Theology of Risk

A Theology of Risk has been an urgent issue on the mission field for the past two decades. A Theology of Risk and a Theology of Suffering are not synonymous concepts. While there is very little written from a theological perspective on a Theology of Risk, much has been written about risk from a psychological and business perspective - this research is ignored by theologians to our peril.

I am often asked about John Piper's book "Risk is Right." See my blog post where I responded to him here. This book is not the best practical book on risk to read for those going into or returning to high risk.

One primary reason it’s not the most helpful book is because Piper wrote to a risk-adverse North American church. He was not writing to missionaries in the field.

Conceptually in a broad way, Dr. Piper is right - we are all called to be ready to risk our lives for the sake of Christ. But in fact, risk is NOT always right. Sometimes God calls us to NOT risk, just like Paul and Jesus sometimes avoided or left dangerous situations.

What is righteousness is to listen to the Holy Spirit as to when to move into danger and when to flee. Jesus and Paul demonstrate that spiritual principle clearly.

There is so much more to say about risk.

We begin learning about risk is in Genesis 1:1-3. See “Chaos at the Beginning.” This is the first place we see the characteristics of chaos and risk and God's immediate response to it. However, we can learn much about risk throughout the Bible.

Reading the Bible Through the Lens of Risk:

Old Testament

New Testament