Theology Offers Us Wisdom through the Word
Sociobiologist Edward Wilson wrote in 1998, "We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom."
Almost thirty years later we can ask ourselves, "Are we any better off?" I'm afraid the answer is a resounding "No!" We are no closer to wisdom in the twenty-first century than we were at the close of the twentieth. Living in a complex universe, we are constantly bombarded with new information about it and about how we are to live in it. For example, for years we heard that drinking a glass or red wine each day was good for the health of our hearts. Now we hear that drinking any amount of alcohol a day is unhealthy and that any daily consumption of alcohol puts us at a greater risk for cancer.
It is not information that people really need to live in the world, although information is important. Instead, what Christianity offers us is a lens to see things in a new way with the important result that we can act and think wisely in the world. Augustine of Hippo declared some 1600 years ago, the Christian gospel "heals the eyes of the heart," leading people to affective and imaginative living and transforms the way in which they understand themselves and the world. Theology, by setting out a vision of the world and our place in it, helps us make wise decisions that really matter.
Augustine goes on to write, "Holy Scripture speaks like this: 'People are like grass; their glory is like a flower in the field. The grass withes and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures for ever' (1 Peter 1:24-25). So if anyone longs for true rest and happiness, they ought not to set their hope on things that are mortal and transitory, but rather fix it on the word of the Lord, so that, by holding firm to that which endures for ever, they may endure for ever with it."
Theology offers us wisdom through engagement with God's word and how we apply it in daily living.
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