Introduction to Systematic Theology

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Introduction to Systematic Theology
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SOURCES OF REVELATION

• Objective View Roman Catholic Theology
• There is One Source (tradition) in two kinds
• Tradition One
• Tradition Two
• Mediated by the teaching office of the Church.
• See The Documents of Vatican Two, the dogmatic
  constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum)
  9,10 which speaks of a single sacred deposit.
• Scripture is tradition one
• Oral Tradition is tradition two
• The Magisterium Ecclesiae is the teaching office
  of the Church

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SOURCES OF REVELATION

• Subjective View
• Some say the source of revelation is not to be
  found in any objective source
• Essentially, Christian Experience is the source
  of revelation
• This is the preponderant view of classical
  Protestant Liberalism (Consciousness theologians)
• Schleiermacher
• Ritschl
• Also, some forms of Pentecostalism

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SOURCES OF REVELATION

• The Multiple Source View
• The Wesleyan Quadrilateral
• Scripture (Supreme Authority)
• Reason
• Tradition
• Experience
• Scripture, Reason, and Tradition are the
  traditional sources in the Anglican Formula

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SOURCES OF REVELATION

• The Multiple Source View
• B.B. Warfield
• Nature (What God has created would include
  Reason)
• Providence (What God has done in history, in the
  Church) Tradition???
• Experience (What God has done in your life)
• Scripture (What God has said)
• The revelation of God in his written Word is
  easily shown not only to be incomparably superior
  to all other manifestations of him in the
  fullness, richness and clearness of its
  communications, but also to contain the sole
  discovery of much that is most important for the
  soul to know as to its state and destiny.
  Warfield, Studies in Theology, 60-1.

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SOURCES OF REVELATION

• God reveals himself through many means, all of
  which contribute to our knowledge of God- but
  Scripture is Fons Unicum
• However, we must distinguish between
• Scripture, as the unique source of revelation,
  and
• Other sources as subordinate to Scripture
• The Latin terms norma normans and norma normativa
  provide help
• Scripture is norma normans, a rule that rules
• All other revelatory media (Experience,
  Tradition, Providence, Reason) are norma
  normativa, a rule that is governed- by Scripture,
  in this instance

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THE ACTION OF THEOLOGY

• The Meaning of Systematic
• Does not imply other disciplines are not
  systematic
• Rather, it refers to the logical coherence that
  exists among divine truths
• The Action of Systematic Theology
• Is not bringing order out of chaos
• Is not imposing an external system on Scripture

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THE ACTION OF THEOLOGY

• Doing Systematic Theology does not imply an
  infinite number of strands we can weave into any
  theological tapestry of our own design
• The Action, instead, is recognizing the fabric
  of revealed truth that already exists in sacred
  Scripture
• Doing Theology does not produce new truth.
  Rather, it reproduces the truth
• Doing theology, however, may bring to light new
  truth as at the time of the Protestant Reformation

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THE ACTION OF THEOLOGY

• Theological Presuppositions
• There is Unity in the Scriptures by virtue of
  their ultimate author, God himself
• There is an Integrity to the Scriptures it
  represents the truth its author intended us to
  know
• There is a Coherence to the Scriptures
• It holds together presenting a seamless fabric of
  redemptive truth
• From the first promise of the Savior to the final
  consummation- the Bible hangs together
• There is not a diffusion of themes or ideas, as
  in a college course anthology

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THE WARRANT FOR THEOLOGY

• New Testament Fulfillment Language
• For example, Matt. 122, All this took place to
  fulfill what the Lord had said through the
  prophet.
• The Analogy of Scripture
• Often, the illumination of one part of Scripture
  is based upon another
• For example, it is not possible fully to
  understand I Corinthians 6 apart from Genesis 2
• The understanding of one part is often based on
  other parts
• For example, it is impossible to understand
  Romans 830 fully without knowing what the
  Scripture teaches elsewhere about predestination,
  calling, justification, and glorification

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• There is a chronological development of theology-
  this is the lesson of historical theology
• There are cultural influences on the development
  of theology
• This, too, is demonstrated by the unfolding of
  Church History
• Cultural influences include, for example,
  Hebraic, Greek, Roman, North African, and Western
  European

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• The Evangelical Presupposition
• Since the Scriptures, ultimately, are Gods
  revelation to all of mankind, there will be a
  unity of truth even in the midst of diverse
  cultural emphases and contextualized language
• Some evangelicals have tended to view theology
  as transcultural or culturally neutral. Always
  fearful of the historicist notion of theology,
  these evangelicals have typically championed
  biblical authority by claiming that there is only
  one horizon in theology- the biblical text
  itself. Richard Lints, The Fabric of Theology,
  102

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• There are two horizons that must be addressed if
  one is to do theology properly
• The Ancient World the biblical text and its
  cultural milieu
• The Modern World the interpreter and the culture
  in which the interpretation occurs and is applied
• Indeed, . . . there is still the need to link
  those understandings the specific cultural and
  historical meaning of Scripture up with the
  target culture into which we wish to announce
  these words, not to mention our need to be aware
  of our own cultural baggage as interpreters.
  Walter Kaiser and Moses Silva, An Introduction to
  Biblical Hermeneutics, 175

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• Some interpreters (usually of the more critical
  schools) have erred on the other extreme
• They suggest that the meaning of the biblical
  message is actually determined by the constraints
  of the contemporary culture, that the Scriptures
  have no other meaning than that which is
  permitted by the conceptuality of the present-day
  situation. Lints, Fabric, 102
• Lints gives, as an example, the methodology of
  Rudolf Bultmann
• The key idea that must be considered is the
  unavoidable fact that we hear the divine
  conversation only after it has passed through
  several filters. Lints, Fabric, 60

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• There are a number of INTERPRETIVE FILTERS (or,
  MATRICES) that every interpreter employs
• Personal/Family Characteristics
• Individual Religious Tradition
• National, regional culture
• Racial heritage
• Social Relationships
• Educational Matrix
• Personal Faith Experience
• Vocational/Leisure-time Matrix
• Cross-cultural experience

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• There is a transcultural aspect to the doing of
  theology Ought we to give our western creeds to
  the Oriental mind? . . . Of course those Western
  creeds ought to be given to the Oriental mind.
  But that ought to be done only on one condition-
  that those western creeds are true. If they are
  not true, they ought not to be given to the
  Oriental mind or to any other kind of mind but
  if they are true, they are just as true in China
  as they are in the United States. Machen,
  Christian Faith in the Modern World, 93

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• Our final and fundamental hope rests in the
  conviction that God himself communicates across
  cultures, principally across that cultural chasm
  that lies between himself and us. As Gabriel
  Fackre has suggested, We are not so locked into
  our ecclesial or cultural positions that its
  truth cannot make itself known to us- the Word
  addresses the hearer- even to the extent that a
  contemporary perspective from which a text is
  viewed can be challenged, modified and even
  overturned by the text. Lints, Fabric, 114

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• There is an unavoidable cultural influence in the
  doing of theology and consequentially, a need to
  evaluate critically its effect on the theological
  task Contemporary theologians must also seek to
  challenge the contemporary mind to think more
  critically about its own culturally accepted
  values. Lints, Fabric, 113

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THEOLOGY AND CULTURE

• I wonder if we really recognize that all
  theology represents a contextualization, even our
  own theology? We speak of Latin American
  theology, black theology, or feminist theology
  but without the slightest second thought we will
  assume that our own theology is simply theology,
  undoubtedly in its purest form. Do we recognize
  that the versions of evangelical theology held by
  most people in this room are in fact North
  American, white, and male and that they reflect
  and/ or address those values and concerns?
  Stanley Gundry, Evangelical Theology Where
  Should We Be Going? Journal of the Evangelical
  Theological Society 22 (1979) 11

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Introduction to Systematic Theology