Theology Doodles: Understanding Theology Through Images

Theology Doodles aims to simplify theological concepts through images, emphasizing the significance of the table in representing the Christian gospel.

### The Christian Gospel and Theology Explained Through the Metaphor of a Table
* 🍽 Theology can be understood more intuitively through images, as they can be **engraved in one's mind** and **evoke understanding more effectively** than numerous explanations.
* 🚂 The traditional image of the "Salvation Train" as salvation being a **passive experience** and symbolizing an **escape from this world** does not fully capture the concept of the Kingdom of God coming to **transform this world**.
* 🌍 The image of a table can comprehensively contain various narratives of **salvation and theological themes**, starting with **creation as God's invitation to communion**.
* 👥 Human beings, created in the image of God, are beings in relationship, but the Fall represents the **rupture of that relationship through sin**.
* ✝ Salvation, as the ongoing process of becoming more like God through communion with Him, is symbolized as a table where **unworthy beings are graciously invited to dine with God**.
* ⛪ The church is formed by people gathering around this table, **breaking down social barriers** and **embodying the kingdom of God**.
* 🍞 Communion, as an act of **remembering Jesus' sacrifice and grace**, is like a Canaan wedding feast where **unqualified individuals are welcomed to the table**.
* 📚 The metaphor of the table and the importance of communion in understanding the Christian gospel and theology are inspired by Professor Kim Ho-kyung's "**The Story of Jesus' Table**" and William Willimon's "**The Table**".

So, I will now try to cover the major themes of theology through this dining table image. So, all the core elements of theology are here. Hello, this is Jang Min-hyuk from today's theological study. Today, I have prepared a new corner ambitiously. I am trying to introduce a new corner called Theology Doodles. It may end after today, but let's see the response first. Theology is all written in sentences and it's hard to understand. So, I thought about how to understand theology more intuitively. I felt the power of images. When you look at a certain image or drawing, that image gets engraved in your mind. Sometimes, even after decades, it comes to mind, and there are moments when you understand just by looking at one drawing, more than numerous explanations. That's why.

What if we try to understand theological concepts or expressions through drawings? That's what I thought, and then there are some good drawings, right? So, I kept collecting them. It would be nice to explain these concepts with drawings, right? So, as I gathered them, I thought I should bring them out at some point. Now, I will give it a try. So, I have prepared an image for today. Let's take a look at this doodle together. So, here we have a table, right? It's a drawing of food set on the table. I thought this table might be the best image to show what the gospel is. How about you? What image do you have for the gospel, the good news of salvation? When I was young, the trend was the salvation tea. So, the hymn...

We used to have Culture Night at the church, right? When we had Culture Night, we would always do things like dance, sing hymns like Salvation Train, worship, CCD, and so on. I couldn't dance anymore, so I didn't do those things, but my friends did. So, the image of the Salvation Train is in my mind. There's a train, and getting on it means salvation. This image definitely has its advantages. We are people who couldn't be saved, but by God's grace, we got on board for salvation. However, while there are advantages, there are also parts of this image that could lead to misunderstandings about salvation or the gospel. First of all, getting on this train is a bit too passive of an experience. It's like we were taken on board the train for salvation, we received salvation, and we got on the train. But then, what should we do next?

Can I just watch outside like this? After riding the salvation train, there's nothing to do. But I've been going to church since I was about ten years old, and I lived until about 80 years old. So, if I ride the salvation train for 70 years, what should I do? So, in this aspect, it's a bit of a weak image to further develop my imagination. I feel like that. And then, the bigger issue is that there is an image of riding this train and escaping somewhere. So, we were here on this earth, riding the salvation train, departing like this, symbolizing and somewhat escaping from this world to some kind of heavenly kingdom. But the Bible, the gospel, talks about the kingdom of God coming to this earth, showing the concept of the kingdom of God that has already begun on this earth. It shows leaving the given earth and going to heaven.

It seems like salvation is not something that happens outside of this world but is ultimately completed through the transformation of this world at the end of times, which seems to be a concept close to the Kingdom of God that the Bible talks about. The salvation train doesn't seem to portray that image very well, I think. On the contrary, the image of this table seems to evoke a point where various narratives of salvation, stories of the gospel, can be contained more comprehensively, continuously sparking my imagination. So, I will try to tie various major themes of eschatological theology with this image of the table. All the core elements of theology can be slightly intertwined here, you see. Therefore, first, let's look at creation. Why did God create this world? To establish relationships. So, the God that my Christianity believes in, whether it's God the Father or just God, created the world for the sole purpose of forming relationships.

It is not just one person, but the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who have been together since eternity, interacting, conversing, and communicating with each other. Believing in this one God who has existed in this relationship is the essence of our Christian faith. This is the most distinctive feature that sets Christianity apart from various other religions. Christian theology believes that the starting point is right here. Therefore, God, who was in communion from the beginning, created the universe to invite us into His full communion. By emptying Himself and through His self-emptying, He prepared a space for creation and made the world of creatures. Thus, the event of creation was to make beings who could commune together. In other words, it's like this table inviting us to a meal, saying, Let's eat together, let's talk, inviting humans and all creatures to share a meal and have a conversation.

So, the human being invited to the table of God, where he can contemplate the presence, what kind of being is that human being? When we look into this human being, we express that the human being is in the image of God. But here, we can also say that this image of God is precisely the third person of the Trinity, the image of God in unity. In other words, it means being invited as a companion. Being able to sit at the table with God, to have various conversations with God, eat together, laugh, joke, and that's how we were invited. And such a being is originally human. So, what is a human being? I think the best description is a being in relationship. However, the Bible shows the event where this human being fell. So, what is the fall of this human being? Ultimately, it means the relationship was severed.

We used to sit around the table, chatting happily, but at some point, humans refuse the invitation from God, rejecting the relationship with Him, and leave abruptly. Ultimately, this behavior is a form of sin. They end up living a life where they reject not only God but also their neighbors and all other creations, moving forward with a self-centered existence. This behavior, which distances them from God, leads them to kill their fellow human beings, exploit others, and exploit other creatures, is seen throughout the Old Testament. It's really a disgraceful pronunciation, isn't it? God, who created us in His image, even allows us to commune with Him, has invited us to this table, but leaving in haste, like reckless individuals, is what some humans do. For such beings, God...

Coming into this world in a body is an incident of the Holy Trinity, and all the events of God, Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins and rising again, is a journey of salvation. Ultimately, the salvation is about the grace given to unworthy beings who rejected the teachings of God, so that they can sit at this table again. Therefore, when we look at the Gospels, it would be nice to examine this salvation. In the Gospel of Luke, the journey of salvation is clearly presented. Surprisingly, many parables related to this table are used in this journey of salvation. Jesus was born in a manger, symbolically showing that He came to this earth giving His body, which is His life, to us from the beginning. If we carefully observe the ministry of Jesus, we can see that there are many instances of eating together.

Jesus, are you just eating? Stories keep coming up about Jesus constantly eating, to the point where people criticize Him for it. The meals He shares with others ultimately represent the feast of the Kingdom of God, showing the restored relationship and completed salvation in our lives. Throughout His life, He continues to demonstrate this, such as at the well in Samaria with the living water, various events, the Passover meal the night before His arrest, instructing the disciples about the communion, His death on the cross, resurrection, Peter's eating after that, and more. Through these acts of eating, it seems like He is showing me what salvation is through these symbolic meals. Salvation given to me as a gift doesn't end abruptly.

I just sat here at the end of the table. That's not it. By sitting here, salvation continues to take place. What does that mean? It means that as we eat and spend time with God, we become more like Him. We continue to be born again and sanctified as little Christs, becoming beings resembling God. So, just think about everyday life. There are people we spend a lot of time with, like family, friends, or even partners like spouses. As we continue to spend time together, we discover that we are becoming very similar to each other. Therefore, people who eat together often end up resembling each other. So, being able to sit at the table with God and eat together ultimately means continuously becoming more like God, and in the end, salvation is about that.

The remarkable event of being invited to this place by someone unqualified seems to be not just a one-time grace but rather an ongoing eternal process of becoming more like God in the midst of dining with God, studying with God, and being with God. So, I think salvation is about that. We could reflect on the mystery of the table through this. However, this table is not just a table for God and me, but a table where people who believe in God together, who are called to the place of believing in God together, gather. Therefore, those people form a community together, eating together with God, which can also be called a meal gathering. These people are the ones who make up the church. So, in the end, by adding a few more spoons and chairs to this table, and having more people sit around, they form a church.

Alone, the controversy of God is not just enjoying the grace of salvation but also establishing a relationship with God, fellow believers, neighbors, creation, and people, forming a community together and living as a church. Therefore, when we look at the history of Christianity, there was always one thing that never changed as an absolute sign of the church. And what is that? It is the communion. Communion is something that Jesus Himself instructed us to do, and it has been continued since the early gatherings of the church. Communion, well, what is it? Now, we take this bread, break it like this, and drink this, well, wine. It's not just about breaking a piece of bread and eating it. Initially, I heard that communion was done in the form of sharing a meal together. Sharing a meal and fellowship in that moment of eating together, so in that relationship, the act of eating together, perhaps.

I think showing the image of the kingdom of God the best, in the end, is like a Canaan wedding feast. It's a kind of feast where unqualified people and those who cannot enter here all sit around happily, talking, singing, playing, and eating to their heart's content. That is the feast, and that is the kingdom of God. So, through the communion, we commemorate Jesus' sacrifice, salvation, and grace, and we also remember how Jesus emptied himself and gave himself to us. We, too, should empty ourselves for our neighbors, invite them to this place, welcome those who are marginalized, without considering any cost or qualification, and just accept them. These are the things that are revealed through this communion, I think. Therefore, when you look at this church, the most amazing thing about the inviting church is that it broke down the walls. In the Roman class society, there are no slaves, no masters.

There were no distinctions, no men, no women, no Jews, no Greeks, but everyone could share a meal together, sitting at the same table, looking at each other. Isn't it amazing that we can eat together? About a hundred years ago, even in Korea, men and women couldn't eat together, and noblemen and commoners ate separately. But over 2,000 years ago, surpassing all that, a community where people could eat together was formed. Isn't that truly a miraculous thing? Isn't it like the kingdom of God being realized on earth, showing the kingdom of God? I think any church, any form of the church that contains the kingdom of God, was also achieved through a table. I think this has great significance. So, I thought that the church should continue to build and add more spoons and put in more chairs.

I think ultimately, we need to eat together, which is essentially a mission on this earth. In the end, when all creatures are transformed anew and enter into the place of eternal communion with God, isn't that the end? So, in the end, within this image of a table, isn't the entire grand story of the Christian gospel contained? God created us, humans sinned, but He bestows the grace of salvation again, establishes the church, and through the church, the story of God's kingdom being restored might be shown through this table. I've thought about it this way. So, while it may not perfectly explain all of Christian theology or the gospel, could it be helpful for us to recall theological concepts, narratives, and stories through a single image?

I want to ask you what the gospel is, what salvation is. If someone asks like this, if you think about it, how about trying to explain it with the concept of a table? Today, the story I am going to tell is not something I made up on my own, of course. First of all, I was greatly inspired by Professor Kim Ho-kyung's story of Jesus' table. So, Professor Kim has interpreted the table and the metaphors in the Gospel of Luke in various ways and structured the story in a book. From there, he focused on explaining the relationship between salvation and the table. I also borrowed a lot from that part, and at the same time, I think it can encompass not only salvation but also a big story from creation to the church to the end.

I thought about it and expanded on the story a bit. Also, there is a book that inspired me about the importance of the table or communion, it's a book called The Table of William Willimon. It's a truly beautiful book. I also had the experience of writing a song about communion. It's a book that has inspired many of you. So, for those of you who are interested in thinking more about the metaphor of the table, I recommend looking into these two books I mentioned. There is a hymn about the Lord's communion as well. By examining the lyrics of that hymn carefully, you can think more about the theological stories of salvation, resurrection, and life as a witness that the communion provides. That's all for today's preparation. I will come back with more good content next time.

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오늘의 신학공부

Using Drawings to Understand Theological Concepts

Jang Min-hyuk introduces a new segment called Theology Doodles to explain theological concepts through drawings, aiming to provide a more intuitive understanding.

He uses the image of a table with food to represent the gospel, challenging the traditional concept of the "Salvation Train" that symbolizes a passive experience and escaping from the earth, which contradicts the idea of the kingdom of God coming to this earth.

The Concept of Salvation and the Table in Christian Theology

Salvation is seen as the transformation of the world at the end of times, closely related to the Kingdom of God in the Bible.

The image of the table is seen as a comprehensive container for various narratives of salvation, tying in major themes of eschatological theology.

According to Christian belief, God created the world to establish relationships and invite all beings into communion, similar to the table inviting others to a meal and conversation.

The Symbolism of Eating in the Journey of Salvation

Humans' rejection of God and a self-centered existence leads to sin and exploitation of others, as seen in the Old Testament.

The journey of salvation, as presented in the Gospel of Luke, is symbolically linked to the act of eating together, representing restored relationships and grace.

Jesus's constant acts of sharing meals with others symbolize the feast of the Kingdom of God and demonstrate the ongoing nature of the gift of salvation.

The Significance of Eating Together in Salvation and Community Formation

Eating and spending time with God is seen as a way to become more like Him, leading to ongoing salvation and sanctification.

This act of dining with God is also a way for believers to form a community and church, emphasizing the importance of sharing meals together.

Communion, as instructed by Jesus, has been a longstanding tradition in the church, originally involving the sharing of meals and fellowship among believers.

The Significance of Communion in Revealing the Kingdom of God

Communion symbolizes Jesus' sacrifice, salvation, and grace, as well as the call to empty ourselves for others.

It represents breaking down barriers and welcoming all, regardless of status or background.

The act of eating together in the church mirrors the realization of the kingdom of God on earth and symbolizes the grand story of the Christian gospel.

The Concept of the Table in Relation to Salvation and the Gospel

The concept of the table is used as a metaphor to explain salvation and the Gospel, as interpreted by Professor Kim Ho-kyung and discussed in the book "The Table" by William Willimon.

The table metaphor is expanded to encompass the story of creation, the church, and the end times, as well as the importance of communion and the theological narratives it represents.

This concept provides a rich framework for understanding salvation, resurrection, and the Christian life.