Learn: Christian Theology 1 Midterm Dr. Beals

Prolegomana - Definition

Definition - A category or introduction to a particular topic that introduces and defines central content and foundational ideas of the work that follows.

Prolegomana - Root

Comes from two Greek Words- "to say before" or "to say in advance"

Prolegomana - Purpose

Gives information necessary to set context

In Theology is the basics of theological study.

General Revelation (3 Cs)

God's revealing of himself through CREATION, CONSCIENCE and CONDEMNING.

Special Revelation (4 points)

God's revealing of himself through

1 direct acts

2 dreams and visions

3 the living word (Jesus)

4 the written word

Worldview - Definition

How one looks at the world...what you truly believe and how you live it out.

Worldview- Comprised of

Presuppositions, convictions, and values

Worldview- convictions about

God, ourselves, this world, our problem, and our ultimate end

Worldview- Root

german- Welt (world) and Anschauung (view/outlook)

Closed system

Nothing outside the natural realm.

Nothing informs value, purpose, existence.

All values are from inside the circle-- from nature alone

2 Problems of the Closed System

Problem of Existence - nothing cannot produce something

Problem of Values - how can anything be called good?

Open system

Something outside of the natural realm

Something outside the circle informs values, meaning, purpose, existence

Values may be determined by the something or someone outside the circle

5 Key Components of Worldview

1. Who or what is God? - the most fundamental question

2. What is man? - does anything distinguish us from nature

3. What is our world? -what is the nature and character of this world

4. What is our problem? -every worldview knows something is wrong with the world and each person

5. What is our end? -addresses our origins but also must address our end? Post- death...

Foundation of our Christian Worldview

God's revealed written word (the bible)

holds to--

Inspiration

Truthfulness &

Authority

Four Stages of a Christian Worldview with Scripture

Creation - Genesis 1-2

Fall - Genesis 3

Redemption - Genesis 3-Revelation 20

Restoration - Revelation 21-22

5 Key Components of a Christian Worldview asnd Systematic Theology

Who is God?

- Theology Proper, Christology, Pheumatology

What is Man?

-Anthropology

What is our World?

-Bibliology, Theology Proper, Anthropology, Angelology

What is our problem?

-Hamartiology, Soteriology

What is our end?

-Ecclesiology, Eschatology

All theology is tied to

Biblical text

Exegisis

Applying hermeneutical principles to the text to understand the authors intent and meaning

The Exegetical Pyramid

Top- Practice

Top Middle- Theology- biblical, systematic, historical

Bottom Middle- Exegesis

Bottom- The Biblical Text and Hermeneutics

The Purpose for Studying Systematic Theolgoy (5)

Grow in knowledge

Define the belief

Produce understanding

Provide unity

Offer basis and rationality

Limits of Systematic Theology (7)

Silence of the Bible

A Theologians Partial Knowledge/Understanding

Inadequecy of Human Language

Finiteness of our minds

Lack of spiritual discernment

Human bias or distortion

Divine Mystery

Benefits of Systematic Theology (7)

Collection of biblical truth

Orderly synthesis and summation of doctrine

Imperative to share the gospel

Truth for expositional preaching

Basis for Christian behavior

Defense against false teaching

Biblical response to ethics of the world

Theology - summary

the ordered, systematic study or interpreation of the Christian faith and experience of God, based on God's divine self-revelation.

Theology Must Have Purpose

True

Theology - Defenition

Christian theology is the study of the divine revelation in the Bible. It has-

GOD as its "perpetual centerpiece"

GOD'S WORD as its "source"

GODLINESS as its "aim"

Doctrine

What the whole bible teaches us about a particular topic

All Scripture is Doctrinal

True

Dogma

carries the idea of "DECREES" passed by an individual or group. "official church endorsement"

The creeds example

Theology - Root

Greek "theos" - God and "logos" - word or discourse... "Discourse about God"

Systematic - Root

Greek "sunistano "to stand together" or "to organize"

Systematic Theology - Defenition

Collecting, scientifically arranging, comparing, exhibiting, and defending of all facts from any and every source concering God and his works.

Major Doctrinal Categories of Systematic Theology (11)

Prolegomena

Bibliology

Theology Proper

Christology

Pneumatology

Angelology

Antropology

Hamartiology

Soteriology

Ecclesiology

Eschatology

Prolegomena - Root

Greek "pros" - BEFORE and "lego" - SAY

Bibliology

study of major doctrines of the scriptures ... revelation, inspiration, canonicity, transmission, preservation, hermeneutics, biblical study

Theology Proper

the formal study of the doctrine of God ... trinitarianism, attributes of God, his essence, nature and existence.

Christology

the study of doctrines of Jesus Christ

Pneumatology

the study of doctrines concering the Holy Spirit

Angelol0gy

the study of spirit-beings

Anthropolgy

the study of doctrines concerning humanity - origin, nature and destiny

Hamartiology

the study of the doctrine of sin ... origin, nature and destiny

Soteriology

the study of doctrines concering salvation and sanctification

Ecclesiology

the study of the doctrine of the Church ... nature, origin, government and ordinances

Eschatology

the study of major end time events ... the rapture, tribulation, kindom, judgments, and eternal state

Biblical Theology

narrower focus of study... a particular era or writer.

exegetically based analysis

characterized by the orinaztion of Scripture thematically ... the progress revelation of the bible

Historical Theology

Church history of doctrines

Study of the development of theological thought

Seeks to understand how the church interpreted scripture

Bibliology

the study of the Bible

focuses on the nature of God's written revelation contained in the 66 books of scripture

Bible - root

Greek "biblion" meaning BOOK or ROLL

Importance of Bibliology

it identifies the ONLY TRUE FORCE for all Christian truth

The Scope of Bibliology (8)

Revelation

Inspiriation

Inerrancy

Infallibility

Authority and Sufficiency

Canonicity

Preservation

Interpretation

How many years was the bible written over?

1500 years

Uniqueness of the bible

written over a significant length of time

written with a diversity of authors

written from diverse geographical regions

written in 3 languages (hebrew aramaic greek)

written in different moods

written in different literary styles

diversity in the bible, yet its unified

Old Testament Structure

Law, History, Poetry, Prophets

New Testament Structure

Gospels, History, Letter, Prophecy

Hebrew Arrangment of the Old Testament

The Law (Torah)

The Prophets (Nebil'im)

Writings (Kethub'im)

24 books in the Hebrew Aragment of the OT.

The Law (Torah) what books?

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numberts, Deuteronomy

The Prophets (Nebi'im) what books?

Former- Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings

Latter- Isiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Twelve- (Hosea through Malachi)

The Writings (Kethub'im)

Poetical- Psalms, Proverbs, job

Rolls- Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther

Historical- Deaniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles

How many books are in the Hebrew OT

24

How many books are in the English OT

39

Division of the New Testament ( 3 : Literature)

Historical Literature - Gospels and Acts

Epistolary Literarue - Pauline (13) Petrine (2) Johannine (3) Other (James, Jude, Hebrew)

Apocalyptic Literature - Revelation

The three I's of the bible

Inspiration, Infallibility, Inerrancy

Inspiration - Defenition

God-Breathed

Plenary Inspiration

Every Word (bible as a whole)

Verbal Inspiration

The very words (every word is inspired)

Necessity of Inspiration

preserves the Revelation of God, gurantees accuracy

Key texts of Inspiration (7)

2 Samuel 23:2

Matthew 22:43-44

Matthew 15:1-11

1 Timothy 5:18

2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Peter 1:16-21

2 Peter 3:15-16

Elements of Inspiration (5)

Divine element- God

Human element- man

Divine human authorship results in God's truth without error

Selection of words by the writers

Inspiration relates to the original manuscripts

What is the Spiritual Illumination Theory of inspiration?

ANY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATED BY the Holy Spirit can write scripture

What is the Dictation Theory of inspiration?

Men wrote down scripture passively

What is the Partial Theory of inspiration?

Only parts of the bible are inspired, specifically matters of salvation and faith

What is the Conceptual Theory of inspiration?

Only the concepts of the writers are inspired

What is the Natural Theory of inspiration?

Writers are not inspired by God, rejecting divine involvement

What is the Neo-Orthodox Theory of inspiration?

The bible is not considered the word of God

Revelation - definition

How God reveals himself

Biblical view of Inspiration

God inspires every word through his spirit.

Inspiration describes the process of divine causation

He uses the individual

Work of Human and Holy Spirit

Jesus's View of the Bible & Inspiration

Jesus affirmed - divine and human authorship...

the truthfulness of the bible...

the inspiration of the bible as a whole...

the inspiration of the bible in parts

the inspiration of the words

the inspiration fo the letters

the inspiartion of future NT works

Infalibility

the bible cannot fail or mislead, and has no potential to commit error

Infalibility - definition

"that which cannont fail"

Infallibility vs. Inerrancy

Infallibility - the bible is unable to mislead and error

Inerrancy- the bible does not contain error

Inerrancy

the end result that it has no error

the truthfulness and trustworthiness of God is at stake

So important because it is from God. It cannot be false or God has error

God's word is incapable of error and it does not error becasue He inspired it through the work of the Holy Spirit

Inerrancy

God used man to produce his divinely authoritative writings through the Holy Spirit

Inspiration

God's word is incapable of misleading or failing in accomplishing God's intended purpose.

Infallibility

Inerrancy - Definition

Scripture possess the quality of freedom from error

Incapable of error

Perfect accord with the truth

Problems with rejecting inerrancy

They conclude that...

errors can teach truth

the Character of God is not true

they elevate their own minds

they don't list the errors of the bible

can't be confident in the truth of the bible

Preservation of Scripture

the very continued existence of scripture.

No inspired Scripture has been lost

The acctual content of Scripture will be preserved

Scriptural Affirmation of Preservation

Eternal Preservation- Psalm 119:160, 119:89, 119:52, Isaiah 40:8, Matthew 5:18, 1 Peter 1:25

Earthly Preservation

Providentially, God preserves his words, THROUGH HIS PEOPLE

Canonicity of Scripture

At the heart of canonicity is inspiration and preservation of Scripture

God determines canonicity. Man recognizes what God has already inspired.

The Canon of Scripture

The list of books that belong in the bible

Canonization

the recognition and collection of the God-inspired authoritative books of Scripture

The criteria of Canonicity

The external criteria of authorship- who wrote it?

The external criteria of doctrinal agreement- does it agree with existing scripture?

The external criteria of univerisal Christian acceptance- Did the early churhc fathers recognize it