The Bible College and Seminaries I attended used the traditional divisions or categories of Systematic Theology. Most often, these divisions are as follows:
- Bibliology – Study of the Bible
- Theology Proper – Study of God
- Anthropology – Study of Mankind
- Christology – Study of Christ
- Soteriology – Study of Salvation
- Pneumatology – Study of Holy Spirit
- Ecclesiology – Study of the Church
- Eschatology – Study of End Times
Yes, these are some of (but not nearly all) the big words of Theology.
Occasionally, I have also seen these divisions:
- Israelology – Study of Israel
- Hamartiology – Study of Sin
- Angelology – Study of Angels and Demons
- Misthology – Study of Rewards
I have written elsewhere why I think it is high time to update these categories, and eventually, I will jump into my attempt at doing so, but for now, I am just trying to summarize, reconsider, and redeem what I was taught in Bible College and Seminary.
So for this series (which is going to take a LONG time) on blogging through Seminary, I am going to use the traditional categories, but with simplified words. I will incorporate all twelve categories from above, but in the order they “appear” or are “emphasized” in the Bible.
So the order will be as follows:
- Bible
- God
- Humanity
- Sin
- Israel
- Jesus
- Salvation
- Holy Spirit
- Church
- End Times
- Angels
- Rewards
This is not a perfect order, and maybe I will change it as I go, but for now, it will have to do.
Any predictions on how long this is going to take? I wonder who will get bored of this first? Me or you? The good thing is that I won’t be doing this non-stop. We will intersperse it with posts about other topics and writing projects of mine.
For those of you with a Dispensational bent ( no pun intended) I would suggest Israelogy-The Missing Link In Systematic Theology by Dr. Arnold Fructenbaum, it gives a fair comparison of the significant milliennial,positions pre, post, amill. Very scholarly book, that sheds much light on Sys. Theo. at large hence the title Missing Link.
Elias,
Yes, that is a fantastic book. I put it under “Israelology” but it could go under Introduction to Theology, Bibliology, Ecclesiology, or even Eschatology.
I think you made a good point in your last paragraph. Sermons, lectures and lessons on theology don’t connect with everyone. Think of the classic “Mr. Bean Goes to Church” (the words of the sermon are unintelligible) where Mr. Bean keeps falling asleep.
Jeremy, you just gave me a great idea for the post I’m planning to write later today for Graceground on “Being The Church In The Community – Part 2”. I just finished “preaching” a three hour “sermon”. People paid attention, stayed awake and asked questions which indicated that they got the point and are thinking about it. If you get a chance to read it after I get it posted you can tell us what kind of theology you think it is.
I LOVE that Mr. Bean classic. The way he parks his car is the best. Mr. Bean is great.
I will come over and check out the post at Grace Ground.
These are some pretty big concepts,so thanx for putting it into plain simple english for all of us who love knowledge.
I really appreciate you blogging through your seminary notes from the past. I look forward to this!
Loren,
How detailed do you think I should get? I don’t think I can really just “dupliate” the notes right here on the blog, since that would be quite boring. But I want to give enough information that makes them worth while. Any suggestions?
Just whatever you think it appropriate and whatever stands out to you. It’s great stuff to think about.
How would an error in one of those theologies affect the other divisions? thanks Mike
In my forthcoming book on faith, I write about how our beliefs are like an Excel spreadsheet, so that if you change one belief, it has a cascading effect on many other beliefs. So an error in one division of theology would affect many ideas in other divisions.
Great mind and soul touching.
I respect everything that you have written in this blog. Please continue to provide wisdom to more people like me.
Greetings,
Godspeed on your project!
What of “Prolegomena;” first things? And specifically, how has God revealed Himself, and which of those revelations are authoritative? Which of those revelations of God are transferrable to who and why?
Often our presuppositions determine our conclusions (which helps explain why a faulty doctrine in one area cascades into all areas).
Blessings to you and yours,
Larry
I divide them a little differently under four main categories, starting with the Bible as the foundations, then the three categories of beings: God, mankind, and angels. The Bible and Angels have no subdivisions. God encompasses three subdivisions, one for each Person of the Trinity. Then Man is divided chronologically: his original state, his fall, salvation, into the community of the Church, for an eventual resurrection. Angels could also be divided into angels and demons, but ten is a good number.
This just helps me remember. I just start with the Bible, God, Man, and Angels, then divide them up.
The Bible (Bibliology)
God
>> Theology Proper (Father)
>>Christology (Son)
>>Pneumatology (Spirit)
Man
>>Anthropology (Original State)
>>Hamartiology (Sin/Fall)
>>Soteriology (Salvation)
>>Ecclesiology (Church)
>>Eschatology (End Times)
Angels (Angelology)