Lauren Ducommun

Book Review:
Fruitful Theology by Ronni Kurtz
B&H Books, 2022

“From the greatest vocational theologian to the newest believer who is for the first time thinking about God and his world, may we all find that the life of our minds leads to the life of our souls.”

Theology, the study of God, should change us and the way we live. It is meant for everyone, and when we study who God is, that knowledge should result in us becoming more like him, with our lives characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. Unfortunately, theology can become a battle of intellect or tribalism which can lead to disunity.

Kurtz writes winsomely about how to study theology so that we grow in wisdom and bear a fruitful theology. He says, “[t]heology used poorly can indeed have sad outcomes, yet theology done well can drive the virtues that make up the fruit of the Spirit deep in our soul that we become Christians marked by wisdom and stability.”

Kurtz also touches on the transcendentals and quotes from Jen Wilkin, Augustine, and Lewis. So I feel like I found a likeminded friend.

Quotes:

”Does the way you think about theology, the way you do theology, and the way you talk about theology typically lead to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?”

“Theological wisdom is not microwavable. To arrive at a place of wisdom in the theological life, you will need wrestling, contemplation, prayer, and patience.”

“We ought to be a people who think hard and think often, a people who read deep and read wide. For, in re-plumbing the beautiful depths of theological beauty, we will be reminded of God’s faithfulness to us and, in turn, have our faithfulness toward him reinforced.”

”Fiction is simply the schoolmaster of beauty, which is a shadow of the real beauty behind God’s actual word.”

”Far from the caricature that theology is something done by academics in ivory towers and has no meaning for our lives, theology is the act of wrestling with God until we see his glory and it transforms our souls.”