Theology: Do we know what we are believing?

What is theology?

The study of God.

Why study theology?

·         Who am I? Greatest mystery we have to deal with in our lives. Knowledge of ourselves & knowledge of God is inseparable. Our identity &relationships are stored in our minds. So much of who am I is very transient. Augustine realised he is a mystery to himself. The only way to find a reference point is when we stand before God. Even atheists have to find reference point in something, eg. a biological identification, eg. 99% similar to chimpanzee in genetic material etc.

·         The church is not a perfect organisation so we need to constantly think about what we believe.

·         Rather than being spoon fed second hand or third hand information, we can investigate first hand and get first hand information.

·         We have to understand the Bible for what it means, and be able to distinguish when a preacher is just using the Bible to justify their own agenda. Faith is much more than what the church dictates to believe.

·         Every person is a theologian. Any thinking Christian need to theologise.

·         Theology has everything to do with worship & prayer. Praying requires the right knowledge about God or you can be praying like Pagans. The Lord’s prayer: theological declaration of what prayer really is. Not the eloquence of our words but the one that listens to our prayers, and how genuine our words are.

Definitions:

·         What is involved in defining “systematic theology”? The word system means totalised something. However, we already know the complete systemisation of human being is impossible. Even more impossible is the complete systemisation of God! So here the meaning is: trying to come up with a consistent picture of who God is & a coherent study of human history.

·         M Erickson: “that discipline (academic, allows criticisms, needs integrity & consistency) which strives to give a coherent statement of the doctrines of the Christian faith, based primarily on the Scriptures, placed in the context of culture in general, worded in a contemporary idiom, and related to issues of life.”

·         S Grenz: “Systematic theology is the reflection on and the ordered articulation of faith.” (Reflective). We have to think through what the Bible says to understand its meaning. It’s a linguistic discipline. It’s hard enough to describe the five senses, eg. how coffee tastes like. How much more difficult is it to articulate the infinite God? We can only articulate what God is not. God cannot be locked into a concept.

·         Christian theology is the organized study of the contents of the Christian faith in ways that can be made timely and relevant to the church of each generation. 

Some of the tasks of theology:

·         “to provide a clear and comprehensive description of Christian doctrine.”

·         “to translate the Christian faith in terms that are intelligible to the wider culture.” Don’t talk in a way that people cannot understand, don’t be locked up in the world of academics. Apologetics is addressed to those outside the church.

·         D Migliore: In theology, the underlying assumption is that “faith and inquiry are inseparable. Theology arises from the freedom and responsibility of the Christian community to inquire about its faith in God. . . . the work of theology as a continuing search for the fullness of the truth of God made known in Jesus Christ. . . . theology is not mere repetition of traditional doctrines but a persistent search for the truth to which they point and which they only partially and brokenly express. As continuing inquiry, the spirit of theology is interrogative rather than doctrinaire, it presupposes a readiness to question and to be questioned. Like the search of a woman for her lost coin (Luke 15:8), the work of theology is strenuous but may bring great joy.” (pp. 2- 3). Faith and inquring: protesting inquiries (eg. poverty etc.) are not a lack of faith. Faith is not a real thing unless we make enquiries. Blind faith is like jihadism. The prophets complained to God bitterly. Even Jesus asked, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some people believe in their theology instead of God! No one has produced a perfect theology.

·         What do we believe? Truth has subjectivity. Faith is subjective. Resurrection of Christ= faith statement because when people ask us for physical evidence of Jesus Christ, we cannot turn back the clock! Instead of using the word “certainty”, it may be more appropriate to say “I believe in the fulfilment of God’s promises”.

References:
Miyon Chung's lecture in TH602, Knowledge of Christ
My experiences