II' Systems of Theology

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II. Systems of Theology
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II. Systems of Theology

• A system
• is a scheme for organizing and presenting
  Christian truth.
• is based on a few key ideas.
• grows out of the study of Scripture.
• influences the study of Scripture.

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II. Systems of Theology

• Questions to ask of each system
• What is the key idea?
• What are the major presuppositions?
• Where does this system see clearly?
• Where does this system see poorly?
• What do we see more clearly about our own
  presuppositions when we look at this system?

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II. Systems of Theology

• Patristic Theology
• Medieval Sacramental Theology
• Byzantine Mystical Theology
• Reformation Theology
• Pietistic Theology
• Modernistic Theology
• Dialectical Theology
• Theologies of Transformation
• Theologies of Escape

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II. A. Systems of Theology

• Patristic Theology

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II. A. Patristic Theology

• Context
• Rejection (?) of a Greek Platonic thought world
• Death and corruption as the major problems of
  humanity

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II. A. Patristic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Deification/divinization

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II. A. Patristic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea Deification/divinization
• Foundations
• Gods life is the source of our life
• Gods downward movement enables our upward
  movement
• Union of divine and human in Christ is the source
  of our deification

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II. A. Patristic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea Deification/divinization
• Foundations
• Implications
• Incorruption and holiness
• Sonship (but what kind?)

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II. B. Systems of Theology

• Medieval Sacramental Theology

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II. B. Medieval Sacramental Theology

• Context
• Institutional view of the Church
• Church as the locus of salvation
• Sacraments as the vehicles of salvation

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II. B. Medieval Sacramental Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Ones state before God is determined by ones
  relation to the Church.

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II. B. Medieval Sacramental Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• State before God Relation to the Church
• Foundations
• The Church continues Christs mediatorial work.
• Grace is the impartation of actual righteousness.

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II. B. Medieval Sacramental Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• State before God Relation to the Church
• Foundations
• Implications
• Christian life is one of states
• Sacraments maintain a state of grace throughout
  life

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II. C. Systems of Theology

• Byzantine Mystical Theology

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II. C. Byzantine Mystical Theology

• Context
• Shaped by the monastic strand of thought
• Stress on human striving in salvation

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II. C. Byzantine Mystical Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Aspiring to union with God

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II. C. Byzantine Mystical Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Aspiring to union with God
• Foundations
• Divine darkness and unknowability
• Vision of God, not knowledge of God

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II. C. Byzantine Mystical Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Aspiring to union with God
• Foundations
• Implications
• Christian life is a journey, not a state.
• Sacraments, saints, and icons beckon us to follow
  them in the journey.

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II. D. Systems of Theology

• Reformation Theology

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II. D. Reformation Theology

• Context
• Rejection of the merit-based system of Medieval
  theology
• Rejection of the Church as the focus
• A legal approach to theology

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II. D. Reformation Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Let God be God.

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II. D. Reformation Theology

• Context
• Key Idea Let God be God.
• Foundations
• Revival of biblical scholarship
• Focus on God himself, rather than on the Church

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II. D. Reformation Theology

• Context
• Key Idea Let God be God.
• Foundations
• Implications
• God is the source of salvation. (sola gratia,
  sola Christo, sola crucis theologia)
• God is the focus of Christian life. (sola fide,
  soli Deo gloria)

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II. E. Systems of Theology

• Pietistic Theology

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II. E. Pietistic Theology

• Context
• The deadness of Lutheran orthodoxy
• The discovery of the individual (the Cartesian
  shift)

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II. E. Pietistic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Personal, individual experience of God

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II. E. Pietistic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Personal, individual experience of God
• Foundations
• A new view of sola Scriptura
• The right of each Christian to interpret the
  Bible

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II. E. Pietistic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Personal, individual experience of God
• Foundations
• Implications
• Biblicism
• Focus on the heart, not the mind
• Shift in the doctrine of salvation
• Emphasis on evangelism and missions

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II. F. Systems of Theology

• Modernistic Theology

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II. F. Modernistic Theology

• Context
• Rationalism/the Enlightenment
• Romanticism

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II. F. Modernistic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• The universality and progress of human religious
  experience

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II. F. Modernistic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Universality and progress of experience
• Foundations
• Gods immanence
• Universal religious sentiment

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II. F. Modernistic Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• Universality and progress of experience
• Foundations
• Implications
• Focus on personal feeling and objective
  historical truth
• Adaptation of the faith to modern culture
• Attempts to realize the kingdom of God

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II. G. Systems of Theology

• Dialectical Theology

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II. G. Dialectical Theology

• Context
• WW I and the shattering of a belief in progress
• Rejection of natural theology and Nazism

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II. G. Dialectical Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• God is wholly other, yet he has revealed himself
  in Christ.

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II. G. Dialectical Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• God is wholly other, and yet revealed.
• Foundations
• Gods absolute transcendence
• Emphasis on paradox
• Existential, experiential focus

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II. G. Dialectical Theology

• Context
• Key Idea
• God is wholly other, and yet revealed.
• Foundations
• Implications
• Gods utter sovereignty
• Christocentricity
• Still a focus on humanity (?)

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II. H. Systems of Theology

• Theologies of Transformation

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II. H. Theologies of Transformation

• Context
• Interest in apocalyptic eschatology
• Emphasis on the particulars
• Liberation movements among women, the poor, and
  blacks

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II. H. Theologies of Transformation

• Context
• Key Idea
• Tension between the present age and the future
  Kingdom of God

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II. H. Theologies of Transformation

• Context
• Key Idea
• Tension between present and future
• Foundations
• Transcendence future
• Hope as the primary motivation
• Theology proceeds from action to reflection.
• Theology must begin from the voices of the
  oppressed.

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II. H. Theologies of Transformation

• Context
• Key Idea
• Tension between present and future
• Foundations
• Implications
• Hope is collective and outward.
• Salvation is expressed in terms of its earthly
  component.

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II. I. Systems of Theology

• Theologies of Escape

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II. I. Theologies of Escape

• Context
• Revivalism
• Rejection of modernism
• Rejection of the world

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II. I. Theologies of Escape

• Context
• Key Idea
• The need of all people for individual experience
  of salvation

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II. I. Theologies of Escape

• Context
• Key Idea
• Individual experience of salvation
• Foundations
• Authority of Scripture
• Understanding of sin in personal, legal terms
• View of faith which stresses the individual

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II. I. Theologies of Escape

• Context
• Key Idea
• Individual experience of salvation
• Foundations
• Implications
• Scripture is understood modernistically and
  pietistically.
• Sharp distinction between beginning and
  continuation of faith
• Tendency to absolutize ones own experience

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II. Evaluating Systems

• Four Temptations
• An unexamined eclecticism
• An assertion that we cannot judge between systems
• An assumption that systems which sound foreign
  are not Christian
• An assumption that we are where we want to be