In our day of post-charismatic, post-evangelical, socially conscious, neo-reformed seeker churches, the body of Christ desperately needs theologians of the beauty of God. We need men and women who love systematic theology and also radiate with burning hearts for the beauty of God. We need wholehearted disciples with disciplined minds and passionate joy for intimacy with Jesus. Thomas Dubay in his masterful work, The Evidential Power of Beauty, writes, “In our modern period there is a great need to reunite what God has joined together: theology and sanctity, intellectual competence and burning love—which is to say that the beautiful must be a prime part of the biblical and theological.”
We might say we are in desperate need of, “kneeling theologians,” (in contrast to sitting ones). Kneeling theologians are wholehearted lovers of God with keen minds who receive revelation through intimate communion with Him. One of the greatest disasters of the church has been the separation of biblical theology from experiential holiness. We need men and women of high intellectual discipline who endeavor to intimately meet with Jesus—they are deep in their contemplation of God, (through prayer and meditation), even as they diligently study about God, (through theology and doctrine).
Hearts and minds on fire are the marks of a new generation of theologians and pastors. David’s worldview of leadership is desperately needed today—Isaiah called them “…The sure mercies of David…I have given him as a witness to the people…”(Isa 55:3-4, NKJV). David is a witness to us of the first worshipper and warrior—a kneeling theologian of God’s beauty. (Ps. 27:4, NKJV).
Endeavoring to be a kneeling theologian,
Steve
Steve Holt D.D. MA
www.steveholtonline.org
www.theroad.org
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