Systematic Theology??? What is it and is it important???
So what is this Systematic Theology? Why is it important?
First, lets start off with its definition and a bit of a history lesson...
Systematic theology is the attempt to formulate a coherent philosophy which is applicable to the component parts of a given faith's system of belief. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly. While a systematic theology must take into account the sacred texts of its faith, it also looks to history, philosophy, science, and ethics to produce as full a view and as versatile a philosophical approach as possible.
History of systematic theology in Christianity
The attempt to set out the varied ideas of the Christian religion (and the various topics and themes of the diverse texts of the Bible) in a single, coherent and well-ordered presentation is a relatively late development. In Eastern Orthodoxy, an early example is provided by John of Damascus's 8th century Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, in which he attempts to set in order, and demonstrate the coherence of, the theology of the classic texts of the Eastern theological tradition. In the West, Peter Lombard's 12th century 'Sentences', in which he collected thematically a large series of quotations from the Church Fathers, became the basis of a medieval scholastic tradition of thematic commentary and explanation - best exemplified in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica.
A Protestant tradition of thematic, ordered exposition of the whole of Christian theology (Protestant Orthodoxy) emerged in the 16th century, with Philipp Melanchthon's Loci Communes and John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.
In the 19th century, primarily in Protestant circles, a new kind of systematic theology arose: the attempt to demonstrate that Christian doctrine formed a more tightly coherent system grounded in some core axiom or axioms. Such theologies often involved a more drastic pruning and reinterpretation of traditional belief in order to cohere with the axiom or axioms. Friedrich Schleiermacher, for instance, produced Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsatzen der evangelischen Kirche in the 1820s, in which the core idea is the universal presence amongst humanity (sometimes more hidden, sometimes more explicit) of a feeling or awareness of 'absolute dependence'; all theological themes are reinterpreted as descriptions or expressions of modifications of this feeling.
Contemporary usage
There are three overlapping uses of the term 'systematic theology' in contemporary Christian theology.
In evangelical circles, it is used to refer to the topical collection and exploration of the content of the Bible, in which a different perspective is provided on the Bible's message than that garnered simply by reading the biblical narratives, poems, proverbs, and letters as a story of redemption or as a manual for how to live a godly life. One advantage of this approach is that it allows one to see all that the Bible says regarding some subject (e.g. the attributes of God), and one danger is a tendency to assign technical definitions to terms based on a few passages and then read that meaning everywhere the term is used in the Bible (e.g. "justification" as Paul uses it in his letter to the Romans is different from how James uses it in his letter). In this view, systematic theology is complementary to biblical theology. The latter traces the themes chronologically through the Bible, while the former examines themes topically. The latter reflects the diversity of the Bible, while the former reflects its unity.
The term can also be used to refer to theology which self-avowedly seeks to perpetuate the classical traditions of thematic exploration of theology described above - often by means of commentary upon the classics of those tradition: Damascus, Aquinas, Calvin, Melanchthon and others.
Normally (but not exclusively) in liberal theology, the term can be used to refer to attempts to follow in Schleiermacher's footsteps, and reinterpret Christian theology in order to derive it from a core set of axioms or principles.
In all three senses, Christian systematic theology will often touch on some or all of the following topics: God, Trinitarianism, Revelation, Creation and Divine providence, Theodicy, Theological anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology, Bibliology, Hermeneutics, Sacrament, Pneumatology, Christian life, Heaven, and interfaith statements on other religions.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I believe this is critical. Without Systematic Theology, it makes it very difficult to share/explain your faith, it makes you vunurable to false doctrine and false teachers and your theological foundation will be shaky at best, because it is not based on the orderly fashion of scriptural text,(Old & New), History, Science..etc
I would not advise sitting under a Pastor/Teacher that does not know what Systematic Theology is... The problem being, is that the Pastor/Teacher will not be preaching in full context of Scripture...It is critical to know the "Who, What, Where, When and Why of the text....Systematic Theology helps you determine the correct answers to these questions.
Who is talking and who is being talked to in the text?
What is going on...in the text?
Where is the text taking place?
When in history is the text talking place?
Why is the text taking place...What is its purpose?
A great resource for this and I dare say a must read is Van Til's An Introduction To Systematic Theology.
Van Til states that systematic theology seeks to offer an ordered presentation of what the Bible teaches about God. He says "the study of systematic theology will help men to preach theologically. It will help to make men proclaim the whole counsel of God. Many ministers never touch the greater part of the wealth of the revelation of God to man contained in Scripture. But systematics helps ministers to preach the whole counsel of God, and thus to make God central in their work."
Van Til also proclaims:
"It is but natural to expect that, if the church is strong because its ministry understands and preaches the whole counsel of God, then the church will be able to protect itself best against false teaching of every sort. Non-indoctrinated Christians will easily fall prey to the peddlers of Russellism, spiritualism and all of the other fifty-seven varieties of heresies with which our country abounds. One-text Christians simply have no weapons of defense against these people. They may be able to quote many Scripture texts which speak, for instance, of eternal punishment, but the Russellite will be able to quote texts which, by the sound of them and taken individually, seem to teach annihilation. The net result is, at best, a loss of spiritual power because of loss of conviction. Many times, such one-text Christians themselves fall prey to the seducers voice."
Van Til sums it up like this:
"We have already indicated that the best apologetic defense will invariably be made by him who knows the system of truth of Scripture best." I would modify this a bit and make it a negative: "the best converts to false gospels will invariably be made by those who knows the system of truth of Scripture least."
Van Til, Cornelius (1974). An Introduction to Systematic Theology. P & R Press.
Van Til's book "An Introduction to Systematic Theology" Is a must for Pastors/Teachers if they have never heard of Systematic Theology!!! A must read for anyone who desires to know how to be fully grounded in their faith for Christ!!!
You can grab this paper back book for under $15.00 at most bookstores..
by His Grace alone,
Bill
