Tall and magnificent buildings do often elicit awe from meagre men who can't afford to build a room for themselves, perhaps hardly even find a place to rest their head. Jesus's disciples in Matthew 24 were also immensely stricken by the beauty of the famous Herod's Temple. However, Jesus had a different opinion. He saw the present with the eyes of its future. He told the disciples that not one of the Temple's stone would remain upon another. Isn't that also true of any major edifice we know of today? However, that doesn't undermine their present use. If there wasn't, Jesus would not have cleansed the Temple. However, we must also learn not to be wrongly awed by shadowy visibles, while remaining oblivious of the glorious world to come. It is better to remain awed by only things that will remain to the end, and forever.
Published in REVIVE, May 2012 (Malayalam Edition) A simple and literal definition of “theology” would be “the science of divine things”. It comes from two Greek words theos meaning “God” and logia meaning “discourse or speech”. In modern times, it is the stream of knowledge that differentiates the secular pursuit of knowledge from the sacred one because of its starting point: all secular studies begin with reason and experience while theology begins with faith. The starting point for all extra-theological studies is the world (Latin: saeculum); the starting point for theology is the Word of God. So, while one may say that theology is the study of God, the factual definition would be that theology is the science that rationally pursues the understanding of the self-revelation of God in the Scriptures. It would be interesting to note that many of the universities had originally begun as seminaries and theology was once known as the Queen of Sciences. However, with the dawn of theAge of E...
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