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Theology

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Theology
Not to be confused with Religious studies.
This article is about theology as a science. For Sinéad O'Connor's album, see Theology (album). For the academic journal, see Theology (journal).

Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries.[1] It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the supernatural, but also deals with religious epistemology, asks and seeks to answer the question of revelation. Revelation pertains to the acceptance of God, gods, or deities, as not only transcendent or above the natural world, but also willing and able to interact with the natural world and, in particular, to reveal themselves to humankind. While theology has turned into a secular field, religious adherents still consider theology to be a discipline that helps them live and understand concepts such as life and love and that helps them lead lives of obedience to the deities they follow or worship.

Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument (experiential, philosophical, ethnographic, historical, and others) to help understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote any myriad of religious topics. As in philosophy of ethics and case law, arguments often assume the existence of previously resolved questions, and develop by making analogies from them to draw new inferences in new situations.

The study of theology may help a theologian more deeply understand their own religious tradition,[2] another religious tradition,[3] or it may enable them to explore the nature of divinity without reference to any specific tradition. Theology may be used to propagate,[4] reform,[5] or justify a religious tradition; or it may be used to compare,[6] challenge (e.g. biblical criticism), or oppose (e.g. irreligion) a religious tradition or worldview. Theology might also help a theologian address some present situation or need through a religious tradition,[7] or to explore possible ways of interpreting the world.[8]

Discover more about Theology related topics

Divinity

Divinity

Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity. What is or is not divine may be loosely defined, as it is used by different belief systems.

God

God

In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In non-monotheistic thought, a god is "a spirit or being believed to control some part of the universe or life and often worshipped for doing so, or something that represents this spirit or being".

Deity

Deity

A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life".

Ethnography

Ethnography

Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining the behavior of the participants in a given social situation and understanding the group members' own interpretation of such behavior.

History

History

History is the systematic study and documentation of human activity. The time period of events before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers. History is not complete and still has debatable mysteries.

Explanation

Explanation

An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing rules or laws in relation to any objects or phenomena examined.

Critique

Critique

Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgment, it can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also means a methodical practice of doubt. The contemporary sense of critique has been largely influenced by the Enlightenment critique of prejudice and authority, which championed the emancipation and autonomy from religious and political authorities.

Case law

Case law

Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a legal case that have been resolved by courts or similar tribunals. These past decisions are called "case law", or precedent. Stare decisis—a Latin phrase meaning "let the decision stand"—is the principle by which judges are bound to such past decisions, drawing on established judicial authority to formulate their positions.

Apologetics

Apologetics

Apologetics is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called Christian apologists. In 21st-century usage, apologetics is often identified with debates over religion and theology.

Comparative religion

Comparative religion

Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics and the nature and forms of salvation. It also considers and compares the origins and similarities shared between the various religions of the world. Studying such material facilitates a broadened and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as historical-biblical criticism, it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the scientific concern to avoid dogma and bias by applying a neutral, non-sectarian, reason-based judgment to the study of the Bible, and (2) the belief that the reconstruction of the historical events behind the texts, as well as the history of how the texts themselves developed, would lead to a correct understanding of the Bible. This sets it apart from earlier, pre-critical methods; from the anti-critical methods of those who oppose criticism-based study; from later post-critical orientation, and from the many different types of criticism which biblical criticism transformed into in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Irreligion

Irreligion

Irreligion is the neglect or active rejection of religion. Whether it is distinct from lack of religion is disputed. The Encyclopedia of religion and society defines it as the "rejection of religion in general or any of its more specific organized forms, as distinct from absence of religion"; while the Oxford English dictionary defines it as want of religion; hostility to or disregard of religious principles; irreligious conduct; and the Merriam Webster dictionary defines it as "neglectful of religion : lacking religious emotions, doctrines, or practices".

Etymology

Main article: History of theology

The term derives from the Greek theologia (θεολογία), a combination of theos (Θεός, 'god') and logia (λογία, 'utterances, sayings, oracles')—the latter word relating to Greek logos (λόγος, 'word, discourse, account, reasoning').[9][10] The term would pass on to Latin as theologia, then French as théologie, eventually becoming the English theology.

Through several variants (e.g., theologie, teologye), the English theology had evolved into its current form by 1362.[11] The sense the word has in English depends in large part on the sense the Latin and Greek equivalents had acquired in patristic and medieval Christian usage, although the English term has now spread beyond Christian contexts.

Plato (left) and Aristotle in Raphael's 1509 fresco The School of Athens
Plato (left) and Aristotle in Raphael's 1509 fresco The School of Athens

Classical philosophy

Greek theologia (θεολογία) was used with the meaning 'discourse on God' around 380 BC by Plato in The Republic.[12] Aristotle divided theoretical philosophy into mathematike, physike, and theologike, with the latter corresponding roughly to metaphysics, which, for Aristotle, included discourse on the nature of the divine.[13]

Drawing on Greek Stoic sources, Latin writer Varro distinguished three forms of such discourse:[14]

  1. mythical, concerning the myths of the Greek gods;
  2. rational, philosophical analysis of the gods and of cosmology; and
  3. civil, concerning the rites and duties of public religious observance.

Later usage

Some Latin Christian authors, such as Tertullian and Augustine, followed Varro's threefold usage.[14][15] However, Augustine also defined theologia as "reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity."[16]

Latin author Boethius, writing in the early 6th century, used theologia to denote a subdivision of philosophy as a subject of academic study, dealing with the motionless, incorporeal reality; as opposed to physica, which deals with corporeal, moving realities.[17] Boethius' definition influenced medieval Latin usage.[18]

In patristic Greek Christian sources, theologia could refer narrowly to devout and/or inspired knowledge of, and teaching about, the essential nature of God.[19]

In scholastic Latin sources, the term came to denote the rational study of the doctrines of the Christian religion, or (more precisely) the academic discipline which investigated the coherence and implications of the language and claims of the Bible and of the theological tradition (the latter often as represented in Peter Lombard's Sentences, a book of extracts from the Church Fathers).

In the Renaissance, especially with Florentine Platonist apologists of Dante's poetics, the distinction between 'poetic theology' (theologia poetica) and 'revealed' or Biblical theology serves as stepping stone for a revival of philosophy as independent of theological authority.

It is in this last sense, theology as an academic discipline involving rational study of Christian teaching, that the term passed into English in the 14th century,[20] although it could also be used in the narrower sense found in Boethius and the Greek patristic authors, to mean rational study of the essential nature of God—a discourse now sometimes called theology proper.[21]

From the 17th century onwards, the term theology began to be used to refer to the study of religious ideas and teachings that are not specifically Christian or correlated with Christianity (e.g., in the term natural theology, which denoted theology based on reasoning from natural facts independent of specifically Christian revelation)[22] or that are specific to another religion (such as below).

Theology can also be used in a derived sense to mean "a system of theoretical principles; an (impractical or rigid) ideology."[23][24]

Discover more about Etymology related topics

History of theology

History of theology

The history of theology has manifestations in many different cultures and religious traditions.

Greek language

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy, southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

God

God

In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In non-monotheistic thought, a god is "a spirit or being believed to control some part of the universe or life and often worshipped for doing so, or something that represents this spirit or being".

Logia

Logia

The term logia, plural of logion, is used variously in ancient writings and modern scholarship in reference to communications of divine origin. In pagan contexts, the principal meaning was "oracles", while Jewish and Christian writings used logia in reference especially to "the divinely inspired Scriptures". A famous and much-debated occurrence of the term is in the account by Papias of Hierapolis on the origins of the canonical Gospels. Since the 19th century, New Testament scholarship has tended to reserve the term logion for a divine saying, especially one spoken by Jesus, in contrast to narrative, and to call a collection of such sayings, as exemplified by the Gospel of Thomas, logia.

Oracle

Oracle

An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.

Logos

Logos

Logos is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive reasoning. Aristotle first systemised the usage of the word, making it one of the three principles of rhetoric. This specific use identifies the word closely to the structure and content of text itself. This specific usage has then been developed through the history of western philosophy and rhetoric.

Discourse

Discourse

Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. Following pioneering work by Michel Foucault, these fields view discourse as a system of thought, knowledge, or communication that constructs our experience of the world. Since control of discourse amounts to control of how the world is perceived, social theory often studies discourse as a window into power. Within theoretical linguistics, discourse is understood more narrowly as linguistic information exchange and was one of the major motivations for the framework of dynamic semantics, in which expressions' denotations are equated with their ability to update a discourse context.

Patristics

Patristics

Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin pater and Greek patḗr (father). The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or end of the Apostolic Age to either AD 451 or to the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, drama, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, meteorology, geology, and government. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

Metaphysics

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality; the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, cause and effect, necessity and possibility.

Latin

Latin

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition.

Marcus Terentius Varro

Marcus Terentius Varro

Marcus Terentius Varro was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome". He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.

In religion

The term theology has been deemed by some as only appropriate to the study of religions that worship a supposed deity (a theos), i.e. more widely than monotheism; and presuppose a belief in the ability to speak and reason about this deity (in logia). They suggest the term is less appropriate in religious contexts that are organized differently (i.e., religions without a single deity, or that deny that such subjects can be studied logically). Hierology has been proposed, by such people as Eugène Goblet d'Alviella (1908), as an alternative, more generic term.[25]

Abrahamic religions

Christianity

Main articles: Christian theology and Neoplatonism
Further information: Diversity in early Christian theology, Great Apostasy, Nontrinitarianism, Son of God (Christianity), and Trinity
Thomas Aquinas, an influential Roman Catholic theologian
Thomas Aquinas, an influential Roman Catholic theologian

As defined by Thomas Aquinas, theology is constituted by a triple aspect: what is taught by God, teaches of God, and leads to God (Latin: Theologia a Deo docetur, Deum docet, et ad Deum ducit).[26] This indicates the three distinct areas of God as theophanic revelation, the systematic study of the nature of divine and, more generally, of religious belief, and the spiritual path. Christian theology as the study of Christian belief and practice 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, to assist in the propagation of Christianity, to draw on the resources of the Christian tradition to address some present situation or need, or for a variety of other reasons.

Islam

Main article: Aqidah
Further information: Kalam, List of Muslim theologians, and Schools of Islamic theology

Islamic theological discussion that parallels Christian theological discussion is called Kalam; the Islamic analogue of Christian theological discussion would more properly be the investigation and elaboration of Sharia or Fiqh.[27]

Kalam…does not hold the leading place in Muslim thought that theology does in Christianity. To find an equivalent for 'theology' in the Christian sense it is necessary to have recourse to several disciplines, and to the usul al-fiqh as much as to kalam.

— translated by L. Gardet


Some Universities in Germany established departments of islamic theology. (i.e. [28])

Judaism

Sculpture of the Jewish theologian Maimonides
Sculpture of the Jewish theologian Maimonides
Main article: Jewish theology

In Jewish theology, the historical absence of political authority has meant that most theological reflection has happened within the context of the Jewish community and synagogue, including through rabbinical discussion of Jewish law and Midrash (rabbinic biblical commentaries). Jewish theology is also linked to ethics, as it is the case with theology in other religions, and therefore has implications for how one behaves.[29][30]

Indian religions

Buddhism

Some academic inquiries within Buddhism, dedicated to the investigation of a Buddhist understanding of the world, prefer the designation Buddhist philosophy to the term Buddhist theology, since Buddhism lacks the same conception of a theos. Jose Ignacio Cabezon, who argues that the use of theology is in fact appropriate, can only do so, he says, because "I take theology not to be restricted to discourse on God.… I take 'theology' not to be restricted to its etymological meaning. In that latter sense, Buddhism is of course atheological, rejecting as it does the notion of God."[31]

Hinduism

See also: Krishnology

Within Hindu philosophy, there is a tradition of philosophical speculation on the nature of the universe, of God (termed Brahman, Paramatma, and/or Bhagavan in some schools of Hindu thought) and of the ātman (soul). The Sanskrit word for the various schools of Hindu philosophy is darśana ('view, viewpoint'). Vaishnava theology has been a subject of study for many devotees, philosophers and scholars in India for centuries. A large part of its study lies in classifying and organizing the manifestations of thousands of gods and their aspects. In recent decades the study of Hinduism has also been taken up by a number of academic institutions in Europe, such as the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and Bhaktivedanta College.[32]

Other religions

Shinto

In Japan, the term theology (神学, shingaku) has been ascribed to Shinto since the Edo period with the publication of Mano Tokitsuna's Kokon shingaku ruihen (古今神学類編, 'categorized compilation of ancient theology'). In modern times, other terms are used to denote studies in Shinto—as well as Buddhist—belief, such as kyōgaku (教学, 'doctrinal studies') and shūgaku (宗学, 'denominational studies').

Modern Paganism

English academic Graham Harvey has commented that Pagans "rarely indulge in theology."[33] Nevertheless, theology has been applied in some sectors across contemporary Pagan communities, including Wicca, Heathenry, Druidry and Kemetism. As these religions have given precedence to orthopraxy, theological views often vary among adherents. The term is used by Christine Kraemer in her book Seeking The Mystery: An Introduction to Pagan Theologies and by Michael York in Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion.

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Religion

Religion

Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith, and a supernatural being or beings.

Deity

Deity

A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life".

Monotheism

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, in which the one God is a singular existence, and both inclusive and pluriform monotheism, in which multiple gods or godly forms are recognized, but each are postulated as extensions of the same God.

Reason

Reason

Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans. Reason is sometimes referred to as rationality.

Logia

Logia

The term logia, plural of logion, is used variously in ancient writings and modern scholarship in reference to communications of divine origin. In pagan contexts, the principal meaning was "oracles", while Jewish and Christian writings used logia in reference especially to "the divinely inspired Scriptures". A famous and much-debated occurrence of the term is in the account by Papias of Hierapolis on the origins of the canonical Gospels. Since the 19th century, New Testament scholarship has tended to reserve the term logion for a divine saying, especially one spoken by Jesus, in contrast to narrative, and to call a collection of such sayings, as exemplified by the Gospel of Thomas, logia.

Eugène Goblet d'Alviella

Eugène Goblet d'Alviella

Eugène Félicien Albert, Count Goblet d'Alviella was a lawyer, liberal senator of Belgium and a Professor of the history of religions and rector of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He was the father of Félix Goblet d'Alviella, a lawyer and director of the Revue de Belgique.

Christian theology

Christian theology

Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument. Theologians may undertake the study of Christian theology for a variety of reasons, such as in order to:help them better understand Christian tenets make comparisons between Christianity and other traditions defend Christianity against objections and criticism facilitate reforms in the Christian church assist in the propagation of Christianity draw on the resources of the Christian tradition to address some present situation or perceived need education in Christian philosophy, especially in Neoplatonic philosophy

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common ideas it does maintain is that of monism, the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

Diversity in early Christian theology

Diversity in early Christian theology

Traditionally in Christianity, orthodoxy and heresy have been viewed in relation to the "orthodoxy" as an authentic lineage of tradition. Other forms of Christianity were viewed as deviant streams of thought and therefore "heterodox", or heretical. This view was challenged by the publication of Walter Bauer's Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum in 1934. Bauer endeavored to rethink Early Christianity historically, independent from the views of the current church. He stated that the 2nd-century church was very diverse and included many "heretical" groups that had an equal claim to apostolic tradition. Bauer interpreted the struggle between the orthodox and heterodox to be the "mainstream" Church of Rome struggling to attain dominance. He presented Edessa and Egypt as places where the "orthodoxy" of Rome had little influence during the 2nd century. As he saw it, the theological thought of the "Orient" at the time would later be labeled "heresy". The response by modern scholars has been mixed. Some scholars clearly support Bauer's conclusions and others express concerns about his "attacking [of] orthodox sources with inquisitional zeal and exploiting to a nearly absurd extent the argument from silence." However, modern scholars have critiqued and updated Bauer's model.

Great Apostasy

Great Apostasy

The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian Churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles.

Nontrinitarianism

Nontrinitarianism

Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence. Certain religious groups that emerged during the Protestant Reformation have historically been known as antitrinitarian.

Catholic Church

Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2019. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The bishopric of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small enclave of the Italian city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.

Topics

Further information: Outline of theology

Richard Hooker defines theology as "the science of things divine."[34] The term can, however, be used for a variety of disciplines or fields of study.[35] Theology considers whether the divine exists in some form, such as in physical, supernatural, mental, or social realities, and what evidence for and about it may be found via personal spiritual experiences or historical records of such experiences as documented by others. The study of these assumptions is not part of theology proper, but is found in the philosophy of religion, and increasingly through the psychology of religion and neurotheology. Theology’s aim, then, is to record, structure and understand these experiences and concepts; and to use them to derive normative prescriptions for how to live our lives.

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Outline of theology

Outline of theology

The following outline is provided as an overview of, and topical guide to, theology.

Richard Hooker

Richard Hooker

Richard Hooker was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian. He was one of the most important English theologians of the sixteenth century. His defence of the role of redeemed reason informed the theology of the seventeenth-century Caroline Divines and later provided many members of the Church of England with a theological method which combined the claims of revelation, reason and tradition.

Physics

Physics

Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. A scientist who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist.

Supernatural

Supernatural

Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin supernaturalis, from Latin super- + natura (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings since the ancient world, the term "supernatural" emerged in the Middle Ages and did not exist in the ancient world.

Phenomenology (philosophy)

Phenomenology (philosophy)

Phenomenology is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement it was founded in the early years of the 20th century by Edmund Husserl and was later expanded upon by a circle of his followers at the universities of Göttingen and Munich in Germany. It then spread to France, the United States, and elsewhere, often in contexts far removed from Husserl's early work.

Theology proper

Theology proper

Theology proper is the sub-discipline of systematic theology which deals specifically with the being, attributes and works of God. In Christian theology, and within the Trinitarian setting, this includes Paterology, Christology and Pneumatology.

Philosophy of religion

Philosophy of religion

Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known texts concerning philosophy. The field is related to many other branches of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.

Psychology of religion

Psychology of religion

Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks can be summarized regarding the classic distinction between the natural-scientific and human-scientific approaches. The first cluster amounts to objective, quantitative, and preferably experimental procedures for testing hypotheses for causal connections among the objects of one's study. In contrast, the human-scientific approach accesses the human world of experience using qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretive methods. The goal of this approach is to discern meaningful, rather than causal, connections among the phenomena one seeks to understand.

Meaning of life

Meaning of life

The meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?", pertains to the significance of living or existence in general. Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What is the purpose of existence?" There have been many proposed answers to these questions from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds. The search for life's meaning has produced much philosophical, scientific, theological, and metaphysical speculation throughout history. Different people and cultures believe different things for the answer to this question.

History of academic discipline

The history of the study of theology in institutions of higher education is as old as the history of such institutions themselves. For instance:

The earliest universities were developed under the aegis of the Latin Church by papal bull as studia generalia and perhaps from cathedral schools. It is possible, however, that the development of cathedral schools into universities was quite rare, with the University of Paris being an exception.[44] Later they were also founded by Kings (University of Naples Federico II, Charles University in Prague, Jagiellonian University in Kraków) or municipal administrations (University of Cologne, University of Erfurt).

In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarily sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries.[45] Christian theological learning was, therefore, a component in these institutions, as was the study of Church or Canon law: universities played an important role in training people for ecclesiastical offices, in helping the church pursue the clarification and defence of its teaching, and in supporting the legal rights of the church over against secular rulers.[46] At such universities, theological study was initially closely tied to the life of faith and of the church: it fed, and was fed by, practices of preaching, prayer and celebration of the Mass.[47]

During the High Middle Ages, theology was the ultimate subject at universities, being named "The Queen of the Sciences" and served as the capstone to the Trivium and Quadrivium that young men were expected to study. This meant that the other subjects (including philosophy) existed primarily to help with theological thought.[48]

Christian theology's preeminent place in the university began to be challenged during the European Enlightenment, especially in Germany.[49] Other subjects gained in independence and prestige, and questions were raised about the place of a discipline that seemed to involve a commitment to the authority of particular religious traditions in institutions that were increasingly understood to be devoted to independent reason.[50]

Since the early 19th century, various different approaches have emerged in the West to theology as an academic discipline. Much of the debate concerning theology's place in the university or within a general higher education curriculum centres on whether theology's methods are appropriately theoretical and (broadly speaking) scientific or, on the other hand, whether theology requires a pre-commitment of faith by its practitioners, and whether such a commitment conflicts with academic freedom.[49][51][52][53]

Ministerial training

In some contexts, theology has been held to belong in institutions of higher education primarily as a form of professional training for Christian ministry. This was the basis on which Friedrich Schleiermacher, a liberal theologian, argued for the inclusion of theology in the new University of Berlin in 1810.[54][49]: ch.14 

For instance, in Germany, theological faculties at state universities are typically tied to particular denominations, Protestant or Roman Catholic, and those faculties will offer denominationally-bound (konfessionsgebunden) degrees, and have denominationally bound public posts amongst their faculty; as well as contributing "to the development and growth of Christian knowledge" they "provide the academic training for the future clergy and teachers of religious instruction at German schools."[55]

In the United States, several prominent colleges and universities were started in order to train Christian ministers. Harvard,[56] Georgetown,[57] Boston University, Yale,[58] Duke University,[59] and Princeton[60] all had the theological training of clergy as a primary purpose at their foundation.

Seminaries and bible colleges have continued this alliance between the academic study of theology and training for Christian ministry. There are, for instance, numerous prominent examples in the United States, including Phoenix Seminary, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago,[61] The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley,[62] Criswell College in Dallas,[63] The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,[64] Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois,[65] Dallas Theological Seminary,[66] North Texas Collegiate Institute in Farmers Branch, Texas,[67] and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri. The only Judeo-Christian seminary for theology is the ‘Idaho Messianic Bible Seminary’ which is part of the Jewish University of Colorado in Denver.[68]

As an academic discipline in its own right

In some contexts, scholars pursue theology as an academic discipline without formal affiliation to any particular church (though members of staff may well have affiliations to churches), and without focussing on ministerial training. This applies, for instance, to the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University in Canada, and to many university departments in the United Kingdom, including the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds.[69] Traditional academic prizes, such as the University of Aberdeen's Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship, tend to acknowledge performance in theology (or divinity as it is known at Aberdeen) and in religious studies.

Religious studies

In some contemporary contexts, a distinction is made between theology, which is seen as involving some level of commitment to the claims of the religious tradition being studied, and religious studies, which by contrast is normally seen as requiring that the question of the truth or falsehood of the religious traditions studied be kept outside its field. Religious studies involves the study of historical or contemporary practices or of those traditions' ideas using intellectual tools and frameworks that are not themselves specifically tied to any religious tradition and that are normally understood to be neutral or secular.[70] In contexts where 'religious studies' in this sense is the focus, the primary forms of study are likely to include:

Sometimes, theology and religious studies are seen as being in tension,[71] and at other times, they are held to coexist without serious tension.[72] Occasionally it is denied that there is as clear a boundary between them.[73]

Discover more about History of academic discipline related topics

Taxila

Taxila

Taxila or Takshashila is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the Haripur District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great gained control of the city without a battle, as it was immediately surrendered to him by Omphis.

Platonic Academy

Platonic Academy

The Academy was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. The Platonic Academy was destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC.

Taixue

Taixue

Taixue, or sometimes called the "Imperial Academy", "Imperial School", "Imperial University" or "Imperial Central University", was the highest rank of educational establishment in Ancient China created during the Han dynasty. The Sui dynasty instituted major reforms, giving the imperial academy a greater administrative role and renaming it the Guozijian (國子監). As the Guozijian, the institution was maintained by successive dynasties until it was finally abolished in 1905 near the end of the Qing dynasty.

Confucianism

Confucianism

Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a way of life. Confucianism developed from what was later called the Hundred Schools of Thought from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius.

School of Nisibis

School of Nisibis

The School of Nisibis was an educational establishment in Nisibis. It was an important spiritual centre of the early Church of the East, and like the Academy of Gondishapur, it is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The school had three primary departments teaching: theology, philosophy and medicine. Its most famous teacher was Narsai, formerly head of the School of Edessa.

Al-Azhar University

Al-Azhar University

The Al-Azhar University is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is renowned as the most prestigious university for Islamic learning. In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students. As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.

Latin Church

Latin Church

The Latin Church is the largest autonomous particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Christians in communion with the Pope in Rome. The Latin Church is one of 24 churches sui iuris in communion with the pope; the other 23 are referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches, and have approximately 18 million members combined. The Latin Church traditionally employs the Latin liturgical rites, which since the mid-twentieth century are very often translated into the vernacular language. The predominant liturgical rite is the Roman Rite, elements of which have been practiced since the fourth century.

Papal bull

Papal bull

A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by a pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden seal (bulla) that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it.

Cathedral school

Cathedral school

Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these early cathedral schools, and more recent foundations, continued into modern times.

Jagiellonian University

Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in continuous operation in the world. It is regarded as Poland's most prestigious academic institution. The university has been viewed as a guardian of Polish culture as well as a significant contributor to the intellectual heritage of Europe.

University of Cologne

University of Cologne

The University of Cologne is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to be established in Central Europe. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with more than 50,000 students. The University of Cologne is a member of the German U15 association of major research-intensive universities and was a university of excellence as part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative from 2012 to 2019. It is constantly ranked among top 20 German universities in the world rankings.

Early Middle Ages

Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages, sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century through the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history, following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, and preceding the High Middle Ages. The alternative term late antiquity, for the early part of the period, emphasizes elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, while Early Middle Ages is used to emphasize developments characteristic of the earlier medieval period.

Criticism

See also: Criticism of religion

Pre-20th century

Whether or not reasoned discussion about the divine is possible has long been a point of contention. Protagoras, as early as the fifth century BC, who is reputed to have been exiled from Athens because of his agnosticism about the existence of the gods, said that "Concerning the gods I cannot know either that they exist or that they do not exist, or what form they might have, for there is much to prevent one's knowing: the obscurity of the subject and the shortness of man's life."[74][75]

Baron d’Holbach
Baron d’Holbach

Since at least the eighteenth century, various authors have criticized the suitability of theology as an academic discipline.[76] In 1772, Baron d'Holbach labeled theology "a continual insult to human reason" in Le Bon sens.[76] Lord Bolingbroke, an English politician and political philosopher, wrote in Section IV of his Essays on Human Knowledge, "Theology is in fault not religion. Theology is a science that may justly be compared to the Box of Pandora. Many good things lie uppermost in it; but many evil lie under them, and scatter plagues and desolation throughout the world."[77]

Thomas Paine, a Deistic American political theorist and pamphleteer, wrote in his three-part work The Age of Reason (1794, 1795, 1807):[78]

The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion. Not anything can be studied as a science, without our being in possession of the principles upon which it is founded; and as this is the case with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing.

The German atheist philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach sought to dissolve theology in his work Principles of the Philosophy of the Future: "The task of the modern era was the realization and humanization of God – the transformation and dissolution of theology into anthropology."[79] This mirrored his earlier work The Essence of Christianity (1841), for which he was banned from teaching in Germany, in which he had said that theology was a "web of contradictions and delusions."[80] The American satirist Mark Twain remarked in his essay "The Lowest Animal", originally written in around 1896, but not published until after Twain's death in 1910, that:[81][82]

[Man] is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven.… The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste.

20th and 21st centuries

A. J. Ayer, a British former logical-positivist, sought to show in his essay "Critique of Ethics and Theology" that all statements about the divine are nonsensical and any divine-attribute is unprovable. He wrote: "It is now generally admitted, at any rate by philosophers, that the existence of a being having the attributes which define the god of any non-animistic religion cannot be demonstratively proved.… [A]ll utterances about the nature of God are nonsensical."[83]

Jewish atheist philosopher Walter Kaufmann, in his essay "Against Theology", sought to differentiate theology from religion in general:[84]

Theology, of course, is not religion; and a great deal of religion is emphatically anti-theological.… An attack on theology, therefore, should not be taken as necessarily involving an attack on religion. Religion can be, and often has been, untheological or even anti-theological.

However, Kaufmann found that "Christianity is inescapably a theological religion."[84]

English atheist Charles Bradlaugh believed theology prevented human beings from achieving liberty,[85] although he also noted that many theologians of his time held that, because modern scientific research sometimes contradicts sacred scriptures, the scriptures must therefore be wrong.[86] Robert G. Ingersoll, an American agnostic lawyer, stated that, when theologians had power, the majority of people lived in hovels, while a privileged few had palaces and cathedrals. In Ingersoll's opinion, it was science that improved people's lives, not theology. Ingersoll further maintained that trained theologians reason no better than a person who assumes the devil must exist because pictures resemble the devil so exactly.[87]

The British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has been an outspoken critic of theology.[76][88] In an article published in The Independent in 1993, he severely criticizes theology as entirely useless,[88] declaring that it has completely and repeatedly failed to answer any questions about the nature of reality or the human condition.[88] He states, "I have never heard any of them [i.e. theologians] ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that was not either platitudinously obvious or downright false."[88] He then states that, if all theology were completely eradicated from the earth, no one would notice or even care. He concludes:[88]

The achievements of theologians don't do anything, don't affect anything, don't achieve anything, don't even mean anything. What makes you think that 'theology' is a subject at all?

Discover more about Criticism related topics

Criticism of religion

Criticism of religion

Criticism of religion involves criticism of the validity, concept, or ideas of religion.

Agnosticism

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."

Baron d'Holbach

Baron d'Holbach

Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, known as d'Holbach, was a Franco-German philosopher, encyclopedist and writer, who was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon. He helped in the dissemination of "Protestant and especially German thought", particularly in the field of the sciences, but was best known for his atheism and for his voluminous writings against religion, the most famous of them being The System of Nature (1770) and The Universal Morality (1776).

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his antireligious views and opposition to theology. He supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the new king George I. Escaping to France he became foreign minister for the Pretender. He was attainted for treason, but reversed course and was allowed to return to England in 1723. According to Ruth Mack, "Bolingbroke is best known for his party politics, including the ideological history he disseminated in The Craftsman (1726–1735) by adopting the formerly Whig theory of the Ancient Constitution and giving it new life as an anti-Walpole Tory principle."

Deism

Deism

Deism is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation of the natural world are exclusively logical, reliable, and sufficient to determine the existence of a Supreme Being as the creator of the universe. More simply stated, Deism is the belief in the existence of God, specifically in a creator who does not intervene in the universe after creating it, solely based on rational thought without any reliance on revealed religions or religious authority. Deism emphasizes the concept of natural theology.

Pamphleteer

Pamphleteer

Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound booklets intended for wide circulation.

Atheism

Atheism

Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.

Ludwig Feuerbach

Ludwig Feuerbach

Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book The Essence of Christianity, which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced generations of later thinkers, including Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Engels, Richard Wagner, and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter of which has often been called the "Great American Novel". Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Great Commandment

Great Commandment

The Great Commandment is a name used in the New Testament to describe the first of two commandments cited by Jesus in Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-34, and in answer to him in Luke 10:27a:... and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He [Jesus] said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. Love God above all else. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Logical positivism

Logical positivism

Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement whose central thesis was the verification principle. This theory of knowledge asserted that only statements verifiable through direct observation or logical proof are meaningful in terms of conveying truth value, information or factual content. Starting in the late 1920s, groups of philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians formed the Berlin Circle and the Vienna Circle, which, in these two cities, would propound the ideas of logical positivism.

Jewish atheism

Jewish atheism

Jewish atheism refers to the atheism of people who are ethnically and culturally Jewish. Contrary to popular belief, the term "Jewish atheism" is not a contradiction because Jewish identity encompasses not only religious components, but also ethnic and cultural ones. Jewish law's emphasis on descent through the mother means that even religiously conservative Orthodox Jewish authorities would accept an atheist born to a Jewish mother as fully Jewish.

Source: "Theology", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 16th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology.

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Further Reading

Outline of Christian theology

Nicholas Wolterstorff

Harvard Divinity School

Liberal Christianity

John Hick

Daphne Hampson

Keith Ward

John Macquarrie

Ian Ramsey

David Brown (theologian)

Analytic theology
See also
References
  1. ^ "theology". Wordnetweb.princeton.edu. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  2. ^ See, e.g., Migliore, Daniel L. 2004. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology (2nd ed.) Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  3. ^ See, e.g., Kogan, Michael S. 1995."Toward a Jewish Theology of Christianity." Journal of Ecumenical Studies 32(1):89–106. Archived from the online on 15 June 2006.
  4. ^ See, e.g., Dormor, Duncan, et al., eds. 2003. Anglicanism, the Answer to Modernity. London: Continuum.
  5. ^ See, e.g., Spong, John Shelby. 2001. Why Christianity Must Change or Die. New York: Harper Collins.
  6. ^ See, e.g., Burrell, David. 1994. Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
  7. ^ See, e.g., Gorringe, Timothy. 2004. Crime, (Changing Society and the Churches Series). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
  8. ^ See e.g., Anne Hunt Overzee's gloss upon the view of Ricœur (1913–2005) as to the role and work of 'theologian': "Paul Ricœur speaks of the theologian as a hermeneut, whose task is to interpret the multivalent, rich metaphors arising from the symbolic bases of tradition so that the symbols may 'speak' once again to our existential situation." Overzee, Anne Hunt. 1992. The Body Divine: The Symbol of the Body in the Works of Teilhard de Chardin and Ramanuja, (Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-38516-4, ISBN 978-0-521-38516-9. Retrieved 5 April 2010. p. 4.
  9. ^ The accusative plural of the neuter noun λόγιον; cf. Bauer, Walter, William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker. 1979. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 476. For examples of λόγια in the New Testament, cf. Acts 7:38; Romans 3:2; 1 Peter 4:11.
  10. ^ Scouteris, Constantine B. [1972] 2016. Ἡ ἔννοια τῶν ὅρων 'Θεολογία', 'Θεολογεῖν', 'Θεολόγος', ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Πατέρων καί Ἐκκλησιαστικῶν συγγραφέων μέχρι καί τῶν Καππαδοκῶν [The Meaning of the Terms 'Theology', 'to Theologize' and 'Theologian' in the Teaching of the Greek Fathers up to and Including the Cappadocians] (in Greek). Athens. pp. 187.
  11. ^ Langland, Piers Plowman A ix 136
  12. ^ Adam, James. 1902. The Republic of Plato 2.360C. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
  13. ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book Epsilon. Archived 16 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ a b Augustine, City of God VI, ch. 5.
  15. ^ Tertullian, Ad Nationes II, ch. 1.
  16. ^ Augustine of Hippo. City of God Book VIII. i.. Archived 4 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine: "de divinitate rationem sive sermonem."
  17. ^ "Boethius, On the Holy Trinity" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  18. ^ Evans, G. R. 1980. Old Arts and New Theology: The Beginnings of Theology as an Academic Discipline. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 31–32.
  19. ^ McGukin, John. 2001. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. p. 278: Gregory of Nazianzus uses the word in this sense in his fourth-century Theological Orations; after his death, he was called "the Theologian" at the Council of Chalcedon and thereafter in Eastern Orthodoxy—either because his Orations were seen as crucial examples of this kind of theology, or in the sense that he was (like the author of the Book of Revelation) seen as one who was an inspired preacher of the words of God. (It is unlikely to mean, as claimed in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers introduction to his Theological Orations, that he was a defender of the divinity of Christ the Word.)
  20. ^ "Theology." Oxford English Dictionary. note.
  21. ^ See, e.g., Hodge, Charles. 1871. Systematic Theology 1, part 1.
  22. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, sense 1
  23. ^ "Theology, 1(d)" and "Theological, A.3." Oxford English Dictionary. 1989.
  24. ^ Times Literary Supplement 329/4. 5 June 1959: "The 'theological' approach to Soviet Marxism...proves in the long run unsatisfactory."
  25. ^ Jones, Alan H. 1983. Independence and Exegesis: The Study of Early Christianity in the Work of Alfred Loisy (1857–1940), Charles Guignebert (1857 [i.e. 1867]–1939), and Maurice Goguel (1880–1955). Mohr Siebeck. p. 194.
  26. ^ Kapic, Kelly M. Kapic (2012). A Little Book for New Theologians. Why and How to Study Theology. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-830-86670-0.
  27. ^ Gardet, L. 1999. "Ilm al-kalam." The Encyclopedia of Islam, edited by P. J. Bearman, et al. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV.
  28. ^ "Speech by State Secretary Dr Markus Kerber at the official opening ceremony for the Islamkolleg Deutschland". DIK - Deutsche Islam Konferenz.
  29. ^ Libenson, Dan and Lex Rofeberg, hosts. 5 October 2018. "God and Gender - Rachel Adler." Ep. 138 in Judaism Unbound (podcast).
  30. ^ Rashkover, Randi. 1999. "A Call for Jewish Theology." CrossCurrents. "Frequently the claim is made that, unlike Christianity, Judaism is a tradition of deeds and maintains no strict theological tradition. Judaism's fundamental beliefs are inextricable from their halakhic observance (that set of laws revealed to Jews by God), embedded and presupposed by that way of life as it is lived and learned."
  31. ^ Cabezon, Jose Ignacio. 1999. "Buddhist Theology in the Academy." pp. 25–52 in Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars, edited by R. Jackson and J. J. Makransky. London: Routledge.
  32. ^ King, Anna S. 2006. "For Love of Krishna: Forty Years of Chanting." pp. 134–67 in The Hare Krishna Movement: Forty Years of Chant and Change, edited by G. Dwyer and R. J. Cole. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 163: Describes developments in both institutions, and speaks of Hare Krishna devotees "studying Vaishnava theology and practice in mainstream universities."
  33. ^ Harvey, Graham (2007). Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism (2nd ed.). London: Hurst & Company. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-85065-272-4.
  34. ^ "Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, 3.8.11" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  35. ^ McGrath, Alister. 1998. Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. pp. 1–8.
  36. ^ An earlier date is provided in: Reagan, Timothy. 2004. Non-Western Educational Traditions: Alternative Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice (3rd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum. p. 185; and Chitnis, Sunna. 2003. "Higher Education." pp. 1032–56 in The Oxford India Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology, edited by V. Das. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 1036.
  37. ^ a b Scharfe, Hartmut. 2002. Education in Ancient India. Leiden: Brill.
  38. ^ Dillon, John. 2003. The Heirs of Plato: A Study in the Old Academy, 347–274 BC. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  39. ^ Yao, Xinzhong. 2000. An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 50.
  40. ^ Becker, Adam H. (2006). The Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom: The School of Nisibis and the Development of Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  41. ^ "The School of Nisibis". Nestorian.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  42. ^ Lulat, Y. G. 2005. A History of African Higher Education from Antiquity to the Present: A Critical Synthesis. Greenwood. p. 71: The Al-Qarawiyyin mosque was founded in 859 AD, but "While instruction at the mosque must have begun almost from the beginning, it is only...by the end of the tenth-century that its reputation as a center of learning in both religious and secular sciences...must have begun to wax."
  43. ^ Beattie, Andrew. 2005. Cairo: A Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 101.
  44. ^ Leff, Gordon. 1968. Paris and Oxford Universities in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. An Institutional and Intellectual History. Wiley.
  45. ^ Johnson, Paul. 2000. The Renaissance: A Short History, (Modern Library Chronicles). New York: Modern Library. p. 9.
  46. ^ Rüegg, Walter. 2003. "Themes." pp. 3–34 in A History of the University in Europe, edited by W. Rüegg and H. de Ridder-Symoens, (Universities in the Middle Ages 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–16.
  47. ^ See D'Costa, Gavin. 2005. Theology in the Public Square: Church, Academy and Nation. Oxford: Blackwell. ch. 1.
  48. ^ Howard, Thomas Albert. 2006. Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 56: "philosophy, the scientia scientarum in one sense, was, in another, portrayed as the humble "handmaid of theology'."
  49. ^ a b c Howard, Thomas Albert. 2006. Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  50. ^ See the discussion of, for instance, Immanuel Kant's Conflict of the Faculties (1798), and J.G. Fichte's Deduzierter Plan einer zu Berlin errichtenden höheren Lehranstalt (1807) in Howard, Thomas Albert. 2006. Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  51. ^ Frei, Hans W. 1992. Types of Christian Theology, edited by W. C. Placher and G. Hunsinger. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  52. ^ D'Costa, Gavin. 2005. Theology in the Public Square: Church, Academy and Nation. Oxford: Blackwell.
  53. ^ McClendon, James W. 2000. "Theology and the University." Ch. 10 in Systematic Theology 3: Witness. Nashville, TN: Abingdon.
  54. ^ Schleiermacher, Friedrich. [] 1990. Brief Outline of Theology as a Field of Study (2nd ed.), translated by T. N. Tice. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.
  55. ^ Kratz, Reinhard G. 2002. "Academic Theology in Germany." Religion 32(2):113–16.
  56. ^ Marsden, George M. 1994. The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 41: "The primary purpose of Harvard College was, accordingly, the training of clergy.' But 'the school served a dual purpose, training men for other professions as well."
  57. ^ Curran, Robert Emmett, and Leo J. O'Donovan. 1961. The Bicentennial History of Georgetown University: From Academy to University 1789–1889, Part 1. Georgetown: Georgetown University Press: Georgetown was a Jesuit institution founded in significant part to provide a pool of educated Catholics some of whom who could go on to full seminary training for the priesthood.
  58. ^ Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. 1916. "The Charter of the Collegiate School, October 1701." In Documentary History of Yale University, Under the Original Charter of the Collegiate School of Connecticut 1701–1745. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press: Yale's original 1701 charter speaks of the purpose being "Sincere Regard & Zeal for upholding & Propagating of the Christian Protestant Religion by a succession of Learned & Orthodox" and that "Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences (and) through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State."
  59. ^ Duke University Libraries (11 July 2013). "Duke University: A Brief Narrative History". Duke University Libraries. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  60. ^ At Princeton, one of the founders (probably Ebeneezer Pemberton) wrote in c.1750, 'Though our great Intention was to erect a seminary for educating Ministers of the Gospel, yet we hope it will be useful in other learned professions – Ornaments of the State as Well as the Church. Therefore we propose to make the plan of Education as extensive as our Circumstances will admit.' Quoted in Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion Archived 26 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine (Princeton University Press, 1978).
  61. ^ "The CTU Story". Catholic Theological Union. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013. lay men and women, religious sisters and brothers, and seminarians have studied alongside one another, preparing to serve God's people
  62. ^ See 'About the GTU' at The Graduate Theological Union website (Retrieved 29 August 2009): 'dedicated to educating students for teaching, research, ministry, and service.'
  63. ^ "The Criswell Vision". Criswell College. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2009. Criswell College exists to serve the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ by developing God-called men and women in the Word (intellectually and academically) and by the Word (professionally and spiritually) for authentic ministry leadership
  64. ^ "Mission Statement". Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2009. the mission of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is ... to be a servant of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention by training, educating, and preparing ministers of the gospel for more faithful service
  65. ^ "About Trinity Evangelical Divinity School". Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2009. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is a learning community dedicated to the development of servant leaders for the global church, leaders who are spiritually, biblically, and theologically prepared to engage contemporary culture for the sake of Christ's kingdom
  66. ^ See 'About DTS' at the Dallas Theological Seminary website (Retrieved 29 August 2009): 'At Dallas, the scholarly study of biblical and related subjects is inseparably fused with the cultivation of the spiritual life. All this is designed to prepare students to communicate the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God.'
  67. ^ ".::North Texas Collegiate Institute ::". .::North Texas Collegiate Institute ::.
  68. ^ "Jewish University of Colorado". Jewish University of Colorado.
  69. ^ See the 'Why Study Theology?' Archived 9 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine page at the University of Exeter (Retrieved 1 September 2009), and the 'About us' page at the University of Leeds.
  70. ^ See, e.g., Wiebe, Donald. 2000. The Politics of Religious Studies: The Continuing Conflict with Theology in the Academy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  71. ^ Noll, K. L. 27 July 2009. "The Ethics of Being a Theologian." Chronicle of Higher Education.
  72. ^ Ford, David. 2009. "Theology and Religious Studies for a Multifaith and Secular Society." In Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education, edited by D. L. Bird and S. G. Smith. London: Continuum.
  73. ^ Fitzgerald, Timothy. 2000. The Ideology of Religious Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  74. ^ Protagoras. "On the Gods," translated by M. J. O'Brien. In The Older Sophists, edited by R. K. Sprague. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. 1972. p. 20 (fr.4). (emphasis added).
  75. ^ Poster, Carol. "Protagoras (fl. 5th C. BCE)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
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  78. ^ Paine, Thomas. [1794/1795/1807] 1945. "The Age of Reason." The Life and Major Writings of Thomas Paine, edited by P. S. Foner. New York: Citadel Press. p. 601.
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  80. ^ Feuerbach, Ludwig. [1841] 1989. "Preface, XVI." The Essence of Christianity, translated G. Eliot. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.
  81. ^ Twain, Mark (1896). "The Lowest Animal". thoughtco.com.
  82. ^ "Directory of Mark Twain's maxims, quotations, and various opinions". Twainquotes.com. 28 November 1902. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  83. ^ Ayer, A. J., 1936. Language, Truth and Logic. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 114–15.
  84. ^ a b Kaufmann, Walter. 1963. The Faith of a Heretic. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books. pp. 114, 127–28, 130.
  85. ^ "Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891)". Positiveatheism.org. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
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