What is theology?
Dr Alison Walker
- 2 minutes read - 329 wordsRequired reading
Etymology…
Theos → God
Logos → Word or reason
Talk or reasoning about God.
What is theology?
A possible definition from Thomas Aquinas…
Theology concerns itself with God and all things in relation to God.
Climate Sunday service: To discuss…

Where would you begin?
What theological questions will you need to discuss to plan such a service?
Why theology?
Ideas about God matter, because everything comes from God, derives meaning in God, and is ultimately for God.
Truthful ideas about God speak truly about the shape of reality.
Distorted ideas about God distort the shape of reality.
The Problem of Prolegoma
‘We can say “man” in the loudest tones…But this does not mean that we say “God.”’
CD II/1 p.269
Theology starts with confession
‘Faith seeking understanding’
‘For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand.’
‘Understanding is the reward of faith.
Where to begin?
With a recognition…
We ought to speak of God. But we are humans and as such cannot speak of God. We ought to do both, to know both the obligation and inability and precisely in this way give God the glory.’
‘The Task of Theology’
Where to begin?
God has REVEALED God’s self…
But where?
And how?
Possible responses…
The Bible?
Human experience?
Jesus Christ!
Theology as an academic discipline
Biblical studies
Church history
Historical theology
Systematic theology
Ethics
Practical theology
Comparative theology
My own approach…
Theology is rational reflection on the person, nature, and works of God which is guided by the witness of scripture, informed by tradition, and in conversation with culture. Primarily systematic
Whose theology?
Christianity is a diverse religious expression…
over time
and over place.
Which should foster…
humility