Theology for the real world: What is Theology

A. What is Theology
When you hear the word Theology what comes to mind?

Theology is not the study of God. We do not study God. It is about understanding our relationship to God and God’s relationship to us and the world. It is human talk about the divine.
We are going to look at Biblical theology. The term Biblical theology first appeared in 1708, in C. Haymann’s Biblische Theologie, I just say that to look impressive. What I do want to point out is that we are going to be looking at Theology from a Christian worldview and will be using the Bible as our authoritative source. We will talk later about why I call it authoritative.

CS Lewis in The Joyful Christian gives a great allegory to explain Theology.
Imagine a person who sees the Atlantic Ocean. Then goes and looks at a map. He is turning from the real thing to something less real. But there are two very important things about the map.
One, it is based what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic.
Two, if you want to go anywhere beyond just a short walk on the beach the map is necessary.
In the same way, Theology is a map. It is not the real thing but it is based on hundreds of people who have been in touch with God. It also is key in helping us grow deeper in our faith, to move beyond a touchy feely sort of religion.

B. Why do Theology
There are numerous reasons to study theology but here are three in particular:

1. It is there in the Scriptures
Theology occurs in the very pages of the Bible. This occurs because the Scriptures (unlike the Koran or the Book of Mormon) are not presented as having fallen from heaven. Although divinely inspired, and at times directly quoting God, the Scriptures were written by human beings over thousands of years. By its very nature then the writers are doing Theology. They share not only their reactions and relationship to God but also that of others and at times entire nations.
This brings with it a problem because we must interpret what these writers are sharing and how it applies to our lives today.

2. Necessary in communicating the Christian faith
Often when we think about telling others about Christianity we think of sharing the Gospel. But did you ever realize that to do so we use Theology?
Perhaps the best example of this is the Roman road, a collection of verses taken from the book of Romans that explains salvation. But did you realize that the book of Romans is itself a book of theology in which Paul explains God’s plan of salvation throughout time. The message he shares is universally true but some of his wording is not. So even though we use the verses we also rely upon Theology to help explain them in the 21st century America.

3. It aids in defending the Christian faith?
When I say "defend" I am not saying that Christianity’s survival rests upon us. If every Christian were to fall down dead today the message of Jesus Christ would continue. Why? Because it is truth and not opinions.
Too often we talk of winning the hearts and minds, this is persuasion. Persuasion has nothing to do with Truth but of winning a person over to your opinion. But God is truth. And what we do in theology is help people to see and accept the truth.
Augustine, an early church leader, used theology to help explain Christianity to the Roman society that was untrusting of it and filled with false ideas. The City of God is one of the best known examples.

C. The dangers of Theology
Theology does have it’s danger. Consider the imagery provided by CS Lewis when he talked about Theology being like map making:

1. When the maker does a poor job
If someone just drew a map on how they thought the world should look or were simply sloppy in their work the map would be useless or cause those who read it to get lost.
Theology that is based simply on how we feel or done poorly does the same thing. It presents an understanding of God that is not true and can lead others astray.
This is the reason for so many cults.

2. When the map becomes more important than the real thing
A map is great, but the point is to help get you to the location so you can enjoy the real thing.
Likewise, Theology is intended to help you in your relationship with God. Do not become so bogged down in the study that you miss the reason for doing so.
This is what has often been the cause of liberal scholarship.

3. When we hold on to faulty maps
Some maps are just wrong. New information or reexamination shows the map to be faulty.
Likewise, there are times when some theology, no matter how popular, is just wrong needs to clarified. It was Martin Luther’s willingness to do theology (on Romans of all things) that caused him to challenge the theology of that day and set forward the protestant reformation.
Holding to faulty maps causes legalism.

D. Being Theologians
The solution is not to abandon the maps. All that will do is get you further lost. Nor is the solution to jut go it on your own. The solution is to learn how to read the map and eventually become a map maker.
We are all called to be theologians or at least practice theology. Studying and discussing it is just the start. You also need to do it.