One of the foundational books for me in my sabbatical time has been "God's Life in Trinity" editted by Miroslav Volf & Michael Welker. Today I read an article from the book entitled, "Speak, 'Friend' and Enter" by Nancy Bedford in which she lifted up the value of conversation among friends as a crucial part of our theological enterprise: "I propose to probe the matter of conversation in friendship as an intergral part of a theological method born out of faith in the triune God." (page 34)
I realized as I was reading this that two of my many theological conversation partners were meeting today in Wichita without me- the Men's prayer breakfast (Studying Genesis) and the John Calvin Study group (reading the Institutes together). When I had lunch today with my lifetime theological conversation partner, Joan, she could tell by my endless talking that I was missing my other theological partners. Nancy Bedford noted in her article that when we engage in theological conversation with each other out of a shared friendship in Christ, that we are able to probe more deeply and broadly than we might explore alone. We don't always agree but in the diversity and discussion we discover a deeper and more abiding truth than if we had simply read or wondered by ourselves.
I have many theological partners in the writings of Miroslav Volf, Shirley Guthrie, Timothy Keel, Ray Anderson, Nancy Bedford, Alan Torrance, Shane Claiborne and others during my sabbatical but I am missing my normal theological conversation partners.
I am trying to become more web conversant during the time away so feel free to write me on facebook or the blog. Your friend in Christ, Rob
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