I am not a systematic theologian...my friends and acquaintances who love all things systematic have heard me make this proclamation over and over again.  During the course of my seminary education, my Episcopal friends did, however, open my mind and my heart to the idea that the idea of theology as a way of speaking about God was not inherently evil -- although they did not succeed at convincing me that Karl Barth was indeed my friend.    As usual, it took the work of an Old Testament scholar to do that. For the past few weeks, I have been enjoying a class at VTS about the prophetic books of…