Theology is the study of the systematized knowledge of God in His various relations to His creation. Theology is the fruit of the reflection of the church on the truth revealed in the Word of God. From the Greek, "the science or study of God".
Theology can be divided according to the following lines:
1) Theology proper (doctrine of God, the Trinity -my specialty)
2) Revelation (general and special)
3) Creation, Providence
4) Anthropology (man)
5) Hamartiology (sin)
6) Soteriology (salvation)
7) Ecclesiology (the church)
8) Eschatology (last things)
9) Ethics
10) Apologetics
Theology is a proper pursuit of all believers in order to:
1) develop our mind in image of God
2) know and appreciate God’s revelation
3) know God better
4) arrange doctrine for Christian fellowship
5) recognize heresy
6) use in popular instruction
Theology and practice are separable only verbally and are inseparable for salvation. There are two basic questions in life: “who is Jesus?” and “who is God?” We all know how easy it is to create pictures and images in our minds, which turn out not to have any basis in reality. This is especially easy when dealing with something transcendent (like God) or seemingly paradoxical (like the incarnate Jesus Christ): there has to be some outside foundation against which we can check our interior life, so that we do not create some sort of idols or false ideas...and then go worshipping them.
Looked at from another direction, if our view of the God is wrong, no amount of good works can erase the idolatry we have erected in our heart. So, both go together: faith (theology) and praxis (life). One guides, corrects, and balances the other. What if our faith is in something we have imagined? What if we have created an intellectual idol? Theology is the guarantor, the check point and touchstone, that our faith is legitimate.
Thus, to me, a theologian, is one who has spent a significant part of their lives delving into the matters of the study of God, and have systematized their learnings, in the areas I have outlined above. This man will have probably accumulated a significant body of work on such matters that their works are viewed as authoritative (within the bounds of orthodoxy) by the ordained leadership of the church.
That said, we are all theologians of a sort. For we systematize our study of scripture into a body of beliefs that we hold dear. The key here is that we should not be so ready to ignore and/or eschew the efforts of many who have come before us. We should look to others who have devoted their lives to such matters as at least one checkpoint against which we measure the fruits of our personal efforts.
AMR
Theology can be divided according to the following lines:
1) Theology proper (doctrine of God, the Trinity -my specialty)
2) Revelation (general and special)
3) Creation, Providence
4) Anthropology (man)
5) Hamartiology (sin)
6) Soteriology (salvation)
7) Ecclesiology (the church)
8) Eschatology (last things)
9) Ethics
10) Apologetics
Theology is a proper pursuit of all believers in order to:
1) develop our mind in image of God
2) know and appreciate God’s revelation
3) know God better
4) arrange doctrine for Christian fellowship
5) recognize heresy
6) use in popular instruction
Theology and practice are separable only verbally and are inseparable for salvation. There are two basic questions in life: “who is Jesus?” and “who is God?” We all know how easy it is to create pictures and images in our minds, which turn out not to have any basis in reality. This is especially easy when dealing with something transcendent (like God) or seemingly paradoxical (like the incarnate Jesus Christ): there has to be some outside foundation against which we can check our interior life, so that we do not create some sort of idols or false ideas...and then go worshipping them.
Looked at from another direction, if our view of the God is wrong, no amount of good works can erase the idolatry we have erected in our heart. So, both go together: faith (theology) and praxis (life). One guides, corrects, and balances the other. What if our faith is in something we have imagined? What if we have created an intellectual idol? Theology is the guarantor, the check point and touchstone, that our faith is legitimate.
Thus, to me, a theologian, is one who has spent a significant part of their lives delving into the matters of the study of God, and have systematized their learnings, in the areas I have outlined above. This man will have probably accumulated a significant body of work on such matters that their works are viewed as authoritative (within the bounds of orthodoxy) by the ordained leadership of the church.
That said, we are all theologians of a sort. For we systematize our study of scripture into a body of beliefs that we hold dear. The key here is that we should not be so ready to ignore and/or eschew the efforts of many who have come before us. We should look to others who have devoted their lives to such matters as at least one checkpoint against which we measure the fruits of our personal efforts.
AMR
