The title of this blog, theologia crucis, is the Latin term that Martin Luther used to describe his theology, the "theology of the cross." Theology of the cross simply means that all theological reflection ultimately finds its meaning in the crucified Jesus--Luther said that everything we can truly know about God is found in the cross of Jesus Christ. In contrast to what he called the "theology of glory," which looks for God in what we consider to be powerful and mighty, God has chosen to reveal Godself in the tortured and crucified Jesus. The theology of the cross turns everything that the world expects on its head--we don't find God in the halls of power, the great personalities of the world, or the places of wealth and privilege. Instead, we find God in the place we least expected to--the place of execution. It is there that God most clearly reveals who he is: a God who is willing to die so that we might live, a God who chooses what looks like weakness to reveal the depth of his love for the world. This is a God who enters creation and is willing to be killed by the powers that be rather than retaliate with violence, a God who simply refuses to give up on us, even when we have done the worst that we can do. And in raising this Jesus from death to life, God tells us that even death itself cannot separate us from his love. Even death itself is overcome and the new creation breaks in upon the world. Thanks be to God!
