Definition and the Sources of Christian Theology - Essay Example

Definition and the sources of Christian theology its relationship to biblical theology and Christian ethic Date Definition and the sources of Christian theology The word theology comes from two Greek words, theos and logos, theos means “God” and logos means “the science or study of God” thus “the science or study of God” some theological scholars have defined theology in various ways; theology is “rational discussion respecting the deity” (Augustine), “science of the facts of divine revelation” (Charles Hodge, 1997), “systematic knowledge of God in his various relations to the universe… theology is the effect which the divine revelation, embodied in scripture, produces in the sphere of systematic thought. Theology is the fruit of the reflection of the truth revealed in the Word of God.” (Louis Berkhof, 1996) Theologians have found several sources from which they develop the ideas of God. The firs source is Reason, it is defined narrowly as the logical deduction from stated premises, or broadly to include ones feelings, intuition, and experience. This point out that one can find his way to God through his own thought, reasoning, contemplation etc. the best example of such a source is though St. Anselm, who developed the ontological argument for the existence of God. Church authority can also be a source of Christian theology, to give a an example the roman Catholic Church gives teaches that God reveals his truth to the church in some collective way, the church also claims that god can manifest himself directly through the leaders of the church. The third source can be through General Revelation, it is said by many that God’s person and character is revealed in nature. When man contemplates about nature it is with no doubt that he is having a true knowledge of God. Evidentialist apologists of England can epitomize this source. The fourth source through which source of theology can manifest itself is by Special revelation, the Bible claims to be a direct revelation to man from God. The belief of Christianity is that the Bible should help them to acquire and organize the teachings found there. The other source of Christian theology can be from the postmodern theology’s sources of theology. Therefore the sources of theology to summarize are through God himself. God should be the only source of knowledge in regard to his own being and relations. This makes theology to be a summary and explanations of the content of God’s revelations. These are; the revelation of God in nature, supremely and the revelation of God in the scriptures. Elements of systematic theology and compare it with other classes of theology Earlier we have defined theology as “the study of god” the term Systematic is taken from the Greek word sunitano, this carries the idea of to organize or stand together. Some theologizes have defined systematic theology in various ways. A more simplified definition was provided by Lewis Sperry chafer, the founder president of Dallas theological seminary as “systematic theology can be defined as the collecting, scientifically arranging, compering, exhibiting, and defending of all facts and every source concerning God and His works” (systematic theology, 8 vols. Dallas: Dallas seminary, 1947) another theologian said “all facts and every source concerning God and His Works” (Lewis Sperry Chafer, 1948). Systematic theology proclaims the truth of the bile as well as helping one to apply in life experience. The central categories of systematic theology are Theology proper (introduction to Hermeneutics; doctrine of god); Bibliology (doctrine of the bible); Christology (Doctrine of Christ); Pneumatology (Doctrine of the Holy Spirit); Angelology (Doctrine of Angels); Demonology (doctrine of demons); Anthropology (Doctrine of man); Hamartiology (doctrine of sin)’ soteriology (Doctrine of Salvation); Ecclesiology (doctrine of the church); and Eschatology (Doctrine of the End times) “Biblical theology” in theological studies has a technical meaning. It is the larger category that contains both Old Testament theology and New Testament theology. In biblical theology special attention is given to the teachings of individual authors and sections of scripture. The boundaries between biblical theology and systematic theology usually overlap as they are interrelated, Part of one study usually composite into the next study. Though biblical theology and systematic theology can be said to be integrated it is important to note that they also differ. Biblical theology will tend to trace a historical development of a doctrine and the way in which ones place at some point in that historical development affects ones understanding and application of that particular doctrine. Another focus of biblical theology is whereby the understanding of each doctrine that the biblical authors and their original hearers or readers possessed is adhered to. When we begin to focus on the Old Testament theology the featured themes include; Edenic Era: this is a theme of the beginning that is recorded in the book of genesis. It tells the story of how an all-powerful, holy God who created the world out of nothing. The apex of God’s creation was the creation of man and woman, whom they sinned through choosing to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The intervention of God was through he promises of bringing a savior who would provide forgiveness of sin and defeat of Satan and thus reestablish God’s righteous rule. Noahic Era: this records the immorality of humankind, this results in God’s righteous Judgment on a rebellious race. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This prompted him and his family to be saved from a great flood through the great ark that Noah built. Noah had three sons; Ham, Shem and Jephtha, Shem was prophesied to be the progenitor of God’s chosen people who would give the world the promised messiah. Patriarchic Era: the call of Abraham makes the focus the promised kingdom to become more evident. Abram was called to follow God from Ur of the Chaldees to the Promised Land. God gave Abram a covenant that was unconditional and everlasting. This era revolves around the life stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their offspring Mosaic Era: the contribution that Joseph made was that of him offering refuge of his people in Egypt due to the famine. Generation after generation the children of Israel multiplied and this was a major concern to pharaoh. The only way he could subjugate the Jews was to subject them to slavery. The Israel cried and God manifested himself through Moses. Moses was to deliver the Israelites from this bondage of slavery though a series of miracle. It is after these events that the nation of Israeli was established. Monarchical Era: this era arose due to the fact that the Jews didn’t want to be ruled by the invisible God of their fathers, they wanted a king. This prompted God to provide Saul; soul became disobedient and lost his throne. David was chosen to succeed soul, through David God established a covenant with David. Subsequent periods that followed led to ungodly kings which resulted to the kingdom to be split into two; Judah and Israel. Prophetic Era: the prophets acted and gave important prophecies from the anointing of the first king to the prophetic voice of Malachi. Isaiah for example prophesied the future arrival of a suffering servant that will redeem Israel. Jeremiah prophecy was about a new covenant, Ezekiel saw a renewal of true worship in the future. Zachariah reinforced the future expectation of the messiah. The New Testament Theology is another source of biblical theology, the New Testament compromise of four Gospel-mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Which describe the events in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension in remarkably similar and complementary ways? Another relation between biblical and systematic theology, is that systematic theology makes use of the material of biblical theology and the results are deduced from biblical theology. Some occasions that need great detail and care in the development of a doctrine, systematic theology will use a biblical-theological method in analyzing each doctrine through the historical development of scripture. It should into account that the focus systematic theology remains different; the focus is on the collection and then the summary of the teaching of all the biblical passages and a particular subject. Biblical theology can be said to be that discipline that lies between Exegetical theology and systematic theology. Biblical theology will tend to ask the question, “What does the bible say?” it is also important to take into consideration that biblical theology is not merely theology that is faithful to the bible. It is often said that all good theology should be “biblical” thus if systematic theology is to go by this it has to be “biblical” Biblical theology is a theology that follows a particular methodology, a methodology that is dictated by the unfolding of redemptive history. A very close relationship between Biblical and systematic theology is that, systematic theology will be organized according to a logical arrangement just the way Biblical theology is organized according to chronology, or the organic development of truth. That particular form of talk about God (uttered in his hearing) which seeks to make and coherently order the truths of the whole Bible is systematic theology. This is persuaded with the utmost intellectual objectivity and upon the crucial belief that the Scriptures are the revealed word of God. The existence of systematic theology exists in a mutually informing and mutually-enriching relationship with exegetical theology, with biblical theology and with historical theology. Systematic theology will involve non-Christians worldviews and help to respond to criticism of the Christian faith with philosophical stiffness and polemical force, in addition to this it will be subject to the word and at the service of the church. Systematic theology can be applied in the real life of a Christian person. As it has been revealed from the above analysis of systematic theology it can be said that it focuses to summarize each doctrine as it should be understood by the present-day Christians. This is characterized by the use of terms and sometimes concepts that were not really used by an individual author, but are the proper result of combining the teachings of two or more biblical authors regarding a particular subject. A good example is from the words such as trinity, incarnation and deity of Christ that are not found from in the bible, but these are words that summarize some biblical concepts. The bible teaches us a lot in today’s present world, when we include what the whole bible teaches us to define systematic theology, it can be said that an application to Christian life is achieved through a proper pursuit of systematic theology. Any doctrine that will be considered is going have a practical implication to the life of a Christian. The scripture does not issue a doctrine that is aimed at studying the isolation of life. The biblical writers consistently apply their teaching to life. How systematic theology affects Christian ethics Ethics in biblical theology can be defined as the act of knowing and doing God’s will. In will involve finding out and living out what god wants us to do, say, think and be what the God is doing. Through the Christian ethics systematic theology can help Christian to acquire some form of moral in the quest to gain the “knowledge of God” having seen that systematic theology and biblical theology are interrelated then Christians should learn systematic theology in a particular manner. The firs way that Christian should learn Christian theology is through the prayer. The study of systematic theology has been found to be a certain way of learning the bible, then the passage in scripture that talk about the way in which we should study God’s word giving guidance to us in this task. Ethics is important in theology, and when we are looking at systematic theology we should know that it is a spiritual activity in which we need the help of the Holy Spirit. Systematic theology must serve as a foundation for any set of moral standards that pleases God and fulfills human nature. If today such a set will be achieved it will be so difficult due to the emergence of postmodernism which denies the existence of absolute truth, absolute moral standard, and universal ethics. Today there a lot of advance in medicine, technology and science and makes it difficult to create a system of Christian ethics. The inevitable connection between ethics and systematic theology require that one should have a good foundation in systematic theology for his ethics. Enlightenment has caused theology to be viewed as a science studying theology therefore solidifies the barrier between theology and ethics. The glory of God is the goal towards ethics. Thus the correlation of biblical theology and systematic theology should be important doctrines in determining right ethical standards. Some ethicists have insisted that the essence of ethics is obedience to laws (deontological ethics). Others have said that the principle of ethics is the pursuit of some human good, such as happiness or pleasure (teleological ethics). For the religious people ethics have been defined as the study of the way of life that conforms to the will of God. But the big question is how does one know what pleases God? Even the staunch Christians that claim that the Bible is their guide are seemingly able to derive different ethical systems from it. it can be the concluded that the every Christian should accept the fact of been a student of the scriptures, to the extreme of comprehending a systematic theology that becomes the foundation of moral standards, decision making process and manner of living. There are some dilemmas that confront Christian ethics, the primary one is the dilemma of postmodernism, which is not a friend to the biblical Christianity, there are three feature that provide complexities in developing a theology for ethics in the modern world. The first one is that there are “no absolute truth.” Postmodernism believe that there is no absolute truth. Truth is constructed, not revealed or discovered and it is peculiar to each society. “The important thing here, I believe, is that truth isn’t outside power or lacking in power. . . . Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it induces regular effects of power. Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of truth: that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true; the mechanism and instances which enable one to distinguish true and false statements; the means by which each is sanctioned; the techniques and procedures accorded value in the acquisition of truth; the status of those who are charged with saying what counts as true.” (Michael Fucalt) The other “no Absolute Moral standards” is featured; it is interesting to note that most American’s moral standards are alarming as their epistemological views. A particular statistical example is the 68% of Americans believed that sexual relations before marriages were wrong (Barna Poll, 1969). The final one is “No Universal Ethics “since there is neither absolute truth nor absolute moral standards, universal ethics no longer exists, according to postmodernists. Ethics have shifted from universal to community. “Each community, each group, each sub-group, each minority segment of society, should operate on the basis of an ethical system which best suits it” (Sandra Harding, 1993). Today there are many ethical dilemmas that affect the Christians and the use of systematic theology can help them overcome them. These include genetic engineering, genetic testing, gene therapy, cloning, fetal tissue research, and euthanasia. Other issues that have been ended to the list include abortion, capital punishment, war, civil disobedience, sexual morality, homosexuality, pornography, birth control, divorce and remarriage. The specific questions that come with the new ethics of modern life are complicated, sometimes bizarre, and almost unending (Stanely J.Grenz, 1997). The questions of how Christians can confront and try to solve these dilemmas and how must a Christian formulate a correct ethical system. The queries can be tackled by every Christian should commit himself to understand the basics (at least) of a systematic theology, drawn from the bible, which will become the foundation for his moral understanding, decision-making process and manner of living. What is the difference between systematic theology and Christian ethics? To answer this question one has to bear in mind that there is inevitably some overlap between the study theology and study of ethics. It is important to emphasis the distinction. From the above discussion we can conclude and say that systematic theology is on what God wants us to believe and to know while Christian ethics is on what God wants us to do and what attitude he wants us to have. This distinction of Christian ethics and systematic theology leads to the definition that: Christian ethics is any study that answers the question, “What does God require us to do and what attitudes does he require us to have today?” with regard to any given situation. It becomes clear that ethics will focus on situations in life while theology is attentive to ideas. For this reason while issues such as homosexuality, gay marriages, birth controls, racial discrimination, capital punishment, war, care for the poor, corruption, stealing and ownership of property, role of civil government, terrorism, abortion, lying and telling the truth and so forth are to be tackled, they will overlap prompting theology to be applied. Ethics must be based on proper ideas of God and his world (making it to be theological to some degree). The application of systematic theology in the decision making process of the believer. The application of systematic theology to Christian ethic is so important; it benefits the life of Christians. Although the basic reason for systematic theology to the life of Christians is for the means of obeying the Lord’s commandment, there are some additional benefits that will nourish Christian ethics. First, the Christians will be able to overcome wrong ideas. We cannot shy away from the fact that there are sins that we carry in our heart, therefore when we read the bible it is with no doubt that there will be some untrue things that we might glimpse. For example one might not subscribe to the idea of Jesus coming back, this idea can be said to be a rebellious against God. The weight of the teaching of the scripture on that subject, this will enable one not to be persuaded against any wrongful inclination. Systematic theology will enable us to make better decisions in case of new questions regarding the doctrines that may arise. There can also be issues regarding postmodernism such as gay marriage which might influence (Wayne Gruden, 2000) the ethics of Christians. There can also be issues that may arise ten, twenty, thirty years from now and will require the interpretations of the scriptures. The Christians will be asking, “What does the whole Bible say about the subject?” whatever the matter will be or any new doctrinal controversies will rise in the future years, anyone who will have learnt systematic theology well will be in a better situation those new queries using the scriptures. This will make his/her Christian ethics to be unshaken. “The reason for this is that everything that the Bible says is somehow related to everything else the Bible says (for it all fits together in a consistent way, at least within God’s own understanding of reality, and in the nature of God and creation as they really are)” (Wayne Gruden, 2000). This benefit of proper decision making extends to the application of the scripture to life in many more than the formal doctrinal discussions. This could include matters such as what the bible teaches us about husband-wife relationship, the guidance of scripture in matters of spending money, psychology, and economics and so on. A comprehensive study of the systematic theology will enable one to have better and reasonable decision they will please God. Bibliography Berkhof, Louis. 1932. Introduction to Systematic Theology. Reprint edition: Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979. First published by Eerdmans. Boyce, James Pettigru. 1887. Abstract of Systematic Theology. Reprint edition: Christian Gospel Foundation, n.d. First published. Hodge, Charles. 1873. Systematic Theology. 3 vols. Reprint edition: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970. First published. Lewis, Gordon R., & Bruce Demarest. 1994. Integrative Theology. 3 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Chafer, L. S... 1976. Systematic theology. Dallas theological seminary, Kregel publications Foucalt, M. 1996. “Truth and Power,” in From Modernism to Postmodernism, An Anthology, ed. By Lawrence Cahoone, Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell. 379. Murray, John. 1982. Collected Writings of John Murray. 4 vols. Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth. Sandra Harding, 1999. “From Feminist Empiricism to Feminist Standpoint Epistemologies,” in From Modernism to Postmodernism, 616-37, and Susan Bordo, “The Cartesian Masculinization of Thought,” in From Modernism to Postmodernism, 638-64. Stanley J. Grenz, 1997. The Moral Quest: Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity. Strong, A.H. 1907. Systematic Theology. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press. Wayne Gruden, 2000. Systematic Theology: an introduction to Bible Doctrine Inter-Varsity press. Read More