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Browsing School of Theology by Author "Albin Swai, Frederick"

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    Concatenation of Theodynamics: God's Saving Plan throughout History an Exegesis of Matthew 4:23
    (Tangaza University College, 2006) Albin Swai, Frederick
    One thing in the study of theology that still remains in my mind unforgotten from the first year of theology onwards is what is known as theological methodology. There are six steps in this methodology that is concerned with how to think theologically. Roughly the steps are: (i) question (ii) research (iii) history (iv) reflection (v) answer and (vi) your own statement'. Coming to the end of the four-year study of theology, I was wondering what can be considered as my own statement in summing up the theological questions I met and continue to meet. The professor who taught me Fundamental theology insisted that the last step can be frightening but as Peter made the statement: EU ci 6 XpiotOc (You are the Christ) (Mk 8:27-30) one has to make a statement. Doing theology is not teaching theology and one has to go beyond the class room work. Working on theological methodology, I came up with my own concept, theodynarnics . I have been influenced by the laws of thermodynamics in Chemistry. In a simplified way we can generally say the laws deal with heat and energy transfer in a system. From a closed system they can be extended to the transfer of energy (entropy) that occurs throughout the universe. Comparatively in my study of theology, I have reflected on the history of salvation as the history of God's glory and power being at work in history and in the universe. Dynamics which is from a Greek word 56vainc ( power ) is defined as "the branch of mechanics concerned with the motion of bodies under the action of forees" 2 . Thus combining the Greek word for God, 0c6c and 56vailic we get 66vaptc meaning theodynamcis, and we can easily get the concept that God is the power that continuously moves the universe; in other words theodynamics can sum up our reflection about God's action in the universe and in history. God remains a mystery in a sense that he cannot be understood fully or fit in the frame of our minds. However, God cannot be pushed to the recede of our minds. Thus, the question, "who is God to me?" always pops up in the mind of a human being. Following the steps of theological methodology the question "who is God to me?" is the question that will be pursued in this paper. In researching for the answer to this question I have gone to the Old Testament to review the history of salvation. I have picked up Matthew's Gospel as the window through which we can see the concept of theodynamics. In his use of 'fulfillment citations' Matthew takes us in 'flashbacks' to the action of God in the Old Testament. He does this to give his community a sense of living and a sense of direction. That is why we have to learn from Matthew about how to handle our faith and our lives. The "Great Commission" (Matt 28:16-20), assures us that theodynamics is an unending process, and God is constantly busy in history and in the universe. Mark Smith's book, The Early Histoty of God, deals with the history of Israel, how they started as polytheists and moved on to monotheism. The last chapter of his book gives a kind of summing up the whole of his research 3 . I remember in the Eschatology class approaching Fr. Fogliacco about this book in relation to what he was teaching. The answer he gave me was that we have to differentiate history from theology. Indeed I want to hint it here too that theology is people's refection on what God has done in their lives and in history. We can't go through theology as if we are searching for facts; theology is faith seeking understanding. The concept of the concatenation of theodynamics as it hit my mind tries to explain how God has been passionately busy in the world from the beginning, right from creation onwards. Unlike the human beings who may change the decisions they make, God has been faithful to his word. The history of salvation can be seen as the history of God's faithfulness. This, I hope, will become clearer at the end of this essay. I have divided the essay into three chapters. The first chapter will give a quick view on the Gospel of Matthew to show how the gospel is one piece of work that is very much interconnected so that to understand one part necessarily needs to link it with the other parts. The chapter will also deal with introductory questions necessary for the exegetical work done in chapter two. The third chapter will show how God's plan of salvation is a single plan throughout history. Appendix V will give a portrayal of the concept of theodynamics.