Attempts to do theology without science are like trying to fly a kite without wind. As crucial as it is to read the early Genesis stories through ancient eyes, it is all the more essential to consider current scientific informers when it comes to drawing theological conclusions today. If you’re interested in these issues check out our book From Evolution to Eden.
Sex, celibacy, marriage, feminism, and equality are important realities and cutting edge issues today. If you’re interested in an in-depth attempt to discern what Saint Paul had to say on these topics, check out my new ebook: Living 1 Corinthians 7 with Saint Paul. Sex, Marriage, a Feminist Option, and the Rhetoric of Equality. Is Celibacy more Spiritual than Marriage?
![Living 1 Corinthians 7 with Saint Paul: Sex, Marriage, a Feminist Option and the Rhetoric of Equality. Is Celibacy more Spiritual than Marriage? by [Gregory Laughery]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51asuYb1HJL.jpg)
I’d wager Catholic, Protestant, and other church denominations have often said way too much (arrogance) and offered way too little (impoverishment). A mass Exodus is taking place and it’s hard to say what’s next.
I’d wager there are at least two types of giving: obligation and desire. These are not mutually exclusive, but the latter is less duty orientated than the former. On the one hand, when we go to the store and buy something, we are obliged to give in order to receive – this is called exchange. On the other hand, when we desire to give, we do so without receiving – this is called gift. We can say, therefore, that there are two economies – the economy of exchange and the economy of gift. Life, in general, and relationships in particular, are a radical negotiation between the two.
Relationships all too frequently come and go, but love is rare and tough in that its demands go beyond the momentary and casual. Love today has it all going against it; commitments, trust, fidelity, longevity, sacrifice, and risk, naming only a few of its infelicities. Yet, in spite of current cultural orientations towards the relationally trite and superficial, love is better by far.
The biblical text informer portrays that sin = human death, while it appears that the natural world informer depicts death as part of life – it has always been around. I’d wager that prior to human sin, death was a norm, as it still is today, but if that’s the case, it means we have to work out a biblical picture of the notion of death and the God who appears to endorse it, at least temporarily. We may not want to go here, but I think it’s worth reflecting on.
Theology is socio-culturally dependent, but God cannot
be reduced to being solely the product of socio-cultural contexts. I’d wager the
God of promise and transformation comes to humanity in and through these, but
emerges from beyond them.
