Systematic Theology? (Please Read Thoroughly)

Agallagher said:

Would you say Systematic Theology is helpful to the faith, or harmful to the faith?

When mentioning Systematic Theology, it is were people use verses to justify their stance on a certain theology and they are able to influence the way a person is to believe which leaves the person following rendering, this must be the only truth

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To me, systematic theology is an attempt to fit various pieces (doctrines) together into a coherent whole (system). On the one hand, I think systematics are helpful to the faith in being able to present a complete picture. There is a certain amount of joy in seeing the beauty of the whole. And it gives integrity to the various parts, if they can be fit together.

On the other hand, every system will be different with a different emphasis. It depends on the starting place and the assumptions of the theologian. So, that can be disconcerting.

Happily, any theologian worth their salt will offer a prolegomena, explicitly stating what one is assuming.

Agallagher said:

Hello you and welcome,

Would you say Systematic Theology is helpful to the faith, or harmful to the faith?

When mentioning Systematic Theology, it is were people use verses to justify their stance on a certain theology and they are able to influence the way a person is to believe which leaves the person following rendering, this must be the only truth.

Would you say having the ability to have freedom in what a person may see or believe the scripture to be saying by the spirit more benefical while shifting out and finding the truth in the scriptures that do and will support and encourage faith and trust, with reliance on God and the Lord Jesus Christ than mandating a belief system over someone and saying they are not Christian if they do not submit to your own ways?

Now you should know that the scriptures are most certainly benefical indeed to heal the heart, the mind, and to support and grow the spirit stronger in the body of believers.

What are your thoughts on this ?

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If God wanted theology to be systematic, He could have laid out the Bible like an instruction manual. I've read plenty of instruction manuals. The Bible is not one.

It can be helpful to have some guidance. I used to have a list of topics with verses that matched the topic. However, there is no substitute for personal and prayerful study of God's word. We also need to remember that "Knowledge puffs up while love builds up". I tell my students that the greatest risk to them after completing the course is spiritual pride. We know what that leads to.

Aussie Pete said:

If God wanted theology to be systematic, He could have laid out the Bible like an instruction manual. I've read plenty of instruction manuals. The Bible is not one.

It can be helpful to have some guidance. I used to have a list of topics with verses that matched the topic. However, there is no substitute for personal and prayerful study of God's word. We also need to remember that "Knowledge puffs up while love builds up". I tell my students that the greatest risk to them after completing the course is spiritual pride. We know what that leads to.

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I

I sometimes find it groupthink of the Bible as a guide to livimg. E.g. The ten commandments are guideline for how to live a life pleasing to God

They can't lead us to eternal life but they can help us understand how to please God

Junia said:

I

I sometimes find it groupthink of the Bible as a guide to livimg. E.g. The ten commandments are guideline for how to live a life pleasing to God

They can't lead us to eternal life but they can help us understand how to please God

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The commandments prove to us that we can't keep them. They tell us what we have to do to please God but they do not tell us how. We need to know that the Lord Jesus living within is the one who obeys God perfectly in every way, all the time. When we allow Him to live in our place, we will also be found to be doing God's will. Jesus is not only the way and the truth. He is the life.

Approaching the Bible systematically can be a useful tool, but its utility is often overstated simply because of the ease of access. It is far easier and less time consuming to compile a list of verses that speak to a given topic and weigh them against each other to develop a systmatic answer to topical questions. Yet such an approach is fraught with danger as often when taken from their context what the verses interact with is the historic and popular debates. Systematics also make it impossible to discuss and poke holes in any specific doctrine because the whole system reinforces itself, being supported not by strength of Biblical voice but by insulation from contextual analysis. One cannot discuss openly and challenge doctrines within a system because the system informs the readings.

I don't think we should(or can) discard a systematic approach entirely, but to recognize the dangers inherent to such organization and actively resist the tendencies is necessary to keep a systematic theology a Biblical theology.

Aussie Pete said:

If God wanted theology to be systematic, He could have laid out the Bible like an instruction manual. I've read plenty of instruction manuals. The Bible is not one.

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So it's not an acronym for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth?

Agallagher said:

Hello you and welcome,

Would you say Systematic Theology is helpful to the faith, or harmful to the faith?

When mentioning Systematic Theology, it is were people use verses to justify their stance on a certain theology and they are able to influence the way a person is to believe which leaves the person following rendering, this must be the only truth.

Would you say having the ability to have freedom in what a person may see or believe the scripture to be saying by the spirit more benefical while shifting out and finding the truth in the scriptures that do and will support and encourage faith and trust, with reliance on God and the Lord Jesus Christ than mandating a belief system over someone and saying they are not Christian if they do not submit to your own ways?

Now you should know that the scriptures are most certainly benefical indeed to heal the heart, the mind, and to support and grow the spirit stronger in the body of believers.

What are your thoughts on this ?

Click to expand...

It's is useful, but also can be harmful.

I've forgotten where I read it but the comment I remember is that Systematic Theology ends up with different conclusions depending on where you start: God or man (or something else entirely).

There also the issue that each step of the system has to be correct else everything that comes after the incorrect step is extremely suspect.

Systematic theologies that I have looked at have sometimes started with philosophical ideas about God (quite reasonable) including Greek philosophy (not so reasonable).

I would say Biblical Theology is far, far better.

Agallagher said:

Hello you and welcome,

Would you say Systematic Theology is helpful to the faith, or harmful to the faith?

When mentioning Systematic Theology, it is were people use verses to justify their stance on a certain theology and they are able to influence the way a person is to believe which leaves the person following rendering, this must be the only truth.

Would you say having the ability to have freedom in what a person may see or believe the scripture to be saying by the spirit more benefical while shifting out and finding the truth in the scriptures that do and will support and encourage faith and trust, with reliance on God and the Lord Jesus Christ than mandating a belief system over someone and saying they are not Christian if they do not submit to your own ways?

Now you should know that the scriptures are most certainly benefical indeed to heal the heart, the mind, and to support and grow the spirit stronger in the body of believers.

What are your thoughts on this ?

Click to expand...

Systematic Theology takes topics like election, justification, sanctification, glorification among other doctrines and fits them together into a "system" that makes sense.

“Systematic” refers to something being put into a system. Systematic theology is, therefore, the division of theology into systems that explain its various areas. For example, many books of the Bible give information about the angels. No one book gives all the information about the angels. Systematic theology takes all the information about angels from all the books of the Bible and organizes it into a system called angelology. That is what systematic theology is all about—organizing the teachings of the Bible into categorical systems.

Theology Proper or Paterology is the study of God the Father. Christology is the study of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Pneumatology is the study of God the Holy Spirit. Bibliology is the study of the Bible. Soteriology is the study of salvation. Ecclesiology is the study of the church. Eschatology is the study of the end times. Angelology is the study of angels. Christian Demonology is the study of demons from a Christian perspective. Christian Anthropology is the study of humanity. Hamartiology is the study of sin. Systematic theology is an important tool in helping us to understand and teach the Bible in an organized manner.

In addition to systematic theology, there are other ways that theology can be divided. Biblical theology is the study of a certain book (or books) of the Bible and emphasizing the different aspects of theology it focuses on. For example, the Gospel of John is very Christological since it focuses so much on the deity of Christ (John 1:1, 14; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28). Historical theology is the study of doctrines and how they have developed over the centuries of the Christian church. Dogmatic theology is the study of the doctrines of certain Christian groups that have systematized doctrine—for example, Calvinistic theology and dispensational theology. Contemporary theology is the study of doctrines that have developed or come into focus in recent times. No matter what method of theology is studied, what is important is that theology is studied.got?

hope this helps !!!

Aussie Pete said:

If God wanted theology to be systematic, He could have laid out the Bible like an instruction manual. I've read plenty of instruction manuals. The Bible is not one.

It can be helpful to have some guidance. I used to have a list of topics with verses that matched the topic. However, there is no substitute for personal and prayerful study of God's word. We also need to remember that "Knowledge puffs up while love builds up". I tell my students that the greatest risk to them after completing the course is spiritual pride. We know what that leads to.

Click to expand...

So studying Scripture topically with a concordance to do a word study is how a systematic theology is formed. You attest to that in your post. You were/are doing it without calling it systematic.

I like this response to systematic theology from an uneducated Russian priest (as relayed from Fr. Stephen Damick)

“He listened attentively. When I had finished, he asked me a most surprising question: ‘Have those who thought out these theological systems and wrote them down in such perfect order ever carried a cross?’ He went on. ‘A man cannot think systematically even when he has a bad toothache. How can a man who is carrying a cross think systematically? But a Christian has to be more than the bearer of a heavy cross; he shares Christ’s crucifixion. The pains of Christ are his, and the pains of all creation. There is no grief and no suffering in the whole world which should not grieve him also. If a man is crucified with Christ, how can he think systematically? Can there be that kind of thought on a cross?

“’Jesus Himself thought unsystematically on the cross. He began with forgiveness; He spoke of a paradise in which even a robber had a place; then he despaired that perhaps there might be no place in paradise even for Him, the Son of God. He felt Himself forsaken. His thirst was so unbearable that He asked for water. Then He surrendered His spirit into His Father’s hand. But there followed no serenity, only a loud cry. Thank you for what you have been trying to teach me. I have the impression that you were only repeating, without much conviction, what others have taught you.’

Fervent said:

Approaching the Bible systematically can be a useful tool, but its utility is often overstated simply because of the ease of access.
It is far easier and less time consuming to compile a list of verses that speak to a given topic and weigh them against each other to develop a systmatic answer to topical questions.

Click to expand...

That works real well in Cartesian analytical geometry also.

Your discrediting of it demonstrates your lack of knowledge regarding it. . .explaining a lot. . . .a. t., where are you?

Yet such an approach is fraught with danger as often when taken from their context what the verses interact with is the historic and popular debates. Systematics also make it impossible to discuss and poke holes in any specific doctrine because the whole system reinforces itself, being supported not by strength of Biblical voice but by insulation from contextual analysis. One cannot discuss openly and challenge doctrines within a system because the system informs the readings.

I don't think we should(or can) discard a systematic approach entirely, but to recognize the dangers inherent to such organization and actively resist the tendencies is necessary to keep a systematic theology a Biblical theology.

Click to expand...

Jesus is YHWH said:

Systematic Theology takes topics like election, justification, sanctification, glorification among other doctrines and fits them together into a "system" that makes sense.

“Systematic” refers to something being put into a system. Systematic theology is, therefore, the division of theology into systems that explain its various areas. For example, many books of the Bible give information about the angels. No one book gives all the information about the angels. Systematic theology takes all the information about angels from all the books of the Bible and organizes it into a system called angelology. That is what systematic theology is all about—organizing the teachings of the Bible into categorical systems.

Theology Proper or Paterology is the study of God the Father. Christology is the study of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Pneumatology is the study of God the Holy Spirit. Bibliology is the study of the Bible. Soteriology is the study of salvation. Ecclesiology is the study of the church. Eschatology is the study of the end times. Angelology is the study of angels. Christian Demonology is the study of demons from a Christian perspective. Christian Anthropology is the study of humanity. Hamartiology is the study of sin. Systematic theology is an important tool in helping us to understand and teach the Bible in an organized manner.

In addition to systematic theology, there are other ways that theology can be divided. Biblical theology is the study of a certain book (or books) of the Bible and emphasizing the different aspects of theology it focuses on. For example, the Gospel of John is very Christological since it focuses so much on the deity of Christ (John 1:1, 14; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28). Historical theology is the study of doctrines and how they have developed over the centuries of the Christian church. Dogmatic theology is the study of the doctrines of certain Christian groups that have systematized doctrine—for example, Calvinistic theology and dispensational theology. Contemporary theology is the study of doctrines that have developed or come into focus in recent times. No matter what method of theology is studied, what is important is that theology is studied.got?

hope this helps !!!

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God forbid! . . .that we should try to organize the parts so we can understand the whole!

Much better just to have a vague awareness of it all, not really knowing what the truth of it is. . .leaves you free to believe your own truth because its truth is just all so vague. . .you know, poor God, he designed us, but he doesn't know how to communicate to us in a way we can truly understand. . .its just all so regrettable. . .his arm being too short and all. . .so sad.

Their God is too small, their theology too human and their wisdom too finite.

GreekOrthodox said:

I like this response to systematic theology from an uneducated Russian priest (as relayed from Fr. Stephen Damick)

“He listened attentively. When I had finished, he asked me a most surprising question: ‘Have those who thought out these theological systems and wrote them down in such perfect order ever carried a cross?’ He went on. ‘A man cannot think systematically even when he has a bad toothache. How can a man who is carrying a cross think systematically? But a Christian has to be more than the bearer of a heavy cross; he shares Christ’s crucifixion. The pains of Christ are his, and the pains of all creation. There is no grief and no suffering in the whole world which should not grieve him also. If a man is crucified with Christ, how can he think systematically? Can there be that kind of thought on a cross?

“’Jesus Himself thought unsystematically on the cross. He began with forgiveness; He spoke of a paradise in which even a robber had a place; then he despaired that perhaps there might be no place in paradise even for Him, the Son of God. He felt Himself forsaken. His thirst was so unbearable that He asked for water. Then He surrendered His spirit into His Father’s hand. But there followed no serenity, only a loud cry. Thank you for what you have been trying to teach me. I have the impression that you were only repeating, without much conviction, what others have taught you.’

Click to expand...

I like this response from Paul. . ".All Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be equipped for every good work."

And all four require understanding, not just a vague association with, right?

Basically systematic theology is simply a list of things you "need" to do to be saved. Yet, the Publican was saved by simply praying, "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner". In my classes at seminary, none were "systematic theology".

GreekOrthodox said:

Basically systematic theology is simply a list of things you "need" to do to be saved. Yet, the Publican was saved by simply praying, "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner". In my classes at seminary, none were "systematic theology".

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In Paul, there is only one thing to do to be saved--believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ for the remission of one's sin, thereby setting one in right relationship with God, and everything else follows.

I see systematic theology as presenting the Christian truths of God in an understandable manner.

Clare73 said:

In Paul, there is only one thing to do to be saved--believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ for the remission of one's sin, thereby setting one in right relationship with God, and everything else follows.

I see systematic theology as presenting the Christian truths of God in an understandable manner.

Click to expand...

And for us, systematic theology is well... alien... to our way of thought. Western churches have various catechisms and books on systematics. We simply say, "come and see"

Agallagher said:

Hello you and welcome,

Would you say Systematic Theology is helpful to the faith, or harmful to the faith?

When mentioning Systematic Theology, it is were people use verses to justify their stance on a certain theology and they are able to influence the way a person is to believe which leaves the person following rendering, this must be the only truth.

Would you say having the ability to have freedom in what a person may see or believe the scripture to be saying by the spirit more benefical while shifting out and finding the truth in the scriptures that do and will support and encourage faith and trust, with reliance on God and the Lord Jesus Christ than mandating a belief system over someone and saying they are not Christian if they do not submit to your own ways?

Now you should know that the scriptures are most certainly benefical indeed to heal the heart, the mind, and to support and grow the spirit stronger in the body of believers.

What are your thoughts on this ?

Click to expand...

It was helpful for me. It helped me to understand the four aspects of salvation better.

The Four Aspects of Salvation.

For I have seen folks try to make Provisional Atonement verses as being in reference to Justification verses. So such studies can be helpful, but they should not be a means to spoon feed us everything we know. The Holy Spirit is our ultimate teacher and we ask Him for the understanding and we compare Scripture with Scripture. Many do not like what the Bible says and they seek to change it so as to fit their beliefs that they prefer.