastor Mindy Roll