Status Updates From A Theology for the Church

"Every pastor is called to be a theologian. This may come as a surprise to some pastors who see theology as an academic discipline taken during seminary rather than as an ongoing and central part of the pastoral calling. Nevertheless, the health of the church depends on its pastors functioning as faithful theologians - teaching, preaching, defending and applying the great doctrines of the faith" (723).

"In the beginning God created the heavens &the earth...God does not surrender this good creation to Satan but wins it back through the blood of Christ...God...recreates a world that vindicates his original creation purposes. This means not just a heavenly city of refuge for flown-away souls, but an entire universe of rocks & trees & quasars & waterfalls - everything created in which he takes delight" (712).

"Humans may pretend to be autonomous, but they live and move as subjects in a kingdom - either the kingdom of the god of this age or the kingdom of the Christ of God. The message of Christian eschatology is that the tumult of this present warfare between the people of Christ and the principalities and powers is not eternal. Armageddon has been on the horizon since Eden" (697).