Saturday, January 19, 2008

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

Eugene Peterson has a series of 5 books, 2 still unpublished and 3 done. One of which I have already blogged about, Eat This Book. Currently, I am reading Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. Eugene Peterson has been a longtime favorite of mine. I remember being blown away by Working the Angles back in the early 90's. I still gain fresh insight into scripture from his translation of the Bible, The Message.

Hear this from the introduction.
"The two terms "spiritual" and "theology," keep good company with one another. "Theology" is the attention that we give to God, the effort we give to knowing God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and in Jesus Christ. "Spiritual" is the insistence that everything that God reveals of himself and his works is capable of being lived by ordinary men and women in their homes and workplaces. "Spiritual" keeps "theology" from degenerating into merely thinking and talking and writing about God at a distance. "Theology" keeps "spiritual" from becoming merely thinking and talking and writing about the feelings and thoughts one has about God. The two words need each other, for we know how easy it is for us to let our study of God (theology) get separated from the way we live; we also know how easy it is to let our desires to live whole and satisfying lives (spiritual lives) get disconnected from who God actually is and the ways he works among us.
Spiritual theology is the attention we give to lived theology - prayed and lived, for if it is not prayed sooner or later it will not be lived from the inside out and in continuity with the Lord of life. Spiritual theology is the attention that we give to living what we know and believe about God. It is the thoughtful and obedient cultivation of life as worship on our knees before God the Father, of life as sacrifice on our feet following God the Son, and of life as love embracing and being embraced by the community of God the Spirit."

Wow, I wish we could hang out at Starbucks for a while and talk about this. Doesn't it make you want to read this book!

4 comments:

Frank Bellizzi said...

Yes, it DOES make me want to read this book. He's such a wise, thoughtful person. I have learned something good from everything I've read of his. Thanks for the recommendation.

preacherman said...

Great post.
I love this book and Starbucks!
I'll have a Venti Carmel Breve Latte'!

Amy S. Grant said...

I just picked up Eat this Book. Oh my. We definitely need a Starbucks!

Cassie said...

Wow, that is a wonderfully worded and well thought out description of spiritual theology! I think I many have to look into the book as well!
P.S. I enjoyed seeing you at Andrea's shower the other day!