A Bold Claim about Theology

A Bold Claim about Theology

Theology is everything, but not everything is theology. That’s my paraphrase of the old saying that “Economics is everything, but not everything is economic.”

Theology is everything. What does it mean? There is no area of life that is entirely divorced from theology, that falls entirely outside of theology’s realm of judgment.

Some people wondered why I, a theologian, had so much to say about politics. Theology includes politics. Politics does not include theology.

See the quote from theologian-politician Abraham Kyuper above. Kuyper was a Dutch Reformed minister who became prime minister of the Netherlands.

Theologian Hans Frei said that for the Christian “The Bible absorbs the world.”

That is my position and my defense. Because Jesus Christ is lord of all, everything falls within the purview of Christian theology—including politics and government and economics and … everything.

That does not mean being a theologian makes me an expert in everything. It means there is no area of life that cannot legitimately be reflected on by a theologian. Theology is not a privatized realm that deals only with “faith.”

Our Western cultures (European and North American) have fallen into the error of thinking of all religion, including Christianity, as private, separated from everything else in a water-tight compartment. As Christians we cannot accept that because Jesus Christ is lord of all.

For us, all politics, all government, falls under the judgment of the kingdom of God. How does it measure up compared with the kingdom of God?

This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant when he spoke on Berlin radio in 1933 about the concept of “Der Fuhrer” and said that there is only one true leader—Jesus Christ. Any politician or government leader who claims to be leader (or wants to be leader) is to be judged by Jesus Christ.

So, whatever I talk about here is from a “faith perspective.” For me, there is no other perspective. I do not accept the “sacred versus secular” division that our culture attempts to impose on me. Neither should you, if you are a Christian. Nothing is secular in the sense of being irrelevant to Christian faith. We see everything through the lens of faith.

Theology is everything even if not everything is theology.

*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*