Systematic Theology - Prolegomena

As promised, here is the first posting in our new systematic theology category. I will follow up with some additional reflections throughout the week to come and at the end of the series, I will provide a complete bibliography/works cited document.

Prolegomena
Literally translated, credo means “I believe”. A definitive statement as to what those beliefs are and how they are arrived at is at the heart of the task of credo. Beliefs do not occur in a vacuum. They live in harmony and tension with the beliefs of others—past, present and future. A credo is as much a work of what I believe as it is a work of what is believed in the Christian tradition. Let us begin to lay the ground work and talk about first things first.

The credo at hand seeks a deeper understanding of God from the perspective of Christian faith. It is working from the inside out. There is a God and God is known in a self-revealing way. This becomes clear by looking at God’s divine self-revelation in the areas of the doctrine of God, Christology, pneumatology, the doctrine of creation and providence, soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. In order to proceed, further discussion of systematic theology and epistemology is necessary.

Theology, derived either from the Latin theologia; or the Greek combination of theos meaning God and logos meaning speech, is defined as speech about God or God talk. This talk about God is undertaken scientifically or methodically in order to understand divine revelation (McKim, 280). Systematic theology is one branch of Christian theology that seeks to accomplish this task in an orderly and coherent way (McKim, 285). Therefore, this credo will utilize the aforementioned classic loci. This task requires deep critical appraisal, articulation, and appropriation of the beliefs that it explores. Rather than an exercise in mediocrity, it is an ongoing process of spiritual formation that acts as advanced catechesis in our faith journey (Abraham, 2007).

Critical appraisal, articulation, and appropriation cannot effectively take place outside of the Christian tradition. Therefore, we begin within the tradition. This assumes an encounter with the gospel, a transformative conversion that led to a relationship with Jesus Christ, an initiation into the Church through baptism, and a beginning on the journey of Christian discipleship. Our appraisal, articulation, and appropriation will concentrate on God’s work from creation to redemption. The God under discussion is “the Triune God professed to be known and loved within the Church” (Abraham, 2007).

Systematic theology has its own set of unique tasks. The first task is elucidation where beliefs are clarified and articulated. The second task of hermeneutics involves deep exploration that seeks out underlying distinctions of belief, how beliefs are interdependent, and why some beliefs are affirmed and others are denied. A tertiary task is re-storying; a process by which a belief is reclaimed, re-understood, re-applied, and sometimes improved upon. The fourth task is defense. Referred to as apologetics, this can be an attempt to protect the Church against false teachings, mere objections, or even slanderous accusations regarding its beliefs or it can be the pursuit of discovery that seeks to locate and delineate the foundations of why the Church believes the way it does (Abraham, 2007). While it would be noble to pursue each of these tasks, the primary focus of this credo is elucidation.

Epistemology must be addressed, especially regarding the utilization of methods, sources and norms. As previously mentioned; God reveals himself to us. This calls into question the ways in which God reveals. These are numerous. To Moses, God revealed himself in a burning bush. To Paul, God revealed himself on the road to Damascus. To the Church, God revealed himself through the Holy Spirit. To the disciples and to the world, God revealed himself through Jesus Christ. The epistemological tools for this process of exploring God’s self-revelation are Scripture, tradition, experience and reason (Book of Discipline, 77). Each of these bears witness to Jesus Christ and enables us to encounter this self-revealing God. Scripture attests to God’s activity in history from Abraham to Jesus and beyond (BOD, 78-79). Tradition reminds us that we are not alone on this journey and that we are informed by those whose shoulders we stand on, who have gone before us and canonized a heritage that we must become acquainted with in order to more fully embrace God (BOD, 79-81). Experience enlivens our faith. Both corporately and individually, experience entails encounter with the divine. This encounter moves faith from recognition to relationship; it is a place of transformation (BOD, 81-82). Finally, reason is the God given gift that allows us to confirm what we find “revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, and vivified in our experiences” (BOD, 77). While Scripture, tradition, experience and reason have been utilized as both sources and tools of knowing, I am reluctant to say that this is the definitive epistemological method. Room must be left for further discourse with philosophers and experts from other disciplines, in order to solidify a more fully embodied epistemology. The method is, however, an adequate jumping off point for the work ahead.

Finally, I have no reluctance in using the pronoun ‘him’ for God. I want to be clear that this is not a decision that was arrived at flippantly or haphazardly. I believe that masculine, feminine and neuter forms of address for God are all problematic. To change to a neutered or feminine pronoun appears to cause more problems than it would solve (Pinnock, 15-17). Considering this, I have opted for the continued use of the masculine pronoun to refer to all persons of the Trinity. With prolegomena now tackled, we now turn our attention more fully to God.

Let me know what you think. How would your approach be epistemologically different? Would you go with more traditional language or opt for some more modern metaphors when referring to God?

© Russell Hall/Radically Altered – 2009. All Rights Reserved