PROLEGOMENA Flashcards
1a. How did the professor define Christian Theology? Explain and discuss what is involved in that definition.
Responsive: Depends upon the self-disclosure of God. Theology is a human enterprise, but it is a response to the revelational initiative of God.
Confessional:
Proceeds from the Believing Community. Theology stands somewhere. Theology comes from a place.
Ecclesial:
Rooted in the faith tradition and in the community of the people of God.
Inspirited
Guided by the Spirit. Theology is like prayer. It participates in God’s own life.
Orthodox: Straight and True
Doxological:
Offers joyous and proper praise and worship
Polemical:
Fights false doctrine (Jude 3)
Apologetic: Defends attacks against the faith
Exegetical: Opens and leads out the meaning of scripture
Epistemological: Grounds what is said about the faith
Experiential: Evokes, engenders, and expresses the experiences of the Christian life.
Catalytic:
Authorizes and empowers the activities of the Church and of the Christian believer.
Ordered: Arranges, prioritizes and clarifies topics coherently, cogently, and comprehensively
1b. What five components of “Theology” are enumerated by Erickson?
Theology is BIBLICAL Theology is SYSTEMATIC Theology also relates to the issues of GENERAL CULTURE AND LEARNING Theology must also be CONTEMPORARY Theology is to be PRACTICAL
1c. What role did your text assign to “central interpretive motifs”? Give some examples (you can draw them from those given in the text or develop some from your own observation – or both)
A central motif in one’s theology will give a basic emphasis or thrust to one’s ministry.
- Much like a basket has a handle to be picked up, a central motif gives a person’s thoughts the ability to be grasped and in terms of which the whole can be understood.
Central Motif
- Must never determine our interpretation of passages where it is not relevant
- Base the central motif on the broadest possible range of biblical materials rather than on selective passages (keeps us from having a distorted view)
- Keep the motif constantly subject to revision.
Examples:
- Luther’s theology as centering on salvation by grace through faith
- Calvin seemed to make sovereignty of God basic to his theology
- Karl Barth emphasized the Word, by which he meant the living Word, Jesus.
1d. What is Erickson’s self-identified “central motif” and what implications do you think it has had for the theological development of issues he has dealt with so far?
Magnificence of God The greatness of God in term - Power - Knowledge - Other traditional “natural attributes” - Excellence and splendor of his moral nature,
Theology needs to be centered on the great living God and not the human creature.
He is the Alpha and Omega-the beginning and the end.
1e. How would you define Systematic Theology and why?
Systematic theology is organizing the teachings of the Bible into categorical systems.
We must look at the ENTIRE BIBLE for each topic such as angels. We cannot create an accurate view of angels unless we review and explore all places where angels are part of the Bible. Once we gather all angel references then we can begin to create a systematic approach to angels in the Bible therefore creating a theology of angels called “angelology”
Christian Theology is (Dr. Shouse)
- Believers in Jesus Christ
- Speaking in Faith
- Biblically,
- Imaginatively (or Metaphorically), and
- Thematically about the Triune God and His world
1f. What is the “Wesleyan quadrilateral?” What implications does it have for the development of an evangelical theological method with which to proceed in the theological enterprise?
SCRIPTURE is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine. TRADITION is experience and the witness of development and growth of the faith through the past centuries and in many nations and cultures. EXPERIENCE is the individual’s understanding and appropriating of the faith in the light of his or her own life. Through REASON the individual Christian brings to bear on the Christian faith discerning and cogent thought. These four elements taken together bring the individual Christian to a mature and fulfilling understanding of the Christian faith and the required response of worship and service.
1g. Identify and discuss the five motifs developed by H. Richard Niebuhr to describe ways in which differing theological systems have evaluated the relationship between faith and reason, eternity and time, and redemption and creation, in his book Christ and Culture.
#1. Christ against culture Christ against culture occupies one extreme of the continuum. All expressions of culture outside the Church are viewed with a high degree of suspicion and as irreparably corrupted by sin. They are to be withdrawn from and avoided as much as possible. Traditional ascetic communities as well as various sectarian and fundamentalist groups would hold to some version of this view.
#2. Christ of culture Christ of culture sits at the polar opposite from the previous one. Cultural expressions as a whole are accepted uncritically and celebrated as a good thing. In theory, little or no conflict is seen between culture and Christian truth. In practice, the latter is compromised to accommodate the former. This is the view espoused by classic Gnosticism and liberal Protestantism.
#3. Christ above culture Christ above culture, a medial position between the first two, regards cultural expressions as basically good, as far as they go. However, they need to be augmented and perfected by Christian revelation and the work of the Church, with Christ supreme over both. This view was expounded by Thomas Aquinas, and has been a predominant position among Roman Catholics since.
#4. Christ and culture in paradox Christ and culture in paradox is another medial option between the extremes. It sees human culture as a good creation that’s been tainted by sin. As a result, there’s a tension in the Christian’s relationship to culture, simultaneously embracing and rejecting certain aspects of it. Augustine (in part) as well as Martin Luther and Soren Kierkegaard are representative of this view.
#5. Christ the transformer of culture Christ the transformer of culture is yet another medial alternative. It also recognizes human culture as initially good and subsequently corrupted by the fall. But since Christ is redeeming all of creation, the Christian can and should work to transform culture to the glory of God. This is the view held by Augustine (again, in part) as well as John Calvin and others in the Reformed tradition.
