I think this will be my last post on “Introduction to Theology.” Next week we will move into Bibliology, the Study of the Bible.

It is not that I blogged through all the class notes that I had on “Introduction to Theology.” I only summarized about 10 pages of notes in the last several blog posts, and still had over 80 pages to go.

It is just that I looked through the next 80 pages, and got bored. They dealt with the following topics:

• Seven Aversions to Theology
• History of the Development of Systematic Theology
• Presuppositions to Theology
• Theological Method
• How to Study Theology
• A Study of the Primary Worldviews
• The Importance of a Trinitarian Worldview

All of this is good information. I just wasn’t sure how to present it in blog format in an interesting way. Is there any of that you are just dying to know? Maybe I will include some of it later. Maybe.

Let me say this:

[Read more…]

Yesterday I asked for your input on two theology quotes. Earlier today I provided my own input on the first of these two quotes. Here is the second:

It has been in vogue to say that today the important thing is not Christianity’s truth but its relevance. That is like saying to the sick that the important thing is not the accuracy of the prescription, but taking the medicine. In determining which of the innumerable kinds of medicine to take, how much, and how often, nothing is more important than the accuracy of the doctor’s prescription.

This quote is from Integrative Theology by Gordon Lewis and Bruce Demarest (p. 47).

Though they speak of accuracy vs. relevance, the options are often presented as “truth vs. love” (Eph 4:15), or “grace vs. truth” (John 1:14, 17). Ideally, of course, both would be nice, but if we have to err on one side or the other, it is often argued (as in the quote above) that we must lean toward truth and accuracy.

I have often taught this way as well.

[Read more…]

In a previous post I asked for your input on two quotes about theology. I will look at the first here, and the second in a later post.

Here is the first quote again:

Theology is supernatural. It is thinking the thoughts of God. It is fire in the bones. It is the breath of God upon your lips. The light of God in our very soul. It is the most challenging and the most rewarding task a person can ever undertake. It is an attempt to know the Unknowable; to understand the Incomprehensible. While no one can fully do these things, we can know and understand some small portion. And those who have tasted this heavenly gift, long for more.

This is a quote from me. I know…. It’s vain to quote yourself. But wait until you read what I say about it.

I wrote the statement above ten years ago as part of a theology training class I was offering in the church I pastored. I distinctly remember that when I wrote it, I was trying to sound like Charles Spurgeon when he spoke about theology.

[Read more…]

Do you agree or disagree with the following quotes? Why? When you read them, what was your first impression? What did they get right? What (if anything) did they get wrong?

Theology Quote 1

Theology is supernatural. It is thinking the thoughts of God. It is fire in the bones. It is the breath of God upon your lips. The light of God in our very soul. It is the most challenging and the most rewarding task a person can ever undertake. It is an attempt to know the Unknowable; to understand the Incomprehensible. While no one can fully do these things, we can know and understand some small portion. And those who have tasted this heavenly gift, long for more.

[Read more…]

One of the tools I use to aid me in writing my blog posts is Google Insights for Search. Among other things, this tool helps me recognize trends in what people are searching for online.

Today, as I was using this tool to help me pick a good blog post title for a future post in my Theology Introduction, I wanted to see how the search term “theology” was trending.

Here is what I found:
[Read more…]

As I blog through my seminary class notes, I suppose it would be a good idea to record the reading lists for the classes I took. While there is some benefit in seminary to sitting in class, and participating in class lectures, I found that most of what you learn in seminary comes from the books which are assigned for you to read.

This was especially true when the class professor would often just rehash or review what we had read in preparation for the class. In some of the classes, I took my class notes right in the books that were assigned because the professor basically just summarized the book content, and threw in a few little extra tidbits here and there.

It always seemed a little odd that I had to pay $300 per credit hour to take a class when 95% of the content of that class came from a $20 book.

[Read more…]

The Bible College and Seminaries I attended used the traditional divisions or categories of Systematic Theology. Most often, these divisions are as follows:

1. Bibliology – Study of the Bible
2. Theology Proper – Study of God
3. Anthropology – Study of Mankind
4. Christology – Study of Christ
5. Soteriology – Study of Salvation
6. Pneumatology – Study of Holy Spirit
7. Ecclesiology – Study of the Church
8. Eschatology – Study of End Times

Yes, these are some of (but not nearly all) the big words of Theology.

[Read more…]

When discussing theology, we must be aware that there are different ways within Christianity of approaching and organizing theology. Here are the most common:

Natural Theology

Knowledge about God which is derived primarily from nature. Natural theology usually places a heavy emphasis on reason and philosophy.

Biblical Theology

Knowledge about God which is derived primarily from the Bible. The structure will often be arranged around major events of people of Scripture (e.g., Theology of Early Israel, Theology of the Prophets, Theology in Psalms, Theology of Paul, etc.).

Historical Theology

Knowledge about God which is derived from studying the development of ideas over time. The structure will often be arranged around the major periods of history which brought changes to theology (e.g., Theology of the Early Church, Theology of the Imperial Church, Theology of the Middle Ages, Theology of the Enlightenment and Reformation, etc.).

Systematic Theology

Knowledge about God which attempts to incorporate and combine all of the theological sources above. The structures is often arranged around major topics or categories of ideas which theologians have agreed upon over the centuries (e.g., Bibliology, Christology, Pneumatology, Ecclesialogy, Soteriology, etc.).
[Read more…]

On January 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon with the following statement:

It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in it’s immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold, I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God…

[Read more…]