Methodology, Doctrine, and Creation Theology

Flashcards covering key terminology and principles from the lectures on theology, doctrine, and creation.

Systematic Theology

Focuses on the whole theological domain, relationships among doctrines, and careful definitions.

Theology's Object

Primarily God, in His inner being and outer works, and all things relative to Him.

Regenerate Intelligence

The redeemed human understanding illuminated by divine instruction, necessary for theology.

Theology in Via

The theological knowledge we possess now, as pilgrims on the way to glory.

Theology in Patria

The perfected, face-to-face knowledge of God possessed in eternal life.

Creator-Creature Distinction

The fundamental qualitative difference between the necessary, self-sufficient Creator and contingent creatures.

General Revelation

Knowledge of God's power and wisdom available to all through creation and nature.

Special Revelation

God's self-disclosure through particular acts and words (e.g., Scripture) necessary for salvation.

Accommodation

God communicating to humans in ways that fit our finite, limited capacities (e.g., 'baby-talk').

Archetypal Knowledge

God's own perfect, internal, and original knowledge of Himself.

Ectypal Knowledge

Creatures' derived knowledge of God, based on the revelation God provides.

Self-Authentication

The principle that Scripture's authority comes from its divine source, not from human endorsement.

Univocal Predication

Using a word in the exact same sense for both God and a creature (generally avoided).

Equivocal Predication

Using the same word for God and a creature with two completely different meanings.

Analogical Predication

Using terms for God that are similar but not identical to their creaturely meaning.

Divine Simplicity

The doctrine that God is not composed of parts; His attributes are identical to His essence.

Aseity

God's life comes from Himself; the basis of God's independence and self-sufficiency.

Immutability

God's essence, character, and will do not change.

Divine Impassibility

The doctrine that God is not passively affected by external events and does not suffer disordered passions.

Divine Passibility

The concept that God is capable of experiencing suffering or emotional change.

Apatheia (Greek)

The philosophical idea that God is incapable of suffering or being acted upon by external forces.

Divine Pathos

The concept of God's deep concern, emotional involvement, and grief for the world.

Passions (in God)

Temporary, disorderly, and passive emotions; classical theology claims God does not have these.

Affections (in God)

Permanent, active, and rightly ordered dispositions (like love or justice) in God.

Anthropopathism

Speaking of God using human emotions or passions, which must be interpreted analogically.

Theodicy

The theological challenge of reconciling God's goodness and power with the existence of evil and suffering.

Panentheism

The belief that the cosmos is a part of God's being, which logically leads to a suffering God.

Pure Act (Aquinas)

The concept that God is fully actualized perfection, without potential for change or improvement.

Prism Analogy

An illustration of divine simplicity where God's single essence is refracted into various attributes in our experience.

Hellenization Thesis

The (largely discredited) claim that Greek philosophy distorted the biblical understanding of God.

Ethical Immutability

The view that God is unchanging only in His moral character and love.

Ontological Immutability

The view that God is unchanging in His very being and essence, which grounds his ethical consistency.

God's Holiness

God's unique otherness, 'cut off' from all that is profane and sinful.

God as Savior

God's transcendent power to act for salvation, unfrustrated by worldly forces.

God's Repentance

Biblical language describing a change in God's actions in response to human change, not a change in His eternal will.

God's Love (Classical)

A benevolent attitude and activity, not a passive feeling or emotion affected by its object.

Voluntary Suffering

The idea that God can willingly self-expose to suffering out of love, without being a passive victim.

Only the suffering God can help

Bonhoeffer's famous phrase arguing for God's solidarity with humanity in its deepest pain.

Divine Justice (in Simplicity)

God's justice is identical to His love and mercy; it is never actualized at their expense.

God's Jealousy

A righteous, perfect affection in God to protect his covenant, unlike sinful human jealousy.

Doctrine of the Trinity

Three distinct persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) sharing one numerically single divine essence.

Immanent Trinity

Refers to God in Himself; the eternal relationships and inner life of the Trinity.

Economic Trinity

Refers to the Trinity's actions and revelation in the world (creation, salvation history).

Rahner's Rule

'The imminent trinity is the economic trinity,' meaning God's actions reveal who He truly is.

Processions

The eternal internal relations of origin within the Godhead (e.g., the Son being begotten).

Missions

The external sendings of the Son and Spirit into the world for the work of salvation.

Personal Property

The unique relational characteristic that distinguishes one divine person from another.

Paternity

The Father's personal property as the unbegotten source from whom the Son is begotten.

Filiation (Sonship)

The Son's personal property as being eternally begotten of the Father.

Spiration

The Spirit's personal property as proceeding from the Father (and the Son).

Appropriated Works

External acts of the one God that are attributed to a specific Person to highlight their role.

Classical Trinitarianism

An approach to the Trinity that starts with the one divine essence and then explains the three persons.

Social Trinitarianism

An approach to the Trinity that starts with the three persons and their loving relationships.

Patripassianism

The heresy that the Father suffered on the cross along with the Son.

Incarnation

The joining of the complete divine and human natures into the one person of the Son of God.

Two Natures of Christ

The orthodox belief that Christ is fully God and fully man.

Chalcedonian Logic

The classical reasoning that Christ's suffering is attributed to his human nature, while his divine nature remains impassible.

Logos

A name for the Son of God, the eternal Word, who became incarnate as Jesus.

Adoptionism

The heresy that Jesus was a mere human who was adopted as God's Son at some point in his life.

Kenosis / Kenoticism

The view that Christ 'emptied himself' by temporarily relinquishing some divine attributes to become human.

Unaltered (Nature of Christ)

Christ's divine nature was not changed by the incarnation.

Unmixed (Nature of Christ)

Christ's divine and human natures were not blended into a third new nature.

Undivided (Nature of Christ)

Christ's two natures exist in one person without being separated.

Inseparable (Nature of Christ)

Christ's two natures will never be separated.

The Impassible Suffers

A paradox used by Cyril of Alexandria to describe how the Son of God suffered as man in his human nature.

Internal Acts of God

Acts inside God that do not extend to creatures (Generation, Spiration).

External Acts of God

God's acts that have creatures as their object (Creation, Redemption).

Generation (in Trinity)

The eternal begetting of the Son from the Father.

Double Procession

The Western doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

One Person, Two Natures

The creedal formula for Jesus Christ.

Creatio Ex Nihilo

The doctrine that God created the universe 'out of nothing.'

Divine Providence

God's ongoing work of sustaining and directing creation towards its intended end.

Distributed Doctrine

A doctrine (like creation) that is internal to and presupposed by every other doctrine.

Theological Anthropology

The study of what it means to be human from a Christian theological perspective.

Imago Dei

The 'Image of God' in humanity, reflecting God's character through attributes like reason and relationality.

Faculty Psychology

A view of the soul as having distinct powers, primarily intellect (to know the good) and will (to choose it).

Sin as Privation

The understanding of sin as a lack, corruption, or deficit of the good, rather than a substance in itself.

Ordered Love

Properly relating to God as the only object of enjoyment (fruition) and all else for His sake (use).

Disordered Love

When creatures seek ultimate enjoyment and satisfaction in creation rather than the Creator.

Total Depravity

The doctrine that sin affects every part of human nature, leaving no area untouched by its corruption.

Eschatology

The study of 'last things,' such as death, judgment, and the final destiny of humanity.

Soteriology

The study of the doctrine of salvation.

Theosis (Deification)

The process of believers becoming more like God, or partaking in the divine nature.

Spiritual Body

The resurrected, imperishable body believers will have, which is ontologically different from the natural body.

Dominion

Humanity's God-given role to care for and exercise authority over creation.

Creatureliness

The essential state of being a creature, which is inherently good and dependent on God.

Micro-Cosmos

A term for humanity, reflecting the idea that a human being is a miniature replica of the greater universe.

Rational Soul

The core of the Imago Dei in historical theology, allowing for understanding and will.

Sabbath Rest

A sign of divine completion and a gift of rest entered into by faith in Christ's finished work.

Original Sin

The inherited state of sinfulness and guilt in which all humanity is born because of Adam's solidarity.

Inward Turn of Sin

The characterization of sin as a self-centered displacement of God's rightful primacy.

Freedom (in sin)

The ability to follow one's will; in a fallen state, this means freedom is bound by sinful desires.

Craftsman Metaphor

An analogy for creation that conveys intentionality, but fails to capture the giving of being itself.

Sun/Emanation Metaphor

An analogy for creation that conveys the giving of being, but fails to capture intentionality.

Consolation (of Providence)

The assurance that the world is an ordered, not random, reality directed by divine love.

Orientation (of Providence)

The instruction on how to navigate the world, knowing it is ordered by God.

God's Glory

God's intrinsic worth and perfection, which is manifested (not increased) through the good of His creatures.

God is in need of man

Heschel's controversial assertion to emphasize God's deep concern and involvement with humanity.

The Cross (as Revelation)

Seen by passibilists as the ultimate historical expression of God's eternal suffering love.

Resurrection

God's ultimate answer to and victory over human suffering, sin, and death.