Theology
Saturday, July 08, 2023
7:12 PM
Theology in General:
The composite beliefs about God and subjects derived from an understanding of divine things held by a person or group of persons; 
it is the academic study of God and subjects derived from divine things.  
The term "theology" does not inherently belong to Christian theology as it is a word derived from the writing of Plato and Aristotle.
Our concern in this class is, of course, Christian Theology.  Still there are two definitions:
It refers to the beliefs of a person, congregation, denomination, or movement. 
The Apostles Creed began as a summary of Christian beliefs a person needed to believe in order to be baptized.  
Visit several congregations' websites and see how they articulate their beliefs
One of the things I want to avoid in this class is moving to drawing these conclusions too quickly or in leading you to believe that the purpose of Christian faith is to know and replicate the right answers.  
Definitional: The primary purpose is to introduce the main vocabulary used in Christian theology
Contextual: To cultivate a curiosity around why people in specific contexts have sought to clarify their beliefs relative to those terms.  
Practical: 
To practice identifying what theological questions might be presenting themselves in the contexts of ministry
Identify resources for exploring and discerning theological commitments for a particular time and place.  
Christian Theology also refers to the academic study of theology.  Within academic schools designed to serve the interests of Christianity broadly and the goals of ministry specifically, we might identify Six types of Christian theology.  
Biblical Theology: 
While the term might suggest theology that is derived from scripture, in academic theology the term "Biblical theology" refers to examining the theological questions, discernments, conclusions and commitments made by Biblical writers. 
Sondra Schneiders, author of The Revelatory Text, helpfully provides a description of a three-way conversation in interpreting biblical texts:
The Biblical interpreter should examine the world behind the text—the historical, cultural, and background context for a particular portion of biblical literature.
The world of the text
Literary criticism of the text.
Examining the theology of the text.
The world before the text (our contemporary experience and the insights the text under investigation might provide for that).
Historical Theology: Examines the theology of persons, movements, or denominations in their context. (Example, By the Renewing Of Your Mind, by Ellen Charry)
Systematic Theology: seeks to sketch a coherent and unified theological explication of the major questions of Revelation, understanding of God the Creator, Christ the Redeemer, the Holy Spirit the Sustainer, the Church, Salvation, Praxis, and the Future. (Confessing the One Faith)
 Constructive Theology: would resist the comprehensive approach to working one's way through a comprehensive list of topics in favor of learning to approach situations from a theological perspective—formulating theological questions as they present themselves and working through reflection relative to the context.
Pastoral Theology (Practical):  examines the ways the resources of theological reflection and discernment can be applied to the living complexities of pastoral care, congregational leadership, denominational governance, evangelism, service, or advocacy.  
Prolegomena or Theological Method
Classical Liberal Theology—represented by Schleirmacher—was born out of the Western European struggle to make Christian Theology make sense within a secular, agnostic and often hostile, academic context.
Neo-Orthodoxy—represented by Barth, Bruner, and Bonhoeffer—was born out of the need to assert a version of Christian faith that had an authority that was not grounded in culture and therefore stood as a corrective to the secular authority (particularly important in the face of Nazism).  
Latin-American Liberation Theology and Black Liberation Theology is theology drawn from the experience of people living under the oppression.  
Feminist theology, Womanist Theology and Mujarista self-consciously approach Christian theology in ways that examine the living experiences of women, Black women, and Hispanic women respectively as a source for Christian theology.  These theological movements generally see "traditional" Christian theology as saturated with patriarchy that often generates more injustice than it cures.  
Evangelicalism represents a particular branch of Christian theology that was born out of the 18th Century and 19th Century Revival movements.  
Ecumenical theology represents the work particularly from the early 20th Century and into the 21st Century to articulate a consensus Christian faith born out of the movements that formed the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches.  
This is a representative not a comprehensive list.  It is offered to suggest point to three practical items:
Christian ministers ought to be familiar with the movements within Christianity.  
Christian ministers ought to demonstrate respect for theological positions that differ from their own. 
Christian ministers ought to be open to hear the critiques that theological frameworks that are not their own might present to them. 
Sources of Theology
Scripture
Reason
Experience
Theology is shaped by social experience.  While Western theology often spoke in grand universal terms, and in many places still does, 
 Christians increasingly understand that all theology is shaped by both personal and collective experience.  
Tradition