Theology- The Study of Self

Sometimes words carry a certain array or connotation with them. When I tell people I study theology or church history it comes with it as well. I get the “you will never use that” or “that’s way over my head.” But theology is not like that at all, in fact the Reformer Martin Luther said, “We are called theologians, just as we are called Christians.” 450 years later, Karl Barth said, “A theologians who does not enjoy his work is no theologian at all.” Webster’s defines it as simply, “the study of God,” but it is more than that, it is the study of ourselves! Saint Augustine, in his famous Confessions, defined theology, or God’s revelation of Himself, as He reveal’s Himself through our own self-discovery. In Romans, Paul shows that the law did not cause him to sin but rather showed himself the sin in himself. It has been proven that a healthy prayer life can lead to a healthy lifestyle. Four centuries before Luther, Anselm of Canterbury wrote in Proslogion, “Let me seek you in longing, and long for you in seeking. Let me find you in love and love you in finding.” Self-discovery seems to be the way to find God, or rather it seems to be the preferred method of God to speak to us today.