Two humorous images that appeared on other blogs this morning provide helpful fodder for thinking about theology. The first, from David Hayward, reminds us that the only legitimate use for theological language is as a pointer towards a transcendent reality. The more weight you give to the actual words, understood not as sacraments or symbols or poetry but as literally descriptive, the more those words will function as a ball and chain, pulling you down rather than lifting you up.
The second one, from Jim West, illustrates the problem with literalism – not to mention with those sermons that claim that every possible meaning of a word is in mind in a particular text!
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