Systematic theology  

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In the context of Christianity, systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs. Systematic theology draws on the foundational sacred texts of Christianity, while simultaneously investigating the development of Christian doctrine over the course of history, particularly through philosophy, science and ethics. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly.

History of systematic theology in Christianity

The setting out the varied ideas of Christianity (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. 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 Grundsatzen der evangelischen Kirche (The Christian Beliefs After the Principles of the Protestant Church) 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.

• 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 allegedly different from how James uses it in his letter Template:Citation needed). 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. 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: Damascus, 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 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 myths and Divine providence, Theodicy, Theological anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology, Israelology, Bibliology, Hermeneutics, Sacrament, Pneumatology, Christian life, Heaven, and interfaith statements on other religions.

Notable systematic theologians

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Church Fathers

• St. Augustine of Hippo
• Origen
• Maximus the Confessor
• John of Damascus

Roman Catholic

• St. Anselm of Canterbury
• St. Thomas Aquinas
• Peter Lombard
• Bonaventure
• Duns Scotus
• Catherine of Siena
• Desiderius Erasmus
• Francisco Suarez
• Luis de Molina
• John Henry Newman
• Dietrich von Hildebrand
• Hans Urs von Balthasar
• Frans Jozef Van Beeck
• Yves Congar
• Louis Bouyer
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
• Bernard Lonergan
• Jean Daniélou
• Luigi Giussani
• Edward Schillebeeckx
• Hans Küng
• Karl Rahner
• Avery Dulles
• Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)

Protestant

Orthodox

• Symeon the New Theologian
• Gregory Palamas
• Sergei Bulgakov
• John Meyendorff
• Georges Florovsky
• Dumitru Stăniloae
• Alexander Schmemann
• John Zizioulas
• Vladimir Lossky

Other

• Emanuel Swedenborg, New Church
• J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology [1] (charismatic)
• M. L. Andreasen, Last Generation Theology [2] (Seventh-Day Adventist)

See also

• Category:Systematic theologians

Resources

• St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). De Civitate Dei
• Barth, Karl (1956–1975). Church Dogmatics. (thirteen volumes) Edinburgh: T&T Clark. (ISBN 78-0567058096)
• Berkhof, Hendrikus (1979). Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. (ISBN 978-0-8028-0548-5)
• Berkhof, Louis (1996). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• 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.
• Bloesch, Donald G. (2002–2004). Christian Foundations (seven volumes). Inter-varsity Press. (ISBN 978-0-8308-2753-4, ISBN 978-0-8308-2754-1, ISBN 978-0-8308-2755-8, ISBN 978-0-8308-2757-2, ISBN 978-0-8308-2752-7, ISBN 978-0-8308-2756-5, ISBN 978-0-8308-2751-0)
• Frame, John. Theology of Lordship (ISBN 978-0-87552-263-0)
• Grenz, Stanley J. (1994). Theology for the Community of God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. (ISBN 978-0-8028-4755-3)
• Grider, J. Kenneth (1994). A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology (ISBN 0-8341-1512-3)
• Grudem, Wayne (1995). Systematic Theology. Zondervan. (ISBN 978-0-310-28670-7)
• Hodge, Charles (1960). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Jenson, Robert W. (1997–1999). Systematic Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (ISBN 978-0-19-508648-5)
• Melanchthon, Philipp (1543). Loci Communes. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1992. (ISBN 978-1-55635-445-8)
• Miley, John. Systematic Theology. 1892. (ISBN 978-0-943575-09-4)
• 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.

See also

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• Biblical exegesis
• Biblical theology
• Christian apologetics
• Christian theology
• Conservative Christianity
• Constructive theology
• Feminist theology
• Hermeneutics
• Liberal Christianity
• Liberation theology
• Philosophical theology
• Philosophy of religion
• Political theology
• Process theology
• Queer theology