Dionysus on a Bike

Acts 5:17-26 – 6/19/2026

In today’s New Testament reading, the Apostles are released from prison by angels who command the newly freed Apostles to return to the Temple and continue their proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Specifically, the angels say to tell the people all there is to say about “this life.” The life the angels are referring to is the life of Christ and the life of the one who follows Jesus.

Here we have angelic confirmation of a common idea in the ancient Hellenistic world that philosophies and religions are not primarily belief systems but rather ways of life. The Christian life is one that is lived in imitation of Jesus and that is transformed by God into being more Christ-like both in action and in disposition. Our nature is changed, so that the life one lives in following Christ is completely transformed from what it once was.

As human subjects whose thought is directed at surviving and flourishing, that is living and living well, thought itself is in the service of these practical concerns. Thought is not primarily aimed at objects of cognition, so that metaphysical speculation, beliefs about how the world is structured, and understandings of the nature of God are not thought’s primary aims. Insofar as we think about theoretical concepts and attempt to reason to conclusions about them, those theoretical ends are subordinate to practical concerns that underlie those concepts.

When a theologian speaks about the nature of God or expounds propositions that are meant to express truths about the divine, these truth claims are primarily about how we go about living. Here holding particular theoretical beliefs are strategies for living a particular way, namely in a way that is transformed by Jesus. The Christian, when they speak of God, is not getting at what God is in God’s self. Rather the Christian in speaking of God is speaking about ways of thinking that allow for “this life” following Jesus to be possible and what makes that life transformative, liberating, and excellent.

Further Reading: My philosophical research focused on this idea that underlying theoretical propositions that attempt to describe reality are practical concerns. I conclude that ultimately, all thought is directed at practical aims, and so our metaphysical claims are strategies for living particular kinds of life. I explore this idea as it pertains to Nietzsche’s philosophy in a paper, “Philosophy in the Service of Life.”

Reflections of a Dionysian Lutheran, comments on the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary by Justin Marquis