Theology for Dummies - Eschatology

Eschatology - the part of theology that is concerned with the end times and includes the issues of death, final judgment and future history.

Yipe! I do not even want to guess how many theories and ideas are out there when it comes to eschatology. It seems that the more speculative a branch of theology is the more sure people are that their opinions are true. Right now the theories of the end of the world abound from tomorrow to next year (2012) to whenever. There always seems to be some nut on the street corner with a 'the end is near' sign.

However, in theology this is part of the discussion and it also includes doctrines such as heaven, hell and final judgment as well. If it involves the future and the Scriptures, it is eschatology. Just keep your head down when you ask opinions about all of the above.

Time lines abound for the end times and the discussion about final judgment includes such things a purgatory, hell, heaven, the nature of the soul after death. Is the final judgment annihilation or permanent torment by fire. The discussion goes on and on and on.

Here though is the real kicker: nobody but God himself probably knows anything about this and he does not really say much but: "keep you nose clean, do what I tell you and wait till I return". Bottom line this is the only real motivation of even looking at the subject of eschatology: one of expectation, hope and facing the final mystery.

Next: Anthropology

Theology for Dummies - Ecclesiology

ecclesia - 'congregation, church'
ology - 'study of'

Ecclesiology is the theological study of the church and subjects can include everything from how the church started, it relationship to Jesus Christ, leadership, role in salvation and its final destiny.

In many cases, the reasons there are denominations in Christianity is differences in ecclesiology. Sometimes it is about governing structure: Congregational (rule by the congregation), Episcopal (Rule by bishops) or Presbyterian (Rule by elected presbyters), etc. Other times it can be about the churches role in salvation which is the chief dividing line between Catholics and Protestants.

The other subjects are not so much dividing points of disagreement as they are philosophical and theological understandings. These can lead to division as well but are more likely effect an individual's perception of them self inside the church.

When we are talking about ecclesiology we are talking about the church in some way or another.

Next: Eschatology

Theology for Dummies - Soteriology

From the Greek - meaning "Study of Salvation". The real problem with this theological term is that it is not exclusive to Christianity. Other religions will talk about soteriology as well because the basic idea is "What is salvation and how is one saved?" Now this question has been around for along time and the answers are so numerous that it takes large theological books to keep track of them all.

The basic issues in Christian Soteriology however are: 'How does God save us?', "How are sins forgiven?"; "How does one obtain eternal life?" along with many more like these. If you break it down into Christian camps of thought there are basically five with various offshoots: Orthodox, Catholic, Arminianism, Calvinism and Lutheran. It get real tricky though when putting some in a camp as elements tend to bleed over into another. Some schools have disputes over the particulars of each question within themselves as well.

The main issue though is to remember that when anyone use the term 'soteriology' they are talking about salvation.

Next: Ecclesiology

Theology for Dummies - Christology

Christology is in its simplest form the study of Christ in both his nature and person. "Who was Jesus and what did he do?"

The issues involved in who Christ was and is are extensive. The include his humanity, divinity, relationship to the Father and Holy Spirit, incarnation (God in flesh), etc.

The issues in what he did and its significance are also large: virgin birth, miracles, teachings, his death, burial and resurrection are there and what significance they have. That covers a lot of ground.

The source documents for all this study are the New Testament with reference to the Old Testament. Historical studies come into play as well like "When the Jews heard the tern 'Christ' what did they think?" is a valid question. Needless to say it is very difficult to become and expert in christology.

Of course, throughout history there has been a lot of debate on all these issues over 2000 years and the views on all the above have major variance in opinion. The point is when you hear the term 'christology' you know someone is talking about Jesus, what he did and who he was.

Next: Soteriology

Theology for Dummies - Process Theology

Process theology is a school of thought that is connected to two men -- Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne although others are still developing the concepts involved. Basically, process theology is the product of metaphysical concepts developed by the above two men and using those concepts to look at theology.

The big thing in process theology is that process theologians do not look at God's power in terms of God being coercive, that is dominating others. Instead God's power is persuasive. God uses his power in a way that brings people about wilfully not forcing anyone to do anything. God is not about control.

Other key concepts are that reality is more about experiences that material substance, self-determination of all persons, and God is changeable because he interacts with a changing universe.

If there is a distinct difference between this and other theologies is their view of the Bible. Because revelation is an ongoing process and a changeable one that means the Bible while helpful to understanding God is not authoritative as much as other Christians would see it.

For myself, I have found reading process theologians to be helpful in looking at things another way, however their view of Scripture turns me off. This is actually probably the dividing line between open theism and process theology. The open theist (such as myself) is going to hold Scripture dear because they believe their case is biblical, but the process theologian will go against Scripture if they feel that God has changed in his relationship to the universe from where the Bible was in the process of revelation.

Next: Christology

Theology for Dummies - Liberation Theology

Wikipedia - '... is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teaching of Jesus Christ in terms of liberation from unjust economic, political or social conditions."

This movement was originally started in the 1950s in Latin America as Roman Catholic movement. The Vatican frowned on liberation theology because of its obvious Marxist connections. In short, this seems to be an attempt to join the ideas of some of the teachings of Jesus with Marxism and the idea of revolutionary overthrow of governments in order to ease poverty and political injustice.

This movement has had many influences including various movements in the United States such as black liberation theology and other movements that promote a overthrow of what is to establish a more socially responsive government.

There are some problems with this theology from my perspective, chief among them is the fact this theology seems to be very selective about which teaching of Christ it follows. It embraces any teaching about helping people but it ignores such teachings that involve passive resistence of evil action. Other things as historical theology would point out as well: the early Christians; for instance, never used aggressive or violent revolution to take out the Roman government for example. It also assumes Jesus taught Marxist communism, which I don't see either with some of Jesus' teachings on landowners and master servant relationships.

In many ways this theology is an attempt to have Communism and Christianity hold hands in unity and as far as I can tell that has some difficulties. It also overemphasizes social responsibility over individual responsibility to the point it justifies anger and even hatred toward people in government. In many respects, it has a tunnel vision on justifying revolution in Christ's teachings more than anything else.

Next: Process Theology

Theology for Dummies - Dialectical Theology

Dialectical Theology is also known as Neo-orthodoxy. It was in large part the child of two theologians -- Karl Barth and Emil Brunner although Barth himself felt uneasy about being labeled. Dialectical theology is in large part a reaction to the liberalism of the 19th century and basically sought to reevaluate the teachings of the Reformation.

In Dialectical theology there are basically four main themes: 1) A rejection of natural revelation in favor of completely embracing special revelation; 2) A emphasis on the transcendence of God with a strong critique of systems that belived in immanence of God; 3) Existentialism -- the idea that the decision to become a Christian is not a rational decision but a 'leap of faith' and 4) a renovation and re-emphasis on the doctrine of original sin.

I have studied this one a lot in seminary, I became fascinated by Karl Barth and his work. The ultimate problem I had was that this is basically a reformation of the Reformation but it seemed to be contradictory.

1. By rejecting natural revelation and placing emphasis on special revelation Barth still did not reject the liberal criticism of part of the bible itself. (Jesus' miracles not being real for example). That's what leads him to the whole 'leap of faith' idea. So we can only trust special revelation but that special revelation is untrustworthy?

2. The emphasis on the transcendence of God puts God out there and not with us which seems to be the whole point of the gospels.

3. The 'leap of faith' concept has its weaknesses could one not have a 'leap of faith' then to become a Buddhist or any other religion for that matter.

If you notice though a lot of their concepts still exist today. People still in many respects believe in a God who is out there somewhere, that they can't help themselves when they sin and that parts of the Bible are myth but still remain the only way to know God. Crazy but true. The whole 'leap of faith' concept still exists in many forms.

Most of this I rejected ultimately but the idea of a faith beyond the use of reason and religion did have its appeal to me once upon a time.

Next: liberation theology

Theology for Dummies - Covenant Theology

Wikipedia: "The standard description of covenant theology views the history of God's dealings with mankind in all of history, from Creation to Fall to Redemption to Consummation, under the framework of three overarching theological covenants — the covenants of redemption, of works, and of grace."

Yeah, that about covers it. It also should be noted that this forms the basis and foundation of a couple of theological systems: Calvinism and Dispensationalism.

The idea is that over time God has changed the way he deals with people. No argument there, but the rub comes when you start saying that at different times God saved people differently. That is where I say this is a dangerous theology.

Paul is very clear in Romans and other places that everyone has been saved by one thing - faith. He sites Abraham to prove to a skeptical Jewish population of his day that just like the Gentiles, Abraham was saved by faith. When you start saying as a certain time people were saved by works or grace depending on the time they lived it seems to counter this idea and it does. Paul's whole point is that every man and woman has been saved by the grace of God through faith and that faith leads to action through obedience and love of God. Covenant Theology departs from this and that is why I rejected it long ago and the Calvinism and dispensationalism that goes with it. More on those later.

This theology also has the problem of presupposition. If you are always assuming these three covenant times exist; it will color your interpretation of Scripture. It means your setting yourself up for reading into Scripture what you want to see.

Next: Dialectical Theology

Theology for Dummies - Natural Theology

".. a branch of theology based on reason and ordinary experience." - Wikepedia.

Natural theology is best described as looking at the world around us and using what we know to come to conclusions about the divine. This is ultimately man looking at things and saying "this means God is X".

The value of natural theology in Christan circles has long been debated. The Scripture writers, particularly guys like David in the Psalms declare that the world proves there is a creator. Other writers point to other things. Theologians fall into many different camps from those who say natural theology is a key tool to those that reject it outright.

The basic problem is that all nature religions, polytheistic systems, animism, etc. all have as their base this understanding of looking at the world around us and drawing conclusions about the divine. The problem is natural theology is often in the eye of the beholder unless there is some other authority to guide it.

I have no problem with natural theology as a support to other kinds of theology, the problem is when it takes center stage you can go anywhere with it. That is its inherent weakness.

Next: Revealed Theology

Theology for Dummies - Philosophical Theology

Wikipedia: "Philosophical Theology is the disciplined employment of philosophical methods in developing or analyzing theological concepts."

While it is argued when this discipline appeared, there can be no doubt as to its purpose: take any theological concept and trace how it developed and ask the questions: "Is it philosophically sound?"; "Does that theology make sense; is it logical?"; "Does it line up with how we understand the world and God?", etc. Take any theological idea and take the questions philosophers ask and ask them to analyze that theological idea. That is the aim and purpose of philosophical theology

I really got into philosophical theology in seminary. There are certain disciplines of Christianity like apologetics (defending the faith) and issues like the problem of evil that require some philosophy in them.

Before I go further, I know a lot of Christians like to quote Paul from Colossians 2:8. But in all cases, the point is not against philosophy in and of itself but against 'vain' or 'empty' philosophy. It might be said the philosophical theology is how you tell the difference between 'vain' philosophy and solid philosophy.

In any case, no one can escape using philosophical theology from time to time. We are always as Christians checking to see if our doctrines are sound. We all ask of the Bible and what we believe: Does this make sense? We all use logic and reason as we approach Scripture and that makes use in a limited sense philosophical theologians.

Philosophical Theology proper though will take any doctrine or theological concept and put it through the wringer and see if it holds up. Probably the most famous is Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason where he argued that the old doctrines of revelation must give way to the new because of new theories on knowledge.

For myself I find that philosophy can be a good way to test a theological idea to see if it is sound. Logic does have its place as we analyze the Scriptures. Where it can fail is that if the Bible says: "A is true, but philosophical theology says 'A is not true' you still have to side with the Bible and say 'A is true'. You just may have to think real hard to get it to make sense or come at it from a different angle of thinking that satisfies the philosophical objections to 'A' being true.

Next: Natural Theology

Theology for Dummies - Historical Theology

"...is a branch of theological studies that investigates the socio-historical and cultural mechanisms that give rise to theological ideas, systems and

statements." Wikipedia does pretty good on this one. As might be obvious with the word 'historical', this is about analyzing history to find how theological ideas got started, developed over time and which groups were and are connected to them.

The purpose for the theologian who uses historical theology is to take what ideas he thinks he sees in Scripture and pour them through the filter of historical theology to see if they have been thought of before, what are others' thoughts about the same ideas. It shows who believed what and why?

If there is a weakness to historical theology it is this: it may show who believed an idea and why they believed it, but it does not really make an evaluation of 'were they right?". It is not so much about assessing truth as it is being descriptive in the who, why and what throughout the history of the church.

It's value is limited because there are many ideas that are held historically but on the flip side those same ideas can be opposed by others. It is descriptive not analytical although it can help analyze a theological idea's value to the church over time.

I use this in a limited fashion. I will be completely honest that I do not find useful other than to get inspiration or see what others in the history have thought about things. The reason is, just because a whole group of people believe something about God does not make them right. Truth cannot be assessed using historical theology.

Next: Philosophical Theology

Theology for Dummies - Systematic Theology

"... a discipline of Christian Theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs." Wikipedia's definition here is adequate but a little prejudicial. The idea is that this is the only way of doing theology rationally is a little much. When you look at it the best way to define systematic theology is to contrast it with biblical theology. While biblical attempts to see chronological development of the big picture, systematic theology follows a single theme or group of themes through the Scriptures and it is done in such a way as to not really give the chronological development of revelation a lot of thought. The best theologians use elements of both.

For myself, I try to always keep the big picture of revelation in mind and the chronology is important. Things change and evolve in Scripture and it is good to use biblical theology to remember to keep in mind the full tapestry of revelation. At the same, systematic theology allows me to take a good close up look at a single thread or group of related threads in that tapestry.

If there is a weakness to systematics is that it can assume certain categories exist and presuppose or assume their existence. Just becasue the church says the category of such and such exists in Scripture, that does not mean it is so in all cases.

Probably the best illustration I can give of what I mean is the series I did on The Bible and Nakedness. As biblical theologian I wanted to divorce myself from assumptions about the topic that I might have: "nakedness is always wrong and sinful" as an example. I also wanted to see how the topic developed as the chronology of the Bible is followed. Using systematic theology, I also was looking at a group of themes in the Scripture and taking them as a whole at the end when I drew my conclusions. I use both.

There is a tension between the two types of theology, but they also can be used to get a more complete picture of the issue at hand.

Next: Historical Theology

Theology for Dummies -- What is Biblical Theology?

Wikipedia defines Biblical Theology as: "a discipline within Christian Theology which studies the Bible from the prospective of understanding the progressive history of God revealing himself to humanity."

I would say that pretty well sums it up. The basic idea is that as we look at the Bible we see God dealing with people in history and through that history we see God revealing more and more of himself as time goes by. Biblical theologians (such as myself) do not see the theology of the Bible as some predetermined thing where God has all things about himself mapped out on a time line to be revealed but that the revelation is like a tree that grows and changes a time goes by and that tree interacts with the world around it. There are great changes in the relationship that God has with humanity and it is these changes that fascinate the biblical theologian.

Several other factors are present as well. The idea that Scripture defines Scripture and there is no need for outside sources is a big central tenant for most Biblical theologians. There is also the idea of looking at the Bible without assumptions or at least removing such assumptions as much as possible. The idea is that each generation has the right to look at the Bible and see if new light can be shed on its pages with new perspective. Biblical theology is thus a constant discipline that is evolving continually. It also pay special attention to how themes develop and grow chronologically in Scripture

The Biblical Theologian is concerned with the flow and weave of the tapestry of revelation found in scripture. It tries to not get stuck on single theme or group of themes but tries to see how all Biblical themes flow together and follows this pattern or flow through the chronology of the Bible.

Next: Systematic Theology

Theology for Dummies -- What is Theology?

I know it seems simple to start here, but what the heck is theology anyway? Webster defines theology as: 'The study of God and His relationship to the world'. I suppose that is adequate, but then you have to consider how many types of theology their are: biblical, historical, systematic, philosophical, process, etc. That means this field is a broad one and has so many twists and turns that sometimes you can get very lost.

The fact is that GOD is a BIG subject and that means there is bound to be a whole lot of ways to approach the subject. Then you throw in that it is not just about God, but how He relates to the world and now you have added a whole new set of issues. I guess I can understand people who say: 'just give my that old time religion, it's simple'. But then ask them what they mean by that and you know what -- they are engaged in theology and suddenly 'the old time religion' isn't so simple.

Theology is ultimately important because coming to a personal understanding of God and how he relates to you is a theological question of no small significance. Eternal survival significance. It means using your mind to understand God. That means you have to engage more than just faith -- you have to engage your brain in relationship to your faith.

This series will continue by defining the major types of theology, so hang on.

Theology for Dummies?

OK. This one was a suggestion from my oldest that I do a kind of Theology for Dummies blog or column. I already have enough to do with this blog, so a new series it is. This will be an Always Running Series (ARS), the purpose of which will be to define theological terms, make theological concepts simple and try to make the complex more understandably so that even people who are severely theologically challenged can understand it.

Blessings -- that means I wish you to receive a special favor or favors from God. See how easy this is?