Author: Todd Vasquez
-
Sources, Rationales, Concerns
1. We fear an unknown future, a future we surmise will, like the past, bring us both blessings and woe. 2. Using induction, properly, we surmise that the future will resemble the past. 3. Despite our justification for remaining optimistic about blessings to come, the woes (and our fear of their realistic potential), loom LARGE:…
-
Just Walk and Do Not Be Afraid
I was reading through Psalm 23 in Hebrew this week, marking it up on the Accordance app on my iPhone, and something occurred to me for the first time: There are only two things the person in this psalm is seemingly asked to do: “Just walk and do not be afraid.” With the exception…
-
A Zacchaean Approach to Ministry
I’d like to tell you a story—actually, three stories—that completely changed the way I think about “church” or “ministry.” My wife and I were part of a Bible Study group that met in Chicago a number of years ago. It was the typical Bible Study gathering of people from different walks of life. There were…
-
Dear Melissa: A Response to Your Question on Hell
At the risk of posting a long response to your question about Rob Bell’s book on hell on my facebook wall, I’ll post it here. I have not read Rob Bell’s book Love Wins, so I cannot comment on the merits or demerits of the book. But I can speak on a couple of things…
-
Who is Richard of St. Victor?
Who is Richard of St. Victor? I’ve never heard of him. Why is that? How does he compare with better known theologians like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas? Richard of St. Victor was a 12th century theologian living in Paris just before the creation of the very first university there. He, like many of…
-
Why don’t we hear about theologians as much today?
This really has more to do with the location and time period in which you live. In the middle east, for example, theologians—in the form of imams and clerics—are heard about and from all the time. They are the authoritative voices in their cities and culture. There was a time when the same could be…
-
What do you see as the most pressing spiritual need in our world today?
The most pressing spiritual need in our world today is people who know how to regularly pay attention to the best of all things. Curbing this fundamental spiritual problem thus entails two things: (1) learning how to pay attention, and (2) connecting with / knowing about / experiencing the best of all things. In the…
-
If God is a Trinity of Persons, and wants us to know this, why make it so impossible to understand?
If God is a Trinity of Persons, and wants us to know this, why make it so impossible to understand? Furthermore, if entrusting oneself to Jesus is all that’s necessary to inherit eternal life, isn’t belief in the Trinity and discussion about it a bit superfluous? Or, isn’t it sufficient to believe that God is a Trinity…
-
So you’re a theologian and a computer programmer. Those two things seem pretty far apart. How did those two things come together for you?
I’ve always had a curiosity and interest in computer programming, ever since my days in the fourth grade when I made little user-interactive knock-knock jokes using a Texas Instruments computer. Those with analytical minds often have an affinity for the technological as well as the scholarly. But the greatest fusion of academics and technology really…
-
What advice do you have for others who are looking to pursue a degree in Theology, Philosophy, or Bible?
You are choosing to study two of the most important subjects to know. But you should do your homework by reading up on various professors you’d like to study with before applying to a school. These are the mentors who are going to help shape and refine you as a person. The more you know…