Eight Points on Theology: What Theology Is and Is Not

Key idea: To have faith is to be in a personal relationship with God, who is Truth itself. Theology is not faith itself but the effort to understand and express the fundamental experience of God.
Definition to anchor theology: theology is often described as “faith seeking understanding” (to borrow St. Anselm of Canterbury’s phrase), i.e., the systematic effort to understand and articulate what faith experiences in God.
Focus of Christian theology: centers the process of understanding on Jesus Christ, operating within and in fidelity to a particular community and tradition.

There are many religious faiths (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc.).
Within a given faith tradition there are variations and schools of thought.
Catholic examples: Thomistic, Augustinian, Rahnerian (after Jesuit Fr. Karl Rahner).
Other theological landscapes: liberation theology, feminist theology, process theology, and more.

Doctrine is an official teaching that derives from theology, not from direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Before a formal statement of faith is proposed, the Church must think about meanings and possible expressions of meaning.
The process of grappling with faith to produce official expressions is theology.
Theology is not merely listing, explaining, and defending doctrines.
The theologian’s task is not only explicative but critical: questioning doctrine’s language and conceptual framework so that its truth can become accessible anew in fresh formulations.

Catechesis” literally means an echoing of the faith; aimed at potential members or newly initiated members (children or new converts).
Catechesis teaches the elements of faith and their relationships, plus personal and pastoral implications; the catechist’s task is to help understand and appropriate faith in a clear and spiritually fruitful way.
The theologian’s task is critical: to invite mature members to think critically, question, and even challenge elements of the faith tradition.
Misperception issue: some conservatives view the theologian’s job as simply teaching “the faith” according to a fixed understanding; the statement that a theologian can only explain the faith by one theology represents a mischaracterization by critics.

Theology must proceed from within a given faith tradition and reflect that tradition.
It involves belief in God as real not only objectively/historically but also in one’s life and consciousness.

The First Vatican Council taught that faith is “consonant” with reason and that reason is “illumined” by faith; both faith and reason are engaged from the very beginning of the theological process.

Theology is always and everywhere contextualized: within a faith tradition, within specific moments in time, and within networks of circumstances and relationships.
The theology of one historical period or cultural situation will differ from another; while faith may be constant, our understanding of it evolves.

There can be no real conflict because both seek truth.
Theology, while rooted in faith and in the life of the Church, is a scientific discipline distinct from catechesis, preaching, and pastoral instruction.
The theologian probes and examines the entire Christian tradition to understand its meaning, how it fits together, how it developed, and how it relates to the broader world of theory and practice.
The theologian then poses new questions in light of changing historical circumstances and offers fresh answers for new situations.

Source: Fr. Richard P. McBrien, "What Theology Is and Is Not" (America Magazine, June 8, 1996). http://americamagazine.org/issue/100/what-theology-and-not