That's Theological

A dear friend was in school with me during my first semester in Seminary and did much to help me transition into the world of theological studies. One of the key ingredients to that successful transition was insightful humor. Humor can be a grace-filled gift in many realms of life – but it was an essential aspect of those first few months of serious theological inquiry. Humor had a way of keeping us grounded in ironic reality when we were on the verge of being carried away by our newly acquired theological insights. Yet the grounding that humor provided was also a stepping stone to a broader awareness of the possibility of theological thinking.

In class one evening an excellent professor, in an attempt to assist us over the hurdle of learning to think theologically, began to list words and themes and after each one stated – “that’s theological”. Of course, the helpfulness of this phrase did not occur to my friend and me at the time, we instead took humor and delight in this phrase and carried it with us into our daily living. We would banter and in the middle of whatever we were talking about one of us would say with all seriousness – “that’s theological”. It provided joy without end when we would say it about the most mundane subjects which on first glance have no theological bearing at all – and it still brings a subtle smile to our lips today, years later, when one of us decides to throw it into conversation.

Humor kept the phrase ‘that’s theological’ at the forefront of my thinking about most things – which in turn opened me up to actually thinking theologically about unexpected subjects. I was no longer confined to just thinking theologically within the constraints of the more obvious theological topics but was instead allowed to approach any topic with an eye for theological relevance. I assume that this openness was what my professor was trying to offer us when she offered us the phrase ‘that’s theological’ and I am thankful that the intention of it finally sunk in – even if it was only through humor that I stuck with it long enough to begin to understand.

Humor – That’s Theological.