Sunday, May 7, 2023

What Are the Four Types of Theology? Are There More?

Are There More Ways To Discover God?

by R.E. Slater


Simplistically, the Evangelical Christian Church has taught four types of theology. They are:
  • biblical / exegetical theology,
  • historical theology,
  • systematic (or dogmatic) theology, and
  • practical theology
This theological arrangement is a relatively recent construction in the church around the 18th and 19th Centuries due to academic disciplines occurring apace with the church's own formulaic reasons for its beliefs and structures, practices and polities.

So what are these commonplace categories taught in the traditions of today's church?

1. Biblical / Exegetical Theology

The term here refers to studying the biblical text in-and-of itself as reflected in the ancient Hebrew and Greek languages; developing and using comparative linguistic word studies from surviving ancient manuscripts; deriving thematic narratives based upon it's stories of people, places, things, and nations in transitions; and consciously or unconsciously projecting delimiters into those narratival thematic structures.

Examples of limiting or expanding one's theology from the study of the text of Scripture would be seen in theologies emphasizing or de-emphasizing:
  • The comparative importance of God's activity in one era to that of another era (dispensational theology, covenant theology, (trans?)millennial eschatology, or even more basic, the story of Redemption across the eras of God's promises and activities;
  • The immediacy and consequential affects of God's covenants with ancient men - and Israel, in particular, - as related to any of the above categories;
  • Scriptural typologies and themes of Christ, the Christ event, Redemption, Judgment, Atonement, etc;
  • Stories of Salvation across the bible from Adam to Jesus as corresponding to the story of Israel;
  • The story of God's remnant trusting to God's promises of salvation (covenant), community (land), guidance (spiritual gifting of God's people), and blessedness (eternal state);
  • Projections from Scripture of interpretive future events based upon interpretive past events;
  • Law v Grace subjects such as Legalism, Prohibition & Proscription v. the Grace which comes in Christ and (supposedly) with the Church (although present practice seems indicative of previous corruptions);
  • Biblical word categories such as God's Names, "serving", "remnant", "community", "salvation", "works", etc; OR of binary word study categories btw old v new, rich v poor, lost v found, hate v love, etc;
  • Apocalyptic imagery in connection to the Day of the Lord, to the End Times, to Christ's Return, etc;
  • Practicuum subjects such as the i) Spirit-Gifting of all God's people as v ii) Israel's religious offices of Priest, Scribe, Pharisee v iii) God's Spirit gifting of prophet, priest, judge, leader/king, messiah, apostle, disciple;
  • And so on....

All of the above categories have resulted from the contextual and interpretive exegetical word studies of the bible using archaeology, earlier historical events, literary-redactive-contextual comparative literarature studies, linguistic study comparisons of past and present influential cultures and their literatures, societal mores, and religious beliefs, and so forth.

A properly constructed biblical theology rests as the bottom-most foundational level for all biblical interpolations of divine and human conduct. I have found that it will provide the greatest capacity to the church in liberating itself from it's own theological hegemonies proven to be hard, unloving, divisive, unbiblical, legalistic, or fraught to the very nature of the Atoning Work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary, His Passion, Mission, and Resurrection.

A good biblical theology should be the first-and-foremost guide to all other theological studies.


2. Historical Theology

Historical theology is the "look-back" narrative of the Church. It looks back upon earlier religious beliefs, practices, rites, and rituals to re-establish in itself a "better, more biblical" experience of the Person and Work of Christ. It's failures to this task can become readily self-evident and is the reason why - through the eras of Christianity - it has formed-and-reformed itself a multiplicity of times.

Besides paleontology and archaeological discoveries and resources, the Writings of the Early Church Fathers (Patristic Literature), Monks and Priests (Catholic Literature BEFORE the organization of the Catholic Church proper, AD 1200), religious, cultural and missional experiences (culturally assimilative or non-assimilative), have been used by the church to determine it's future paths. Some to the oppression of their people and communities, and some to the release and beauty of communities founded upon the love of Jesus rather church dictates.

Historical theology is therefore a source to justify the Church in its actions either good or bad, or to release it from itself towards a more loving, richly performative experience between the Divine and human.


3. Systematic Theology

Systematic Theology can be the dogmatic side of the Church when consolidating it's beliefs around centralizing tenents, principles, expressions of God, it's mission and ministrations of salvation to mankind, and worship.

A good theology will release Church communities into the love and freedom of Christ. But more typically, any systematic theology can devolve from form to function when becoming a dogma (or, dogmatic) tenent which confines, legalizes, and oppresses Christian converts into a perverted system of spiritual and physical bondages as set by the Church through its august religious bodies believing they are honoring God.

The Pharisees and Scribes of Israel's day had committed the same perversions which the later arising Church has also replicated through the centuries. Each, in their way, having disregarded the Abrahamic Covenant as sealed in God's redemptive story of love through the bible. When discovering such religious misdeeds Jesus set hard against these blind guides of perversion in judgment, oratory, and miracles of release.

In summary, a good systematic theology should elicit in cultural particulars that of a good biblical theology of grace and redemption. When it does not it goes against itself leaning into the Adamic natures of sin, pride, prejudice, and oppression.


4. Practical Theology

Let me end this by using an evangelical seminary statement on practical theology:

"Practical theology begins with the full consciousness that all the practices of the church and Christians are underwritten by theologies; biblical, historical and systematic. The goal of practical theology is to reflect intentionally on present practices and their ingredient theologies in order to critically discern their shape and character so as to deeper faithful practices, correct those which are sinful, and discern with greater clarity how to live out biblical Christian virtues.

"The strength of a fourfold organization of theology is its capacity to simplify the overwhelming and demanding complexity of the question of God and humanity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit in all of the Trinity’s relations with human creatures against the backdrop of creation in both time and space. The challenge, and temptation, of this artificial organization within theology schools and otherwise, is to think of any of the four as discreet or independent.

*December 16, 2020: "What are the Four Types of Theology? Answers from a Theology School," written by Dr. Mark Bowald for Grace Theological Seminary.

 

Conclusion

These are the four main categories evangelicalism will use in describing theology. However, when breaking free from evangelicalism's preferred language of God, Faith, and the Bible, one can quickly see there are many, many more ways in describing the mission and ministry of the Church. 

The Jesus-Way centers around the needs of people, their questions of faith and faith living, and how a follower of Christ might conduct themselves in the world through grace, mercy, service, and forgiveness as repentent, and penitent, elementals to God's healing, renewal, rebirth, reclamation, and resurrection both now and everlastingly.

Thank you once again,

R.E. Slater
May 7, 2023


Outline of Christian theology


The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christian theology:

Christian theology is the study of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis, and argument. Theology might be undertaken to help the theologian better understand Christian tenets, to make comparisons between Christianity and other traditions, to defend Christianity against objections and criticism, to facilitate reforms in the Christian church, and to assist in the propagation of Christianity.

Divisions of Christian theology

There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.

Sub-disciplines

Christian theologians may be specialists in one or more theological sub-disciplines. These sub-disciplines are often included in certain job titles such as 'Professor of x', 'Senior Lecturer in y':

  • Apologetics/polemics – studying Christian theology as it compares to non-Christian worldviews in order to defend the faith and challenge beliefs that lie in contrast with Christianity.
  • Biblical hermeneutics – interpretation of the Bible, often with particular emphasis on the nature and constraints of contemporary interpretation. Hermeneutics takes into consideration the culture at the time of writing, who wrote the text, who was the text written for, etc.
  • Biblical studies – interpretation of the Bible, often with particular emphasis on historical-critical investigation.
  • Biblical theology – interpretation of the Bible, often with particular emphasis on links between biblical texts and the topics of systematic or dogmatic theology.[1]
  • Constructive theology – generally another name for systematic theology; also specifically a postmodernist approach to systematic theology, applying (among other things) feminist theory, queer theory, deconstructionism, and hermeneutics to theological topics.
  • Dogmatic theology – studying theology (or dogma) as it developed in different church denominations.
  • Ecumenical theology – comparing the doctrines of the diverse churches (e.g., Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the various Protestant denominations) with the goal of promoting unity among them
  • Exegesis – interpretation of the Bible.
  • Historical theology – studying Christian theology via the thoughts of other Christians throughout the centuries.[1]
  • Homiletics – in theology the application of general principles of rhetoric to public preaching.
  • Moral theology, specifically Christian ethics – explores the moral and ethical dimensions of the religious life
  • Natural theology – the discussion of those aspects of theology that can be investigated without the help of revelation scriptures or tradition (sometimes contrasted with "positive theology").
  • Patristics or patrology—studies the teaching of Church Fathers, or the development of Christian ideas and practice in the period of the Church Fathers.
  • Philosophical theology – the use of philosophical methods in developing or analyzing theological concepts.[1]
  • Pragmatic or practical theology – studying theology as it relates to everyday living and service to God, including serving as a religious minister.
  • Spiritual theology—studying theology as a means to orthopraxy; scripture and tradition are both used as guides for spiritual growth and discipline.
  • Systematic theology (doctrinal theology, dogmatic theology or philosophical theology)—focused on the attempt to arrange and interpret the ideas current in the religion. This is also associated with constructive theology.
  • Theological aesthetics – interdisciplinary study of theology and aesthetics/the arts.
  • Theological hermeneutics – the study of the manner of construction of theological formulations. Related to theological methodology.

Major topics

These topics crop up repeatedly in Christian theology; composing the main recurrent 'loci' around which Christian theological discussion revolves.

A traditional pattern

In many Christian seminaries, the four Great Departments of Theology are:

  1. Exegetical theology
  2. Historical theology
  3. Systematic theology
  4. Practical theology

The four departments can usefully be subdivided in the following way:
1. Exegetical theology:

  • Biblical studies (analysis of the contents of Scripture)
  • Biblical introduction
  • Canonics (inquiry into how the different books of the Bible came to be collected together)
  • Biblical theology (inquiry into how divine revelation progressed over the course of the Bible).

2. Historical theology (study of how Christian theology develops over time):

3. Systematic theology:

4. Practical theology:

Roman Catholic theology

One important branch of Christian theology is Roman Catholic theology which has these major teachings:

Controversial movements

Christians have had theological disagreements since the time of Jesus. Theological disputes have given rise to many schisms and different Christian denominations, sects and movements.

Pre-Reformation

Post-Reformation

Because the Reformation promoted the idea that Christians could expound their own views of theology based on the notion of "sola scriptura," the Bible alone, many theological distinctions have occurred between the various Protestant denominations. The differences between many of the denominations are relatively minor; however, and this has helped ecumenical efforts in recent times.

Contemporary theological movements

In addition to the movements listed above, the following are some of the movements found amongst Christian theologians:

Christian theology organizations

Evangelical Theological Society (ETS)

ETS[2] is a professional, academic society of Biblical scholars, teachers, pastors, students, and others involved in evangelical scholarship.

International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT)

The purpose of the International Academy of Practical Theology is the study of and critical reflection on practical theological thought and action.[3] This critical reflection should be pursued with attention to the various historical and cultural contexts in which practical theology is done. Out of respect for the diversity of these contexts, the academy seeks to promote international, interracial, and ecumenical dialogue and understanding.

Notes

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Session 1- What is theology? - Google Docs". Retrieved 2011-12-28.
  2. ^ ETS
  3. ^ IAPT

See also

References

  • Andcone, J.H., eds. Black Theology; A Documentary History, 1966–1979. Orbis Books, 1979
  • Appiah-Kubi, K and Torres, S., eds. African Theology en Route, Orbis Books, 1979
  • Bonino, J.M. Doing theology in a Revolutionary situation, Philadelphia:Fortress Press, 1975.
  • Christian Theology Reader by Alister McGrath. ISBN 0-631-20637-X
  • Christian Theology: An Introduction by Alister McGrath. ISBN 0-631-22528-5
  • Elwood, D.J., ed. Asian Christian Theology; Emerging Themes. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979
  • Fuller, Reginald H. The Foundations of New Testament Christology (1965). ISBN 0-684-15532-X
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity (1984, 1985, 1999). ISBN 1-56563-522-1)
  • Hill, Jonathan 2003) The History of Christian Thought. ISBN 0-7459-5093-0 and 0830827765
  • Hoare, Ryan, 2009,'What is Theology' A lecture Given at suburbschurch Bristol.
  • Koyama, Kosuke, Waterbuffalo Theology. Orbis books, 1974
  • Leith, John H. Introduction to the Reformed Tradition (1978). ISBN 0-8042-0479-9)
  • Miranda, J. Being and the Messiah. Orbis Books, 1974.
  • Moore, B., ed. The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1974.
  • Muzorewa, H. African Theology: Its Origin and Development. Orbis Books, 1984.
  • Sobrino, J. Christology on the Crossroads. Orbis Books, 1978
  • Systematic Theology, an ecumenical trilogy by Thomas Oden


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