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= Systematic theology =
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Introduction
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Systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that
formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines
of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible
teaches about certain topics or what is true about God and his
universe. It also builds on biblical disciplines, church history, as
well as biblical and historical theology. Systematic theology shares
its systematic tasks with other disciplines such as constructive
theology, dogmatics, ethics, apologetics, and philosophy of religion.
Method
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With a methodological tradition that differs somewhat from biblical
theology, systematic theology draws on the core sacred texts of
Christianity, while simultaneously investigating the development of
Christian doctrine over the course of history, particularly through
philosophy, ethics, social sciences, and even natural sciences. Using
biblical texts, it attempts to compare and relate all of scripture
which led to the creation of a systematized statement on what the
whole Bible says about particular issues.
Within Christianity, different traditions (both intellectual and
ecclesial) approach systematic theology in different ways impacting a)
the method employed to develop the system, b) the understanding of
theology's task, c) the doctrines included in the system, and d) the
order those doctrines appear. Even with such diversity, it is
generally the case that works that one can describe as systematic
theologies to begin with revelation and conclude with eschatology.
Since it is focused on truth, systematic theology is also framed to
interact with and address the contemporary world. There are numerous
authors who explored this area such as the case of Charles Gore, Jon
Walvoord, Lindsay Dewar, and Charles Moule, among others. The
framework developed by these theologians involved a review of
postbiblical history of a doctrine after first treating the biblical
materials. This process concludes with applications to contemporary
issues.
Categories
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Since it is a systemic approach, systematic theology organizes truth
under different headings and there are ten basic areas (or
categories), although the exact list may vary slightly. These are:
*Theology proper - The study of the character of God
*Angelology - The study of angels
*Biblical theology - The study of the Bible
*Christology - The study of Christ
*Ecclesiology - The study of the church
*Eschatology - The study of the end times
*Hamartiology - The study of sin
*Pneumatology - The study of the Holy Spirit
*Soteriology - The study of salvation
*Theological anthropology - The study of the nature of humanity.
History
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The establishment and integration of varied Christian ideas and
Christianity-related notions, including diverse topics and themes 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', wherein he
thematically collected 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'. The Lutheran scholastic tradition of a
thematic, ordered exposition of Christian theology emerged in the 16th
century, with Philipp Melanchthon's 'Loci Communes', and was countered
by a Calvinist scholasticism, exemplified by 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 Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, for
instance, produced 'Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsätzen der
evangelischen Kirche' (The Christian Faith According to the Principles
of the Protestant Church) in the 1820s, where the core idea is the
universal presence among humanity (sometimes more hidden, sometimes
more explicit) of a feeling or awareness of 'absolute dependence'.
Contemporary usage
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There are three overlapping uses of the term 'systematic theology' in
contemporary Christian theology.
* According to some theologians 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
proposed by some evangelical theologians as being used in a different
sense to how James uses it in his letter (, and ). In this view,
systematic theology is complementary to biblical theology. Biblical
theology traces the themes chronologically through the Bible, while
systematic theology examines themes topically; biblical theology
reflects the diversity of the Bible, while systematic theology
reflects its unity. However, there are some contemporary systematic
theologians of an evangelical persuasion who would question this
configuration of the discipline of systematic theology. Their concerns
are twofold. First, instead of being a systematic exploration of
theological truth, when systematic theology is defined in such a way
as described above, it is synonymous with biblical theology. Instead,
some contemporary systematic theologians seek to use all available
resources to ascertain the nature of God and God's relationship to the
world, including philosophy, history, culture, etc. In sum, these
theologians argue that systematic and biblical theology are two
separate, though related, disciplines. Second, some systematic
theologians claim that evangelicalism itself is far too diverse to
describe the above approach as "the" evangelical viewpoint. Instead,
these systematic theologians would note that in instances where
systematic theology is defined in such a way that it solely depends on
the Bible, it is a highly conservative version of evangelical theology
and does not speak for evangelical theology 'in toto.'
* 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: the Damascene, Aquinas, John Calvin,
Melanchthon and others.
* Normally (but not exclusively) in liberal theology, the term can be
used to refer to attempts to follow in Friedrich 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, Israelology,
Bibliology, hermeneutics, sacrament, pneumatology, Christian life,
Heaven, and interfaith statements on other religions.
Antiquity
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*Athanasius of Alexandria
*Augustine of Hippo
*Basil of Caesarea
*Gregory of Nazianzus
*Gregory of Nyssa
*Irenaeus of Lyon
*Justin Martyr
*Origen
*Tertullian
Middle Ages (West) and Byzantine period (East)
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*Adelard of Bath
*Albert of Saxony
*Albertus Magnus
*Alexander of Hales
*Anselm of Canterbury
*Thomas Aquinas
*Bonaventure
*Catherine of Siena
*Duns Scotus
*Desiderius Erasmus
*Francis of Assisi
*Jean Gerson
*Giles of Rome
*Godfrey of Fontaines
*Gregory Palamas
*Robert Grosseteste
*Henry of Ghent
*Ignatius of Loyola
*John of Damascus
*John Scotus Eriugena
*Peter Lombard
*Maximus the Confessor
*Paschasius Radbertus
*Symeon the New Theologian
*William of Alnwick
*William of Ockham
*William of Ware
Protestant, Reformation and Anglican from 1517 to the present
===============================================================
* Marcella Althaus-Reid, Metropolitan Community Church (baptized Roman
Catholic)
* Gustaf Aulén, Lutheran
* Karl Barth, Reformed
* Herman Bavinck, Reformed
* Oswald Bayer, Lutheran
* Louis Berkhof, Reformed
* Theodore Beza, Reformed
* Donald G. Bloesch, Evangelical Protestant
* James Montgomery Boice, Reformed
* Wilhelmus � Brakel, Reformed
* Gerald Bray, Anglican, Reformed
* Emil Brunner, Reformed
* John Calvin, Calvinism, proto-Reformation
* Fernando Canale, Seventh-day Adventist
* Lewis Sperry Chafer, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Knox Chamblin, Reformed
* Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran
* Sarah Coakley, Anglican
* James Hal Cone, Methodist
* Kevin Conner, Pentecostal
* Jack Cottrell, Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ
* Joseph (Jody) Dillow, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Millard Erickson, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Gabriel Fackre, Evangelical Reformed
* Paul S. Fiddes, Baptist
* Charles Finney, Presbyterian (no formal theological training),
Congregationalist
* John Frame, Presbyterian, Calvinist
* Hans Wilhelm Frei, Lutheran (later Anglican), Postliberal theology
* Richard Gaffin, Reformed, Presbyterian
* Norman Geisler, Evangelical, Graded absolutism
* Johann Gerhard, Lutheran
* John Gill, Particular Baptist
* Stanley J. Grenz, Baptist (Evangelical, Post-Conservative)
* Wayne Grudem, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Colin Gunton, Reformed
* Adolf von Harnack, Evangelische Kirche
* Stanley Hauerwas, Methodism, Postliberalism, Christian ethicist
* Charles Hodge, Presbyterian
* Michael Horton, Reformed
* Stanley M. Horton, Pentecostal
* H. Wayne House, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Thomas Jackson, Anglican
* Robert Jenson, Lutheran
* Catherine Keller, Process
* Simon J. Kistemake, Reformed
* Robert Letham, Reformed
* George Lindbeck, Lutheran, Postliberal theology
* Martin Luther, Lutheranism, proto-Reformation
* John F. MacArthur Reformed, GTY.org
* John Macquarrie, Anglican (originally Presbyterian, Church of
Scotland)
* Sallie McFague, Presbyterian, Feminist
* Alister E. McGrath, Evangelical, Anglican
* Philip Melanchthon, Lutheran, proto-Reformationist
* Jürgen Moltmann, Evangelische Kirche
* John Murray, Presbyterian
* H. Richard Niebuhr, United Church of Christ
* Reinhold Niebuhr, New Orthodox theology
* Thomas C. Oden, Wesleyan, Arminian
* Oliver O'Donovan, Anglican
* J. I. Packer, Anglican, Reformed
* Wolfhart Pannenberg, Lutheran
* Iain Paul, Reformed, Church of Scotland
* Earl D. Radmacher, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Albrecht Ritschl, Lutheran, Evangelische Kirche
* J. Stuart Russell, Congregational, Preterist
* Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Friedrich Schleiermacher, Lutheran, Evangelische Kirche, Humanist
* Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, United Methodist, Process
* William Greenough Thayer Shedd, Presbyterian, Calvinist
* R. C. Sproul, Presbyterian
* Augustus H. Strong, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* Kathryn Tanner, Reformed
* Henry Clarence Thiessen, Evangelical, Theistic rationalism
* Paul Tillich, Lutheran
* Thomas F. Torrance, Presbyterian, Church of Scotland
* R. A. Torrey, Evangelical
* Francis Turretin, Reformed
* Kevin Vanhoozer, Reformed
* Cornelius Van Til Reformed
* John Walvoord, Baptist (Evangelical, Calvinist)
* John Webster, Anglican
* J. Rodman Williams, Charismatic
* Rowan Williams, Anglican
* N. T. Wright, Anglican
* Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Reformed, proto-Reformation
*Jacob Arminius, Arminianism
*John Wesley, Anglican, Methodism, Wesleyan(started in his honor)
Roman Catholic from the Counter-Reformation to the present
============================================================
*Noël Alexandre
*Mariano Artigas
*Franz Xaver von Baader
*Jaime Balmes
*Hans Urs von Balthasar
*Franz Jozef van Beeck
*Józef Maria Boche�ski
*Louis Bouyer
*Henri Brémond
*Christopher Butler
*Hélder Câmara
*Michel de Certeau
*Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
*Franz Jakob Clemens
*Yves Congar
*Frederick Copleston
*John Dobree Dalgairns
*Jean Daniélou
*Miguel A. De La Torre
*Henry Denifle
*Peter Dens
*René Descartes
*Augusta Theodosia Drane
*Avery Dulles
*Félix Dupanloup
*Louis Dupré
*Jacques Dupuis
*Ignacio Ellacur�a
*Frederick William Faber
*Peter Faber
*Cornelio Fabro
*Febronius
*Francis Schüssler Fiorenza
*Charles-�mile Freppel
*Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
*Peter Geach
*�tienne Gilson
*René Girard
*Luigi Giussani
*Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry
*Germain Grisez
*Vekoslav Grmi�
*Romano Guardini
*Jean Guitton
*Anton Günther
*Izidor Guzmics
*John Hardon
*Karl Josef von Hefele
*Micha� Heller
*Joseph Hergenröther
*Georg Hermes
*Alice von Hildebrand
*Dietrich von Hildebrand
*Oswald von Nell-Breuning
*Ivan Illich
*Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz
*Caspar Isenkrahe
*Elizabeth Johnson (theologian)
*Bernard Philip Kelly
*Joseph Kleutgen
*Milan Komar
*Peter Kreeft
*Hans Küng
*Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
*Catherine LaCugna
*Nicholas-Joseph Laforêt
*Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais
*Léon Ollé-Laprune
*Alphonsus Liguori
*Osvaldo Lira
*Ramon Llull
*Bernard Lonergan
*Henri de Lubac
*Richard McBrien
*Ralph McInerny
*John Mair
*Joseph de Maistre
*Nicolas Malebranche
*Gabriel Marcel
*Jean-Luc Marion
*Jacques Maritain
*Sylvester Mazzolini
*Thomas Merton
*Vincent Miceli
*Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
*Luis de Molina
*Thomas Molnar
*Thomas More
*Emmanuel Mounier
*John Courtney Murray
*Richard John Neuhaus
*John Henry Newman
*Aidan Nichols
*Henri Nouwen
*Walter J. Ong
*Cyril O'Regan
*Henry Nutcombe Oxenham
*Franciscus Patricius
*Péter Pázmány
*Giuseppe Pecci
*Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo
*Josef Pieper
*Karl Rahner
*Joseph Ratzinger (afterwards Pope Benedict XVI)
*Gioacchino Ventura di Raulica
*Martin Rhonheimer
*Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
*Jacek Salij
*Giovanni Battista Scaramelli
*Constantine von Schäzler
*Max Scheler
*Edward Schillebeeckx
*Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
*Angelo Scola
*Antonin Sertillanges
*Yves Simon
*Robert Spaemann
*Franz Anton Staudenmaier
*Edith Stein
*Albert Stöckl
*Francisco Suárez
*Matthias Tanner
*Luigi Taparelli
*František Tomášek
*Joseph de Torre
*David Tracy
*Karel Vladimir Truhlar
*Aleš Ušeni�nik
*Jean Vanier
*Gianni Vattimo
*Louis Veuillot
*Giambattista Vico
*Francisco de Vitoria
*Michael Wadding
*Bernie Ward
*Thomas Weinandy
*Nicholas Wiseman
*Karol Wojty�a (afterwards Pope John Paul II)
*Austin Woodbury
*Maurice De Wulf
*Francesco Antonio Zaccaria
*Tommaso Maria Zigliara
*Patrick Benedict Zimmer
Post-Byzantine Eastern Orthodox
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* Sergei Bulgakov
* Georges Florovsky
* David Bentley Hart
* Vladimir Lossky
* John Meyendorff
* Justin Popovi�
* Alexander Schmemann
* Dumitru St�niloae
* Kallistos Ware
* John Zizioulas
Other
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* M. L. Andreasen, Last Generation Theology (Seventh-Day Adventist)
* Emanuel Swedenborg, New Church
* J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology (charismatic)
See also
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*:Category:Systematic theologians
*Biblical exegesis
*Biblical theology
*Christian apologetics
*Christian theology
*Constructive theology
*Dogmatic Theology
*Feminist theology
*Hermeneutics
*Liberal Christianity
*Liberation theology
*Philosophical theology
*Philosophy of religion
*Political theology
*Process theology
*Queer theology
Resources
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* St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). 'De Civitate Dei'
* Barth, Karl (1956-1975). 'Church Dogmatics'. (thirteen volumes)
Edinburgh: T&T Clark. ()
* Berkhof, Hendrikus (1979). 'Christian Faith: An Introduction to the
Study of the Faith'. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. ()
* Berkhof, Louis (1996). 'Systematic Theology'. Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co.
* Bloesch, Donald G. (2002-2004). 'Christian Foundations ' (seven
volumes). Inter-varsity Press. (, , , , , , )
* Calvin, John (1559). 'Institutes of the Christian Religion'.
* Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1948). 'Systematic Theology'. Grand Rapids:
Kregel
* Chemnitz, Martin (1591). 'Loci Theologici'. St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1989.
* Erickson, Millard (1998). 'Christian Theology' (2nd ed.). Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1998.
* Fruchtenbaum, Arnold (1989). 'Israelology: The Missing Link in
Systematic Theology'. Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries
* Fruchtenbaum, Arnold (1998). 'Messianic Christology'. Tustin, CA:
Ariel Ministries
* Geisler, Norman L. (2002-2004). 'Systematic Theology' (four
volumes). Minneapolis: Bethany House.
* Frame, John. 'Theology of Lordship' ()
* Grenz, Stanley J. (1994). 'Theology for the Community of God'. Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans. ()
* Grider, J. Kenneth (1994). 'A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology' ()
* Grudem, Wayne (1995). 'Systematic Theology'. Zondervan. ()
* Hodge, Charles (1960).
[
https://books.google.com/books?id=0TEkThdhYcIC&printsec=frontcover&sour
ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
'Systematic Theology']. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
* Jenson, Robert W. (1997-1999). 'Systematic Theology'. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. ()
* Melanchthon, Philipp (1543). 'Loci Communes'. St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1992. ()
* Miley, John. 'Systematic Theology'. 1892. ()
* Newlands, George (1994). 'God in Christian Perspective'. Edinburgh:
T&T Clark.
* Oden, Thomas C. (1987-1992). 'Systematic Theology' (3 volumes).
Peabody, MA: Prince Press.
* Pannenberg, Wolfhart (1988-1993). 'Systematic Theology'. Grand
Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
* Pieper, Francis (1917-1924). 'Christian Dogmatics'. St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House.
* Reymond, Robert L. (1998). 'A New Systematic Theology of the
Christian Faith' (2nd ed.). Word Publishing.
* Schleiermacher, Friedrich (1928). 'The Christian Faith'.
Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
* Thielicke, Helmut (1974-1982). 'The Evangelical Faith'. Edinburgh:
T&T Clark.
* Thiessen, Henry C. (1949). 'Systematic Theology'. Grand Rapids:
William B. Erdsmans Publishing Co.
* Tillich, Paul. 'Systematic Theology'. (3 volumes).
* Turretin, Francis (3 parts, 1679-1685). 'Institutes of Elenctic
Theology'.
* Van Til, Cornelius (1974). 'An Introduction to Systematic Theology'.
P & R Press.
* Watson, Richard. 'Theological Institutes'. 1823.
* Weber, Otto. (1981-1983) 'Foundations of Dogmatics'. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans.
External links
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* [
http://www.evanglibrary.info/members/theo/erickson/ct/main.htm
Christian Theology] Millard J Erickson - Christian Theology
*
*[
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1463-1652&site=1
International Journal of Systematic Theology] (academic, ecumenical)
*[
http://www.tyndale.ca/seminary/mtsmodular/reading-rooms/theology
Christian Theology Reading Room], Tyndale Seminary
*[
http://www.thetheologyprogram.com The Theology Program](Studies in
Protestant Evangelical Systematic Theology featuring audio and video
aids)
*[
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=SJT Scottish
Journal of Theology] (academic, ecumenical)
*[
http://www.resourcesforchristiantheology.org/ Resources for
Christian Theology] (British, Protestant)
*[
http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/ Faith and Theology] (systematic
theology weblog)
*[
https://frame-poythress.org/the-marriage-of-biblical-systematic-theology/
The Marriage of Biblical & Systematic]
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