Transcript HOLY SPIRIT - Erskine College

Introduction to
Systematic
Theology
TYPES OF THEOLOGY:
• Modern methods of doing theology:
classified according to typologies
– See Peter Toon, The End of Liberal Theology, 145ff
– Typology focuses on the “structures of systems of thought,” 152
• The Deductive Approach: This is a method
that uses Scripture and/or the tradition of the
Church to deduce objective truth. Examples
would include Hodge, Barth, Grudem, Erickson,
Oden, Reymond
• The Inductive Approach: This is a method
that uses human experience as the starting
point. Examples would include Schleiermacher,
Tracy, Kung
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TYPES OF THEOLOGY:
• The Reductive Approach: This is a
method that seeks to translate Scripture
into a modern idiom. Examples would
include Bultmann, Cone, Gutierrez,
Fiorenza
• The Regulative Approach: This is a
method that views the Bible “as being
primarily and essentially . . . narrative or
story.” Examples would include Lindbeck,
Frei, Hauerwas, Pinnock
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TYPES OF THEOLOGY:
• There are three types or ways of doing theology
according to George Lindbeck, The Nature of
Doctrine:
– Cognitive/Propositionalist, or the Traditional
Way, which emphasizes cognitive aspects, truth as
captured in propositions
– Experiential/Expressive, or Expressively
Symbolic, which focuses on feelings, attitudes,
experience- not propositions
– Hybrid, combines two methods listed above; replace
by Lindbeck’s Regulative or Cultural-Linguistic
approach
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TYPES OF THEOLOGY:
• Per Donald Bloesch, A Theology of Word and
Spirit
– A Theology of Restoration
• Pieper, Hodge are representatives
• This affirms a “conscious return to known theological roots
and foundations,” Toon, 157
• It is similar to Niebuhr’s “Christ Against Culture” Model
– A Theology of Accommodation
• Schleiermacher, Harnack, Herrman are representatives
• This “attempts to present the Christian faith in modern
concepts and symbols,” Toon, 158
• It is similar to Niebuhr’s “Christ of Culture” Model
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TYPES OF THEOLOGY:
• Per Donald Bloesch, A Theology of Word and
Spirit, cont.
– A Theology of Correlation
• Tillich, Kung, Tracy are representatives
• “Human reason finds its goal and fulfillment in divine
revelation,” Toon, 159
• It is similar to Niebuhr’s “Christ above Culture” Model
– A Theology of Confrontation
• Calvin, Barth, Kuyper are representatives
• Human questions and symbols are subordinate to the
kerygma
• It is similar to Niebuhr’s “Christ Transforming Culture” Model
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A COVENANTAL APPROACH
• Makes use of many different perspectives and
borrows from all types of theology
– The covenant theologian has experienced the grace of God, as in
subjective types of theology
– The covenant theologian seeks to understand what God has
revealed, as in objective types of theology (confronting nonChristian thinking with the demand for transformation as well)
– By beginning with the presupposition of the self-contained God
and the self-attesting Scripture, the covenant theologian avoids
the rationalistic bent of much of evangelical theology
– By applying the principle of the covenant, I will be your God and
you will be my people, the covenant theologian is very interested
in correlating the truth of God’s word to the needs of God’s
covenant people at a given place and in a given time, as in
reductive types of theology
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A COVENANTAL APPROACH
•
We begin with the God of the Bible
– Who has made himself known to us
– This is axiomatic and presuppositional
•
We trust his Revelation
– “Scriptural authority comes from God. In its total extent and in all
its parts Scripture is the inspired, and thus also the infallible and
authoritative Word of God. What Paul says, God says.” Spykman,
Reformational Theology, 123
– Reason is subordinated to Scripture
– Experience is validated by Scripture
– We do not begin with any a-priori concepts regarding the nature
of God or his method of dealing with his creatures
– This avoids the problems of the Greek antinomies: One and
Many; determinism/indeterminism
– God is not the product of philosophical speculation, a static,
emotionless, unmoved-mover
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A COVENANTAL APPROACH
• This method employs the following disciplines and
questions in its effort to ascertain individual truths and
their systematic formulation
– Historical-Grammatical Exegesis
• What does the text actually say?
• What bearing does the analogia Scripturae have on the text?
(Interpret the difficult in light of the clear)
• What did it mean to its original audience?
• What is its application to us in our culture?
– Biblical-Theological Constructs
• What, in the redemptive-historical flow, is the import of this
teaching?
• How does it relate, eschatologically, to the Kingdom of God and the
rule of Christ?
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A COVENANTAL APPROACH, cont.
– Historical Reflection
• How has the Church viewed this teaching in the past?
• What bearing does the common consent of the church have on the text
and its teaching?
• What current challenges, reflections are important to this teaching?
– Systematic Development and Formulation
• How does this truth relate to all other biblical-theological truths?
• What bearing does the analogia fidei (“the analogy of faith,” or the use of
the general theological meaning of Scripture as guide to the interpretation
of a particular text) have on the text? Interpret Scripture in light of the
theology of the church
• How does this truth relate to all other truth, from whatever source?
• Generally, various doctrinal formulations are discussed under the rubric of
“theological loci.”
– Practical Application
• How does the Church faithfully live this truth today in this culture?
• How do we apply God’s truth to concrete situations of covenantal living?
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SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: SCIENCE?
• Scientific study: the God-given impulse to seek
knowledge; to exercise dominion over the realm
of nature
• Cultural Dominion-an exercise in image-bearing,
committed to the creature as image-bearer of God
• The task given to Adam, to cultivate the garden,
provides insight. CULTUS:
– Refers to religion, worship
– Refers to tilling soil, bringing forth fruit
• Humanity’s task: the exploration of creation, at
once religious and scientific. Scientific inquiry, at
root, should be a religious activity
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KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE:
• Archetypal Knowledge
– Original, Transcendent, Intuitive, Immediate,
Comprehensive
– “God alone knows himself (‘archetypal knowledge of
God,’ cognitio Dei archetypa)” A. Kuyper, Principles of
Sacred Theology, 215
• Ectypal Knowledge
– Derivative, Immanent, Discursive, Mediated, Partial
– “there is no created being that can know aught [sic]
of Him, except He himself reveals something from His
self-knowledge and self-consciousness in a form that
falls within the comprehension of the creature”
A. Kuyper, PST, 215-16
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ECTYPAL (Creaturely) KNOWLEDGE
• Ectypal knowledge is perfectly adapted to the
creature’s environment
– It is sufficient for its intended purposes
– The opportunity for Adam to expand the base of
knowledge was implicit in the command to have
dominion
• THUS: The knowledge that God has given
concerning himself in Nature, Providence,
Experience, and most importantly,
Scripture are all within the scope of our
legitimate investigation
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THE ANTITHESIS
• Concept offered by Dutch Calvinists
– It seeks to provide a way of viewing the entire
cosmos as belonging to God
– But, short of the eschaton, all creation is under
siege by the forces of evil
• The antithesis is critical to all theological
enterprise
– It runs through every part of the created order
– It affects every issue arising in creation
– It reminds us of the danger of relying upon reason
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THE ANTITHESIS
• “The antithesis represents a spiritual warfare between
good and evil which knows no territorial boundaries. It
is not geographically, locally, or spatially definable. The
enmity between these two hostile forces does not
coincide with two parts of reality, as though one sector
of life were holy and the other unholy, or one bloc
righteous and the other unrighteous. It is a
directional antithesis which runs through all the
structures of life. Sin is totally pervasive. Grace, too,
lays its claim on all reality. The antithesis may therefore
not be dualistically misconstrued as though it drives a
wedge between soul and body, faith and reason,
theology and philosophy, church and world- with the
former viewed as good and the latter as evil.” Spykman,
Reformational Theology, 66
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THEOLOGY AND COVENANT
• The Children of the Palingenesis (“regeneration”)
–
–
–
–
Believe on Jesus Christ and are part of His Kingdom
Will think with new hearts and minds
Will engage faithfully in Theology as a Science
Theology is simply a part of their Heavenly Father’s
creation and, like all other parts, is a fruitful area for
investigation and exploration: a proper venue for the
exercise of dominion
• The Children of Darkness (unregenerate)
– Believe there is no God to whom they are accountable
(in their estimation)
– Will rule out theology according to their own,
autonomous definition of science
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REVELATI0N AND REASON
• Scientific Investigation employs Logic, the use of
Reason: Induction and Deduction
• Scientific Investigation employs the use of the
senses, perception
• Reason and the Senses are part of our imagebearing, part of the created order. Frame,
Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 29
• Both have validity, enabling us to analyze the
data of creation, to think and ponder its
implications
• Both are subordinated to Revelation in a truly
covenantal methodology
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REVELATI0N AND REASON
• SCRIPTURE IS NOT PLACED UNDER THE
SCRUTINY OF OUR REASON
– Reason is subject to Scriptural authority
– There are truths concerning God that transcend our
reason and our senses
• “It will readily be inferred what as Christians we mean by
antinomies. They are involved in the fact that human knowledge
can never be completely comprehensive knowledge. Every
knowledge transaction has in it somewhere a reference point to
God. Now since God is not fully comprehensible to us we are
bound to come into what seems to be contradiction in all our
knowledge. Our knowledge is analogical and therefore must be
paradoxical. We say that if there is to be any true knowledge at
all there must be in God an absolute system of knowledge. . . .
Yet we ourselves cannot fully understand that system.” C. Van
Til, The Defense of the Faith, 44.
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THEOLOGY AS SCIENCE:
• It is a Practical Science; it has more than mere
Ontology (existence)
• Theology has Teleology; it has purpose and
direction
– The end of theological inquiry is not merely mental
equilibrium
– The goal of scientific inquiry is “knowledge that
responds in doxology- how Great is the Knowledge
of the Lord.” - Norman Shepherd
• Per John Frame, all proper theology is engaged
theology. Theology done in abstraction does
not fit w/the covenantal character of Scripture.
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THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY:
• The relationship is as follows:
– The “most fitting prolegomena” to theology is
“Christian philosophy”
– The “noetic point of departure for both is Scripture,”
Spykman, Reformational Theology, 101
• There is a real danger in the juxtaposition of
theology with non-Christian philosophy as in
much modern theology. That is, to do theology
based on non-Christian presuppositions or to
do theology employing a methodology not
governed by Scripture is inherently
unacceptable for the Reformed theologian
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Introduction to
Systematic
Theology