Following Jesus is not intellectually demanding, and Jesus places a straightforward and easy path for us (Matthew 11:28-30).
- Theology, however, is simply a branch of “applied philosophy” toward knowing God.
- The higher the theological thought, the closer the study compares to raw philosophy.
- Many theologians won’t agree that their views are philosophical in nature, but that’s a product of their indoctrination.
We all need some form of theology.
- Without the logical reasoning of philosophy, we’d have nothing but sentiment.
- Personality and culture will make each theology a little different, but God takes care of His people (Matthew 18:12-14).
- “Theology”, as a word, has two possible perspectives, which profoundly affects how far we’ll need it:
- Self-defined understanding, as we perceive and conclude it in our minds.
- God-given understanding, since we have at least a limited ability to come to understanding of God’s wisdom ourselves (2 Timothy 2:7).
- Often, without extra thought, we often believe theological ideals that sit within worship music:
Most Christians who go to college must read very dense books by intelligent people called “systematic theology”.
- These books are in the spirit of the ancient Greek tradition, memorialized by books such as Aristotle’s “Metaphysics”.
- Theology is a God-focused branch of philosophy, and a systematic theology will unpack absolutely every domain of Christian understanding possible on a subject.
Unless someone legitimately enjoys the deep exploration of thought, systematic theology is an utter waste of time.
- Within a few minutes of an illiterate person’s soul leaving their body, they’ll have vastly more accuracy about this life and the next than the wisest possible theologian could ever hope to discover.
This page, therefore, is my essays constructed into a conventional systematic theology, but for normal people:
- Bibliology (with addendum)
- Christology
- Paterology – see Chapter 2
- Pneumatology – see Chapter 2
- Demonology
- Ecclesiology (with addendum)
- Harmatiology
- Mariology
- Angelology – see Chapter 5
- Missiology
- Soteriology
- Teleology
- Theological Anthropology
- Eschatology (with addendum)
- Orthopraxy
It’s probably more than necessary, but it’s a good start (1 Corinthians 2:1-2).