I don't know where the theology comments originate today. But I just wrote an entire book ("Freeing Jesus" comes out in March) in a genre I call "memoir-theology" (not "theological memoir") and make the claim that theology emerges from the lives of all God's people.
This is also the point of a foreword I wrote for @LaytonEWilliams' wonderful book, Holy Disunity (some screenshots below):
This foreword became the inspiration for me thinking about Jesus -- and the framework is that of my own book. A Christology of real life.
I don't even think theology is written for the church. Theology is, instead, the experience of church (God's embodiment in us) in the world. The manifestation, the epiphany of divine life in & thru human cultures & creation. As such, theology is written both in & for the world.

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More from @dianabutlerbass

29 Dec
If Mitch McConnell passes the $2000 emergency aid assistance, y'all know that it has nothing to do with compassion or helping us. It will be a calculated political payment to purchase two Senate seats in Georgia.
...and if and when they pass it, their first act in the new GOP-controlled senate will be to defund any and every social program that Biden proposes or wants to strengthen. Because "budget deficit" and "fiscal responsibility."
Basically, they are setting up a Sophie's Choice scenario - $2000 now to get thru this part of the pandemic in trade for health care and social security later.
Read 5 tweets
28 Dec
The top 5 most popular posts at the cottage from 2020! A surprising round-up of faith, culture, and politics.

Thanks for joining me! And sign-up to get The Cottage directly to your mailbox in 2021.

Best of The Cottage dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/best-of-the-…
#5: The Price of Power

When Trump promised his Christian followers “power,” I questioned both the sort of power he wanted and the kind of power Christianity can and should exercise.

dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/the-price-of…
#4 The Importance of "And"

With Kamala Harris's nomination as the Democratic VP candidate, I ruminated on the small conjunction, “and,” exploring the radical social message of inclusion of the early Christian community from a forgotten ancient creed.

dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/the-importan…
Read 6 tweets
17 Dec
What is the matter with seminary education? I just had to explain to a really smart student who Charlotte von Kirschbaum was -- no one ever told him about Karl Barth's live-in secretary/mistress who basically co-authored (without credit of course) the "Church Dogmatics."
She was Barth's student. He moved her into house to "help" his wife and assist with his writing.
Christianity Today calls it Barth's "steadfast adultery."

Ugh.
Read 4 tweets
23 Nov
Thanksgiving and Christmas are so beautiful - my favorite time of the year. Not only do I love the celebrations but I love the rich spiritual and theological dimensions that attend them.
That we have a holiday to recall gifts, generosity, and gratitude - a day that spiritually "fits" with many traditions, including religious and secular ones - is lovely.

Less than 20 countries have a day set aside for Thanksgiving. And we're one of them!
Gratitude is such an important spiritual practice, a fundamental human practice really. It is truly something we share no matter how or if we believe in God.

And for Christians, it is an often unnoticed but important theological theme across the entire New Testament.
Read 9 tweets
17 Nov
In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus literally said "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (debts=Aramaic "choba").

William Tyndale purposefully translated it as "trespasses" because he feared English readers would think Jesus wanted monetary debt abolished.
Choba meant both sin and debt.

I think Jesus knew exactly what he meant. Sin was debt and debt was sin. A rich theological ambiguity that reflects both Jesus' concern for forgiveness and the command for Jubilee.
It is vaguely hilarious that a 16th language scholar was worried that regular people would see the Bible as justification to cancel debts - and that he felt it his mission to put a lid on such a literal reading.
Read 8 tweets
3 Nov
Well, on this election eve, a few words.

Over the last 4 yrs, I've done my best here to help you thru this storm - lending voice to Christians who have known Trump threatened both our democracy and the beauty of the faith we treasure.
I am so grateful for the friends and allies made in this bleak time. For those who reached over religious, political, and racial boundaries to stand for and act on justice. To embody the better angels of the American soul.

We have formed a great cloud of witnesses.
We have listened to and learned from one another. We have changed in good ways. We've had our hearts broken. But we have remained true to the America we believe can come into being.

Despite in all, we believe in common good, love of neighbor, and decency and kindness.
Read 12 tweets

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