Spiritual Theology

Martin Luther emphasized a theology of the cross concerning general Christian disposition. In his day he had to deal with folks of today like Benny Hinn, who saw miracles as ways of somehow proving the truth. Today that is true also. Well I was reading this book by Simon Chan called Spiritual Theology, I just had to do the reading even though I was supposed to skip it and get ready for the next class. Chan summarizes the problem of sin nicely borrowing from the seven deadly sins, identifying it essentially as being the case of pride. I think this is very much true since one person in our class said that it comes from a distorted view of self. Naturally from this distorted view of self then flows, the sin is in the self-dilusion of our own importance. Well Chan sets this up very nicely and then summarizes concerning sin and humanity quoting Augustine he closes 'when anyone has realized that he himself is nothing, and from himself he has no help, the wepons within him are broken, the war is over.' I'm not setting up an epistemic arguement for Kiekegaard's 'leap-of-faith,' I'm trying to say that when I sin it's usually because my own view is distorted. All sin is ultimately selfish, and in ignorance it is a distorted view. I see myself in Chan's book wanting to hear a resounding 'amen' but it's difficult for me really to say that openly because no one finds glory in waving their own dirty laundry around. Chan points out that in various cultures we disquise pride with ideas of 'honor' and 'rights' but really Christianity is about grace, and laying down rights. This is ultimately the glory we should seek out as Christians, and the spiritual value we should find in the doctrine of the kenosis. I'm glad for Chan's book because he values Christian theology and sees its wider application for the Christian life.