Systematic Theology: Disciplines of Theology

Christianity is a revealed religion. It understands that had God not revealed himself to mankind, he would have forever, remained Deus absconditus (a hidden God) irrespective of human efforts to look for him. Only through divine self-disclosure does Deus absconditus (the hidden God) become Deus revelatus (the revealed God). God revealed himself in two major ways: Special/particular revelation, on the one hand, and General revelation, on the other hand. Special revelation refers to the particular revelation by which God revealed himself by his written word (the Bible), and the incarnate Word (Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity). General revelation refers to God’s non-particular self-revelation through nature, science, reason, and God’s dealing with the nation of Israel over the centuries. In Special revelation, God’s truth is explicit. In General Revelation, God’s truth is implicit.

Human beings respond to God’s General Revelation by means of philosophy and science. Human beings respond to God’s Special Revelation by means of theology.

Philosophy has seven major divisions, each attempting to respond to a fundamental question.

1. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with reality. It attempts to respond to the question, “What is reality in general and ultimate reality in particular?
2. Closely related to metaphysics to the point of being considered a sub-branch of metaphysics, is ontology, which is limited to the concern of the being or existence of reality.
3. Epistemology is the theory or justification of knowledge. It attempts to respond to the question, “How is reality knowable, or how do we know what we think we know?
4. Ethics is the study of morality. Ethics attempts to respond to two major questions—axiological and deontic.
   • The axiological question is concerned with value in general and the “good” in particular.
   • The deontic question is concerned with duty/responsibility. If the axiological question is what is good, the deontic question is what is right.
5. Logic is the science of necessary inference. It is concerned with reasoning. Philosophical reasoning is organized in deductive arguments known as syllogisms. The goal of logic is to establish the validity and soundness of syllogisms.
6. Semantics, it deliberates on meaning.
7. Aesthetics, it is concerned with beauty.

The term “Theology” comes from two Greek components qeoj (God) and logoj (word, discourse, study)—hence the study of God. Christianity recognizes five theologies. These are biblical, systematic, historical, philosophical, and practical.

Grudem states, “systematic theology is any study that answers the question, ‘What does the whole Bible teach us today?’ about any given topic.” (Grudem 2020, 1). This consolidates that consideration where systematic theology is about the whole Bible and making the information current for today’s culture and environment. In some cases, even locally to where it is being discussed.

Even though historical theology and philosophical theology are important, neither of them has more authority than the Word of God. Nürnberger states, “Systematic Theology is meant to provide as comprehensive, consistent and plausible presentation of the Christian faith as possible under current circumstances.” (Nürnberger 2018, 1)

In regards to systematic theology, Grudem mentions that all passages should be treated fairly with careful exegesis of Scripture. One of the directives from Jesus to us is the Great Commission where we are to make more disciples and that will involve teaching. Systematic theology will help us teach others what the whole Bible says to live in the world today.

Nürnberger mentions, “The task of Systematic Theology is to offer as comprehensive and consistent a presentation of the Christian faith as possible under current circumstances. This involves the retrieval of the biblical message from its ancient conceptualisations and to repackage it in current world view assumptions.” (Nürnberger 2018, 1)

Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology has three senses. 1) It may be thought of as the movement that started in the 1940s and declined in the 1960s, some of the decline is because it was not always biblical, 2) the theological content found within individual books, there are two approaches. The first is purely the teachings of the New Testament and the second are the biblical teachings that are valid for all times. The first being descriptive and the latter being normative, and 3) theology that is aligned with the teachings of the Bible.

There are two approaches to biblical theology. The first is purely the teachings of the individual books and the second are the biblical teachings that are valid for all times. The first being descriptive and the latter being normative. In either case, biblical theology is as stated, focused solely on the biblical teachings during that time.

There are two aspects of the phrase “biblical theology”—axiomatic and pedagogical/methodological.

• Axiomatically, every category of orthodox Christian theology is biblical to the extent that it recognizes the Bible as the final authority for any theological truth. In this respect, the term “biblical theology” defines a theology that is evangelical (from the term euaggelion, Gospel) or biblical, against that which is not biblical. That is why when a secular philosopher and an orthodox Christian theologian are challenged to justify a belief in truths of eternal consequence like the existence of heaven and hell or the absence thereof, the former will likely ultimately base his disbelief on this epistemological premise logizomai (I think) or dokew (I perceive), while the latter will ultimately base his belief on the Bible as varyingly represented by these phrases hw”ëhy> rm:åa’ hKo “thus says the Lord,” in the Old Testament, and ge,graptai “it stands written” in the New Testament.
• Pedagogically, the phrase, “biblical theology refers to the theological methodology by which the theological study is limited to a Bible book, a particular Bible corpus, or any of the two Bible Testaments, with special emphasis on the selected work’s exegesis to establish the meaning of keywords, phrases, and arguments.

Systematic theology is with the whole Bible and relates the theories to today’s world and Biblical is an individual book within the Bible. The difference with systematic theology is the addition of contemporizing to today’s understanding. The desired outcome is to have systematic biblical theology. Erickson states, “Biblical theology is the raw material, as it were, with which systematic theology works.” (Erickson 2013, 12)

Another use for systematic theology with biblical theology is where a person can “update” someone’s biblical theology to see if the thesis is true for the whole Bible (versus the individual book of the biblical theology) and also make it relevant for the Christian to understand in today’s world. Many Christians want to know that there are no conflicts within the Bible and teaching from the whole Bible assists with the learning and reinforces the message.

Systematic Theology and Historical Theology

Historical theology is the study of how previous generations of Christian theologians attempted to reduce religious truth to a logically coherent and relevant whole for the church. It is synchronic and diachronic in its approach. Erickson understands the synchronic approach as a “sequential study of the theology of each successive century or major period of time (Erickson 2013, 12), and the synchronic approach as the study of the history of thought regarding a given doctrine down through the periods of the church’s life (Erickson 2013, 12).

Historical theology is an important piece of systematic theology as it provides value in a few ways. The first is that it makes us aware of our own presuppositions because our default is that our understanding comes from the time period and culture we grew up in and we need to take another perspective from the biblical time period and culture. The second value is that we can learn from others that have studied before us. This increases our knowledge and might help fill any gaps we had by ourselves. The third is that it could uncover a way of analyzing a particular area. Because most ideas are not new ideas, we can probably find something similar from the past. Erickson states, “History is theology’s laboratory, in which it can assess the ideas that it espouses or considers espousing.” (Erickson 2013, 13)

Systematic Theology and Philosophical Theology

Philosophical theology refers to the use of reason or philosophical methods and concepts to analyze biblical truth (nature of God and religious beliefs). In other words, it refers to the philosophical reflections on biblical truth. The goal is a rational analysis and understanding on concepts like faith. Within Philosophical theology, there are at least two categories, one is natural theology which tries to understand through reason and observation of the world, and the second is revealed theology through religious texts and traditions. They use reasoning, argumentation, and also critical analysis.

Philosophical theology is synonymous with apologetics. Note that, Christian apologetics and its consequent ecumenical councils were the seedbeds of systematic theology. It was Tertullian, Quintus Septimus Florens, the North African 2nd-century apologist who coined, and sufficiently explicated the theological term and concept “Trinity”.

Philosophy’s contribution can be informative as it provides a framework and can help clarify concepts and their implications. Philosophy’s contribution can be methodological and evaluative as the methods can help examine and asses claims and arguments along with identification of flaws in positions taken.

Philosophical theology contributes in three ways to systematic theology. The first is that philosophy can supply additional content for theology. The second is where may defend theology or determine the truth of the theology. The third is where philosophy scrutinizes the concepts and arguments of the theology. Philosophical theology should help refine the message with clarity because of the examination and criticizing of the ideas, arguments, and terms used with the theological task. An example would be the philosophical analysis of “faith” to help clarify the refine the concept that is foundational to systematic theology. The existence of God is an instance where philosophical theology would help evaluate the argument to determine the truth of His existence.

Systematic Theology Overiveiw

Systematic theology is systematic because it attempts to reduce religious truth emanating from the Bible to a logically coherent and relevant whole for the church. Indeed, as recognized by St. Augustin of Hippo and after him, the scholastic thinkers, a leading luminary of whom was St. Anselm of Canterbury, Christian systematic theology can best be understood in terms of fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding). This understanding presents a healthy synthesis between faith and reason, with faith taking the first step towards knowledge by believing the truth claims based on the Bible, and reason serving faith by seeking the understanding of the believed truth claims.

Therefore, the following factors are central to the prolegomenon of Christian systematic theology.

• Systematic theology is logical. It recognizes the value of reason in God’s plan. It recognizes the reasonableness of Christianity. As such, it obeys the laws of logic in its pursuit of theological truth.
• It approaches its study thematically. That is to say, it breaks down a theological inquiry into themes, which it code-names
  • Theism/theology proper (the specific study of God)
  • Christology (the study of Christ)
  • Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit)
  • Anthropology (the study of man)
  • Angelology (the study of angelic beings)
  • Hamartiology (the study of sin)
  • Soteriology (the study of salvation)
  • Ecclesiology (the study of the church)
  • Eschatology (the study of the last events)

In its attempt to reduce Christian religious truth to a logically coherent and relevant whole, systematic theology is not only synchronic but also diachronic given its utilization of the theological settlements by the previous generations of Christian theologians. Systematic theology utilizes the findings of biblical, philosophical, and historical theologies to enrich itself.

Practical theology can best be understood in terms of orthodoxy (sound doctrine) and orthopraxy (good works). The biblical, philosophical, historical, and systematic theologies provide orthodoxy (sound doctrine). They provide the theoretical part of Christianity. They provide the epistemological basis for the Christian faith. On their basis, the Christian knows what, why, and how he believes. However, orthodoxy without orthopraxy is dead. Orthodoxy needs to produce orthopraxy. That is where practical theology comes in. Practical theology applies the findings of systematic theology to such practical ministries as preaching, evangelism, missions, etc.

This, therefore, is how different theologies relate. Biblical theology, philosophical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology give us theoretical equipping. Practical theology gives us practical equipping.

Process of doing Systematic Theology

1. Collect the biblical materials which include relevant passages with exegesis analysis to ensure accuracy. This is also where presuppositions will be reviewed along with historical and cultural background.
2. Unification of the biblical materials to make sure there is one coherent message. This is where we want to make sure there is consistency with the different authors and books. We should search for harmony and complimentary interpretations. It is important to show the unity between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
3. Analysis of the meaning of the biblical teachings to ensure clarity, understanding, and complete meaning. Everything should be clearly understood with no ambiguity.
4. Examination of historical treatments by integrating historical theology. Erickson states, “Historical theology may be of direct value for constructing our own expressions of theology. In periods very similar to our own, we may find models that can be adapted for modern doctrinal formulations, or we may find that some current expressions are but variations of earlier instances of the same basic view.” (Erickson 2013, 57-58).
5. Consultation of other perspectives to make sure the biblical teaching is correct and aligned with many cultural perspectives.
6. Identification of the essence of the doctrine to separate any cultural expression versus the actual essence of the doctrine.
7. Illumination from extrabiblical sources as the Bible is not the only source that could be used in the process. It is important to be selective in which sources are used and how they are used. One example would be the psychology of religion to help with some divine research.
8. Contemporary expression of the doctrine to where we bring the essence of the doctrine to today’s world of understanding and application. One method is to ask questions that correlate to the theology and where the questions are answered from it. Erickson states, “It is necessary to emphasize again that the questions influence only the form of the answer, not the content.” (Erickson 2013, 60).
9. Developing the central interpretive motif as there are benefits to having unity to the system and easy communication through it.

Preferred Approach

There are three reasons why there needs to be theology in the ministry. The first is to have correct doctrinal beliefs to have the right relationship with God. The second is that truth and experience are related and sooner or later, the truth will impact the experience. The third is to make sure everyone is following the correct Jesus and God. Satan is busy trying to deceive people into steering away from Jesus and the gospel. Discernment is important and theology will help with maturing of the believer.

Grudem mentions that there are additional benefits like helping us overcome our wrong ideas and being able to make better decisions later along with helping us grow as Christians. With helping us overcome our wrong ideas, we can look at all of the scriptures of the Bible to understand all of what sin is and then see what it looks like today with technology like the internet. Sin in the world today might look different than it did in the past and systematic theology will help bring that into focus for us to make better decisions on avoiding it.

Systematic theology relates to biblical theology, historical theology, and philosophical theology differently. All these disciplines are part of the narrower sense of theology that treat the specifically doctrinal character of the Christian faith. (Erickson 2013, 10) Systematic theology is the most important because it can be used in my current and future ministries. As stated in this week’s reading assignment, “within systematic theology, there are various doctrines, such as bibliology, anthropology, Christology, and theology proper (or the doctrine of God).” (Erickson 2013, 10) There are many different doctrines that I will be able to pick from as each one has a time and place for teaching. Next month I am teaching the life lessons of Abraham in Sunday School. I will be able to conduct bibliology and historical theology on Genesis and Acts. I will also conduct a philosophical theology on “faith” and some of the other life lessons and relate them to life lessons for today.

Bibliography

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology, 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.

Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology, Second Edition : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Vol. Second edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020.

Nürnberger, Klaus. “Systematic Theology – An Experiential Approach: Core Assumptions of My ‘Invitation to Systematic Theology.’” Verbum et Ecclesia, vol. 39, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 1–11. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v39i1.1863.