What Is Theology?

• Free
  
• No semester credits
• “Lessons are adapted from the same classroom teaching DTS students receive.“

“What is Theology? is a six-session course taught by Dr. Glenn Kreider exploring tough questions about theology. Learn how we all are theologians”
https://courses.dts.edu/courses/what-is-theology

 

Gosh, what IS theology? The Queen of the Sciences, someone once said. Certainly, humanity is obsessed with theological questions, whether humans call them by that label.

I am confused by anyone claiming to know anything for certain about the subject beyond "I think therefore I am."

My favorite theologian, nevertheless, remains Screwtape. He thinks quite clearly despite his allegiance.

 

In case someone is wondering. Who is Screwtape?
”Screwtape
A devil and the fictional author of The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape is an experienced tempter. He has been assigned, or perhaps , to give his nephew Wormwood advice about how to win the soul of an unnamed British manthe Patientinto Hell. Screwtape often refers to Wormwood, his nephew, with terms of endearment. By his own account, Screwtape has won many souls for Hell. He seems to be a mid-level bureaucrat within Hell’s corporate structure. Sometimes, the reader learns, Screwtape undergoes a sudden transformation into a giant millipede. There are far higher-ranking devils then Screwtapebut Screwtape is apparently important enough to have his own secretary, Toadpipe, who takes dictation when Screwtape is in millipede form. Despite Screwtape’s successes, he is angry and embittered, critical of Hell’s bureaucracy and of Wormwood. He often reprimands Wormwood for making mistakes with the Patient, and, after Wormwood fails to win the Patient for Hell, Screwtape is eager to eat a piece of him as punishment for failure.”
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/screwtape-letters/characters/

 

When I read Screwtape’s name I immediately said CS Lewis. No, I have not read The Screwtape Letters. Am familiar with it though.

 

I enjoyed reading The Screw Tape Letters many years ago. Though I have trained for many careers, I am foremost a theologian. If I find a low-cost theology degree that gives a true picture of the God and the Bible, I always consider taking it.

 

A "true picture" of G-d? Really?

 

That's why it is called a faith, not a proof. Irrespective of the nature or systemic approach to one's theological beliefs, it always comes down to a degree of faith which is where its beauty originates.

 

Um. Then you agree with Descartes?

 

I am not a philosopher and am not familiar with Descartes. I find beauty in faith and in order for a faith to be a faith it must be certain. Otherwise it is a hope or a wish.

 

I do not throw rocks at faith. Everyone everywhere exerts a vast faith just to think that what we see is objectively real. Having said that, I do think there's value in a dose of skepticism. I'm not sure where faith begins but I do know that the seed or kernel can be misled by rubbish merchants.

 

Being misled by rubbish merchants is not unique to faith or religion. There are rubbish merchants everywhere selling everything. So yes, I would agree that a degree of skepticism is healthy, at least in the information and curiosity stage. Not so much once it becomes a faith.

 

Fair enough. I will say that children should be given some religious education even if their parents are irreligious or anti-religious. I don't mean we should try to make converts! I think that knowing what the major religions actually stand for might immunize children against frauds and scams.

 

I completely agree with you, 100%. Education and awareness is ALWAYS a good thing. If people choose to follow someone or something based on a lack of awareness or knowledge of alternatives, dangerous things can happen. At very least, one would be living in a vacuum of blissful ignorance.

 

Do you really? Usually my opinion calls down bitter recriminations on my head.

 

People should always remain skeptical. Pastors don't tell their congregants everything they've learned in seminary. After spending 3+ years earning an MDiv and sometimes also a bachelor's in religious studies, they do not want to start over in a new career. Some of your clergy are secretly agnostic theists or atheists because of what they've learned.

 

Rabbis don't really need to believe in G-d. For one thing, the term is not definable. For another, the function of a Rabbi in modern America is to be a voice for the accumulated wisdom and tradition of the Jewish community. It's not to "bring people to the Lord" or whatever.

Although they would deny it, even Orthodox Rabbis are working in a Reform environment where every act by every Jew is a personal choice.

 

Judaism is able to thrive because of their ethnic unity. Jews are generally more open and honest about the Tanakh being filled with myths from other religions, mistakes, inconsistencies, forgeries, and historically inaccurate accounts. Most educated Christian clergy also know these things about the Old Testament and New Testament, but they're afraid of church membership shrinking.

Several European countries are majority non-Christian, and the U.S. is moving in that direction with Gen Z more likely to be religiously unaffiliated.

 

Do not underestimate the centering effect of teaching every Jewish child, or in very religious circles, every male Jewish child, to read the Bible and in many cases, much of the later literature, in the original languages. A bar mizvah ceremony is basically a child demonstrating that he (or she) can read, interpret, and explain, a Hebrew text.

 

I would agree that a degree of skepticism in a pastor might be ok, but not in one's faith.

 

Did you choose your faith as an adult, or were you raised in it?