Johnny4ChristJesus

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Hi there, my name is Victoria, and I am currently in Bible college and one of my current classes is Christian Theology and I am really confused. I am reading a book called Evangelical Theology written by Karl Barth, and I am just overall confused, what is theology? What is the point to theology?

Theology currently does not make any sense to me, is there any way that someone would be able to explain theology to me in a way that would make sense to me and help me understand what is going on. I have to read a bunch of the book, and tomorrow I have a quiz on a different theology book from the same class. I just do not know what to do as theology is seeming to make no sense to me. Thanks!

I would be concerned where that would lead you. I went to a seminary in the past where Barth was a big part of it. And, his biggest professor advocate questioned "How can we know truth?" Post-modernism centers around people like him. I left seminary after a year. They couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to stay, so they could convince me that I was being deceived. It was really a crazy experience.

I later ran into one of my former classmates. He was a mess. He lost his passion for God, but graduated. How sad! Not a fan of cemetary!
 
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PaulCyp1

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Theology is simply the study of God. "Theos" meaning "God", and "ology" meaning "the study of". Studying theology in a school run by a particular Protestant denomination will give you their particular theology, which conflicts with the theology of every other denomination, but it certainly will not give you true theology. True theology is found only in the one Church Jesus Christ founded, which He clearly said was to remain one, to which He promised "The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth" and "whatsoever you bind upon Earth is bound in heaven", and "He who hears you hears Me". I'm sure you must know this if you read the Bible.
 
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Daniel Martinovich

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Hi there, my name is Victoria, and I am currently in Bible college and one of my current classes is Christian Theology and I am really confused. I am reading a book called Evangelical Theology written by Karl Barth, and I am just overall confused, what is theology? What is the point to theology?

Theology currently does not make any sense to me, is there any way that someone would be able to explain theology to me in a way that would make sense to me and help me understand what is going on. I have to read a bunch of the book, and tomorrow I have a quiz on a different theology book from the same class. I just do not know what to do as theology is seeming to make no sense to me. Thanks!
If it does not make sense then it is because it’s sensless and you are wasting your time reading it.
 
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Norbert L

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I am reading a book called Evangelical Theology written by Karl Barth, and I am just overall confused, what is theology? What is the point to theology?

Theology currently does not make any sense to me, is there any way that someone would be able to explain theology to me in a way that would make sense to me and help me understand what is going on. I have to read a bunch of the book, and tomorrow I have a quiz on a different theology book from the same class. I just do not know what to do as theology is seeming to make no sense to me. Thanks!
Theology is like a police investigation and detective work. Putting pieces of the Bible and the ancient world together in a way that reflects the truth about the motives and actions about the persons within that book. Then draw some possible conclusions from those events.

Here's the point of studying theology. You do not necessarily have to agree with everything you're required to read about the Bible, what someone else has written down about the topic. However before you can disagree with any of that in a formal class, you'll need to competently understand what others have wrote about the topic. Hence the quiz and tests.

If it's not your cup of tea, that's OK. At least the college will give you a basic understanding of Theology and its' various positions.
 
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twin1954

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Totally agree. We are to continually seek God. To do His will, not man's. We know from scripture there are two paths used by seekers, the wide one of the world and the narrow one of the Kingdom. The question remains which one do we follow. Do we learn what the world wants us to learn or what the Kingdom teaches? This is the separation Jesus taught, separation between man's Christianity and God's Christianity, not separation between denominations.
Please define what you mean when you use the term Kingdom. So far your posts have been equivocation. If you mean something different than I understand the word to mean spell it out for us.
 
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twin1954

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My favorite definition of theology is the one supplied by Dr. John Frame. He says that theology is the application of Scripture to every area of life.
I call that “shoe leather” theology. It is theology that affects the heart and life.
 
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Johnny4ChristJesus

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Theology is simply the study of God. "Theos" meaning "God", and "ology" meaning "the study of". Studying theology in a school run by a particular Protestant denomination will give you their particular theology, which conflicts with the theology of every other denomination, but it certainly will not give you true theology. True theology is found only in the one Church Jesus Christ founded, which He clearly said was to remain one, to which He promised "The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth" and "whatsoever you bind upon Earth is bound in heaven", and "He who hears you hears Me". I'm sure you must know this if you read the Bible.

Yes the True Church is the one Jesus founded. I'm sure we can agree that isn't the catholic church either!
 
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PloverWing

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Yes the True Church is the one Jesus founded. I'm sure we can agree that isn't the catholic church either!
I'm sure there is huge disagreement about this point. Please start a separate thread if you want to argue about whether the Catholic church is the one Jesus founded. Karl Barth isn't a Catholic theologian, so arguing about the Catholic church isn't going to help the OP answer her question.
 
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dms1972

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I thought I would look up a description of what theology is from a theologian - I think there was a short one that has been given already from John Frame.

Here is how Donald Bloesch distinguishes Theology and Philosophy (taken from A Theology of Word and Spirit - chapter on Faith and Philosophy)

"Philosophy might be defined as the attempt to bring all of reality under the domain of understanding."

"Theology, on the other hand, is the systemic endeavour to render a compelling and faithful witness to the truth of divine revelation. It is addressed primarily to the believing community with the intention of enabling that community to bring all of its thought and action into conformity with the will of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It nevertheless takes into consideration the thought and plight of the whole world outside the church, for its ultimate aim is to bring the whole world into submission to Jesus Christ."

"Philosophy is the attempt to see all things whole, in a unified perspective. Theology is the attempt to see all things in the light of God's self revelation in Jesus Christ. At the same time, theology confesses that only God has the synoptic vision of the whole of reality and that our understandings will always be limited and incomplete."

"Theology can never be definitive, for it is always a contemporary exposition of the definitive biblical word."

"The criterion in philosophy is what lies within the purview of human possibilities - what is accessible to human reason or what resides within the inner recesses of our being..."

"Theology's criterion is the will and purpose of God as demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, attested in Holy Scripture. The focus of theology is neither on divine essence not on human existence but on divine existence in humanity as we see this in Jesus Christ. Philosophy is inclined to champion automony, trusting in the self for direction and certainty, as opposed to heteronomy, submission to an external standard or power alien to the self (Kant). Theology presents a case for theonomy, in which the self submits to an authority beyond the self that is at the same time its ground and goal."

"In philosophy reality signifies either mind or matter, or an underlying unity between them, such as force or energy. In theology the prime reality is the living God, who brings the world of temporality and materiality into being and creates the energy that vitalises this world. Moreover, this living God is not reducible to mind or thought but instead constitutes a dynamic unity of will and intelligence, or being and action
."
 
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mark kennedy

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I would be concerned where that would lead you. I went to a seminary in the past where Barth was a big part of it. And, his biggest professor advocate questioned "How can we know truth?" Post-modernism centers around people like him. I left seminary after a year. They couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to stay, so they could convince me that I was being deceived. It was really a crazy experience.

I later ran into one of my former classmates. He was a mess. He lost his passion for God, but graduated. How sad! Not a fan of cemetary!
I quit Bible college over that. First I endure 2 hours of questioning Luke's authorship of Luke and Acts. Then I have to sit for another two hours on the contradiction between separate accounts of Judas hanging himself. That as well as the fact that textual criticism had to be in every paper, biblical references were discouraged because parentheses should be reserved for scholarly works citations. As I started the theology part I encounter Tillich who was obviously an atheist and everywhere you encountered emerging church theology. Our Bible colleges have gone to seed. Second and third generation academics who train for ministry have sold out to liberal theology.
 
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dms1972

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How does "evangelical" as Barth uses it differ from the American understanding of the term (and is it just Americans who would differ from Barth in their understanding of evangelical?

As some define Evangelical it requires a commitment to biblical inerrancy. Barth would not be an evangelical in the minds of those who define evangelical in this way (Francis Scaheffer, Van Til, Carl Henry possibly, and others ) as he did not agree with the doctrine of inerrancy.
 
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PloverWing

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How does evangelical as Barth uses it differ from the American understanding of the term (and is it just Americans who would differ from Barth in their understanding of evangelical?
From the Wikipedia page on Protestantism:

The word evangelical (German: evangelisch), which refers to the gospel, was widely used for those involved in the religious movement in the German-speaking area beginning in 1517.[20] Nowadays, evangelical is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran, Calvinist, and United Protestant (Lutheran & Reformed) traditions in Europe, and those with strong ties to them (e.g. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod). Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the Evangelical Church in Germany. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran, a Calvinist, or a United Protestant (Lutheran & Reformed). The German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to evangelical Protestant churches, and therefore to a certain part of Protestantism rather than to Protestantism as a whole.

So, to a German-speaking person from continental Europe, "Evangelical" is roughly equivalent to "Protestant". To an American, "Evangelical" refers to a particular 20th-century movement within Protestantism that branched off of the 20th-century Fundamentalist movement. Barth was a German-speaking Swiss theologian.
 
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I quit Bible college over that. First I endure 2 hours of questioning Luke's authorship of Luke and Acts. Then I have to sit for another two hours on the contradiction between seperate accounts of Judas hanging himself. That as well as the fact that textual criticism had to be in every paper, biblical references were discouraged because parentheses should be reserved for scholarly works citations. As I started the theology part I encount Tillich who was obviously an atheist and everywhere you encountered emerging church theology. Our Bible colleges have gone to seed. Second and third generation academics who train for ministry have sold out to liberal theology.
Modernist theology strikes again. This why Christian kids go off to school and get sent back atheists.
 
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timothyu

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Please define what you mean when you use the term Kingdom. So far your posts have been equivocation. If you mean something different than I understand the word to mean spell it out for us.

The Bible from cover to cover speaks of man's will vs God's will. Kingdom is two things. First the governance of the Father, His will enacted. Leadership. Thy Kingdom come, thy will being done (not man's). Second is the physical Kingdom built upon the will of the Father, not of man. A place for those whose allegiance is to his will, not of mankind's.
 
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timothyu

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Yes the True Church is the one Jesus founded.

Jesus founded a church (not institution) upon the will of God. Man of course would add their ideas and interpretations as time passed, creating a newer version based upon their will. God knew this would happen simply because this is what man has always done. We are consistent in putting our will before His. Adapting God to suit our needs instead of changing to suit His.
It was the only way scripture about HIS Kingdom could get carried forward to present day while mankind was building kingdoms of their own.
 
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