New Blog

Terrance L. Tiessen, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Ethics at Providence Theological Seminary, in Manitoba, Canada, has a new blog just launched. I’ve benefited greatly from his Providence & Prayer: How Does God Work in the World? and very much look forward to his theological musings.

Terry has carefully penned his reasons for starting to blog and it’s well worth the time to read. Here’s how he begins:

Like Anselm, I have a faith that seeks understanding. I find that writing is a helpful process toward clarifying my thoughts and moving me forward in my understanding. On one occasion, in the early 1990s, while I was in the process of writing a review article of three books on the salvation of the unevangelized, my own mind changed. It took me by surprise, but I suddenly saw the subject from a different perspective and had what Kuhn might have considered a “paradigm shift.” I have rarely had occasions on which my understanding changed so dramatically in the writing process, but many times I have found my thoughts becoming more clear as I formulated them in writing.

I appreciate the opportunity to get response to my ideas from other people. I expect a blog to provide some of that, although I am aware that many “professional” theologians will scarcely have time to read my thoughts, let alone to respond. Yet all Christians should do theology, and I expect to be helped in my own understanding, even by people with limited theological training. At the very least I can learn what others have heard me to be saying. Sometimes, regrettably, this turns out to be something quite different than I intended, but discovering this is very helpful.

I like the immediacy of the blogging medium. When I have written articles or book reviews, it has frequently been a year before they have appeared in print. Books have taken years. With a blog, I can get my thoughts out in public instantly.

I appreciate the accessibility of material posted on the web. Research has indicated that the average journal article is read by very few people. Similarly, I know of people who have purchased one of my books but have not yet gotten to read it. The fact that my last two books have each been over 400 pages long, may account for some of that delay. But with the blog and my new ability to post documents for access through the web, some of my thoughts will be accessible to people in remote parts of the world, where the internet is available but books are very hard to get.

Who among us blogophiles could not agree with that?

Be sure to visit Thoughts Theological!

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