A Defense of Theology
The doctrine of God is the basis for all subsequent inquiry. Our understanding of God will impact our interpretation of the Bible, our perception of history, and our expectation for the future. In short, our whole worldview will shift and solidify as we draw conclusions about the nature of the divine. This blog is directed towards Christians seeking understanding. I address issues on a popular level. If a scholar or skeptic finds this helpful, terrific! But my goal is to traverse the pages of the bible, history, and philosophy and bring those findings to the level of the layman.
In my experience talking with other Christians of all stripes, there is a general awareness of theology, but it is very superficial. “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is divine?” I asked this to a group recently, and they responded with a resounding “Yes!” Then I asked them to prove it. I was relieved that they all firmly believed in the deity of Christ but disappointed to find that none of them knew why. Even among some clergy or ministers of God’s people there is a noticeable ignorance of theology proper. I recently heard a preacher give an online presentation in which he claimed that God is ignorant of many future events and therefore mutable and passible (a view that most Christians in history would consider heretical).
The doctrine of God is well-trodden ground. This, more than any other doctrine, has been debated, discussed, and dogmatized by Christians since the beginning of the church. The material presented here and throughout this blog will hardly be novel—though there may be some small advancements cautiously suggested. It is better to stand on the interpretation of the Bible and, secondarily, the shoulders of the theological giants who came before us as we recover a robust understanding of God.
So, what is theology proper? And what sources can guide us in our journey to find it?
Theology is a polyvalent term found in a variety of disciplines. The most general definition is “the study of the nature of God and religious belief.” In particular, “religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed.”[1] In the context of Christianity, theology can be further divided into several categories such as biblical theology, systematic theology, dogmatic theology, etc. However, for my purposes theology is more fundamental. Theology is properly the study of God (from Greek theos, meaning God, and logos, meaning word, speech, or rationality). This is my focus.
As a Christian, I am convinced that God has revealed himself. This means that we can know something about God. However, the extent to which we can know him is limited because of two factors. First, our human minds are finite, which means they cannot comprehend what is infinite. Second, God has not revealed everything about himself in human language or history, for to reveal the unlimited in limited space or time is impossible. So, we must confine our exploration of the nature of God to what has been revealed. After all, to do anything else would be impossible.
The foremost method of God’s self-revelation is in the person of Jesus Christ. “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (John 1.18 NRSV). Our primary source for knowledge of God will be the teachings of Jesus and the apostles who were taught by him and inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But this is by no means our only source. “For what can be known about God is plain to [the wicked], because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Romans 1.19-20a NRSV). Through investigation of history, science, mathematics, and philosophy there is even more to be learned about the doctrine of God. In fact, theologians have consistently employed all of these in their search for a cogent theology.
In this all-important field, scripture is our primary authority on the matter. Scripture reveals God in his own words, since scripture is the very word of God (2 Timothy 3.16-17). As we learn from those who came before us, we will notice that they utilized philosophy and history as well. As an example, the scripture reveals that there is only one true God and that God is three distinct persons. Thatthis is true is apparent in the New Testament. How this is true is not apparent. So, we may learn from philosophy, ancient and modern, to find clarity and cohesion. That God is eternal is apparent in the Bible. Whether he is timeless or omnitemporal is not. That the universe is created by God for human existence is apparent in scripture also. The astounding degree of fine-tuning has only recently been discovered by mathematicians and physicists. Natural theology (the area of theology that seeks to understand God through philosophy and observation of the natural world) works with and for biblical interpretation to create a fuller understanding of the divine.
In addition, the field of theology in Christian circles is necessarily a historical field. As mentioned before, Jesus Christ, a historical figure, is our primary source for understanding God, and, therefore, our theology must involve historical inquiry. Beyond this, modern Christians do not exist in an intellectual or theological vacuum. We live after 2,000 years of church history that can and should help our study of God. To ignore the discoveries and articulations of previous generations would be foolish.
Finally, the field of theology proper will require the input from other fields of study along the way. Theology can be further divided into subcategories of Christology, pneumatology, etc. Theology will require some knowledge of ontology, epistemology, linguistics, etc. Biblical exegesis, archaeology, textual criticism, Hellenistic philosophy, and much more. In other words, proper theology will never be truly finished, because we will always be chasing knowledge of the infinite with finite tools—like eating soup with a fork.
[1] Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, Ed., Concise Oxford English dictionary, 2004.
