50 Key Concepts in Theology

Lisa Isherwood and Elizabeth Stuart (eds.),
Introducing Body
Theology (Pilgrim Press, 2000)

---

Systematic Theology
The attempt to produce a total theological system covering everything from
creation to the end of the world.
There are many ways to express theological truth: in music, through
poetry and painting, through rituals and stories. Systematic theology tries to
express religious truth in an exhaustive system that covers every aspect of
theology. Founded on the belief that God is unified and coherent, systematic
theologies have attempted to produce a unified and coherent account of
everything to do with God and his creation.
Unfortunately, the Bible was not written in a systematic way and does not
speak with one voice. With some exceptions, such as Paul’s letters, the Bible
presents stories rather than structured arguments. So any systematic theology
must to some extent coerce the biblical material into a formal structure. This
creates a basic and unavoidable tension between ‘systematic’ and ‘biblical’
theology. For some, such as Walter Brueggeman, this is a fatal flaw in all
systematic theology.
Although the beginnings of systematic theology can be seen as early as
Origen’s De Principiis (arguably the first comprehensive system of Christian
dogma), systematic theology came into its own in the Scholastic period, most
famously in St Thomas Aquinas’ (uncompleted) Summa Theologica, which
used Aristotle’s philosophy of Being to produce a total theory of God and
existence. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was a
German revival in systematic theology, with monumental projects from a
range of theologians including Ritschl, Barth, Tillich and Rahner.
Most systematic theologies rest upon a central insight or argument.
Aquinas argued that theology must be understood in terms of concrete
existence rather than abstract ideas. For Calvin, the absolute sovereignty of
God is the central concept. In Barth, the revelation of God’s word is the
governing principle. For Tillich, theology must begin with the question of
human existence. But if the governing principles of a systematic theology are
discredited or rejected, the whole system is instantly called into question.
Although there are theologians who are still writing systematic theology
(for example, James William McClendon), the post-modern suspicion of
‘ideology’ means that all grand systems of thought have lost their attraction.
Barth’s Church Dogmatics was a magnificent achievement and its influence
has been immense. But like the last great battleships, it was, in retrospect, a
project that belonged to the past rather than the future.

---

Systematic theological thought in general has ceased to be valued for
various reasons. The very word ‘system’ now has sinister overtones,
suggesting an oppressive restriction of individual theological freedom. Many
of the more political theologians see the task of theology as precisely to
subvert all human ‘systems’ on the grounds that they lead to totalitarianism.
Furthermore, ordinary faith doesn’t present itself in a systematic way, but
takes the form of a story with many unpredictable twists and turns. Many
people find more religious value in mystical or practical theologies that offer
nuggets of wisdom and parables, than in volumes of theological analysis.
They might easily say, with some justification, that Jesus was a wisdom
teacher of precisely this kind.
For the time being systematic theology has been eclipsed by various
narrative theologies, both conservative and liberal, that see the coherence of
Christianity in its guiding stories rather than in an overarching theory.
THINKERS
Karl Barth (1886–1968) wrote his Church Dogmatics in reaction to the
failure of liberal theology in the face of Hitler’s Nazism. The project was
never completed but still runs to 12 volumes, each averaging more than 600
pages. It is interesting that even Barth warned that ‘systematization is always
the enemy of true theology.’
John Calvin (1509–64) wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion,
which was the first Protestant systematic theology.
Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) wrote a Platonic Theology which consisted of
18 volumes.
John of Damascus (700–760) wrote The Fountain of Wisdom in an
attempt to bring together in one compendium all the accrued wisdom of the
Church Fathers.
Peter Lombard (1100–1160) was the first great systematiser of the
Western Church, and his Sentences tried to collect together in a single work
the wisdom of the Church Fathers.
John Milbank (1952– ) has argued that Christianity is structured by the
repetition and performance of a narrative that he calls ‘the Christian mythos’.
Paul Tillich (1886–1965) produced a systematic theology based on the
insights of existentialism.
David Tracy (1939– ) has emphasised the importance of ‘the fragment’ –
or unsystematic truths – in contemporary theology and culture.

---

IDEAS
Biblical theology is usually contrasted with systematic theology and
refers to the unsystematic theology of the Bible.
Dogmatic theology or dogmatics: the attempt to justify orthodox
Christian belief.
Mystical theology is generally unsystematic: poetic, aphoristic and
narrative.
Unsystematic theologians: many theologians have not felt it necessary to
produce formal systems – Martin Luther, for example.
BOOKS
Wolfhart Pannenberg, Introduction to Systematic Theology (Eerdmans,
1991)

---

Theism
The theory that a God (or gods) exist(s). Theism is not necessarily a religious
belief, although it may form part of religious belief.
The word ‘theism’ is derived from theos, the Greek word for ‘god’.
Theism is the theory that a God, or gods, exist(s). As a theory, it is reached by
the exercise of human thought. So theism is, strictly speaking, just an
intellectual position, not an act of religious belief. By contrast, religious faith
in God depends upon God revealing himself in ways that may not be rational
or comprehensible – ‘faith believes nor questions how’. (See ‘Negative
Theology’.)
Theism is one of those apparently simple words that conceal a great
muddle of ideas and beliefs. When we use the word ‘theism’ we need to be
clear what we are saying. Ideas of God are immensely varied and it makes
little sense to lump them all under the heading of ‘theism’, as though all forms
of belief in God were somehow the same. This would put Christianity,
Satanism and Hinduism all in the same category.
To avoid confusion, the word ‘theism’ really needs to be reserved for a
philosophical or intellectual belief in God based upon arguments and
reasoning. (Otherwise all our vocabulary becomes too imprecise to be useful.)
The tradition of considering God in this way goes back to the ancient Greek
philosophers, particularly Plato and Aristotle. Plato argued that God (or ‘the
Good’, as he called it) was the most perfect of all perfect ideas. Aristotle also
thought God was supremely rational, but introduced the idea that God was the
‘unmoved mover’ instigating the process of all the events of cosmic history.
Plato had an immense influence on Christian ideas of God, particularly
through St Augustine, who described Platonism as ‘Christianity for the
masses’. Aristotle’s critical influence on Christian thought came 1000 years
later, when St Thomas Aquinas developed his controversial theology of
Being, which drew heavily upon Aristotle (whom Aquinas referred to simply
as The Philosopher). Aristotle’s ideas also surface in the seventeenth-century
Jewish theology of Spinoza.
The question of whether belief in a God can be justified rationally has
been an issue for theology since the earliest times. Justyn Martyr, for
example, in the early second century, saw God as the Logos, or the fount of
reason. In recent times Richard Swinburne is probably the best-known
proponent of rational theism. He argues that theism is both logical and
coherent, because God offers the best way of making sense of the whole of

---

our experience. On the other side, there have been plenty of philosophers –
notably A. J. Ayer, Anthony Flew and Richard Hare – who have argued that
belief in God can never be verified and is therefore irrational and
meaningless. Interestingly, in 2004 Anthony Flew changed his mind and said
that he did believe in God after all: ‘I’m thinking of a God … in the sense of a
being that has intelligence and a purpose.’
Theistic belief does not necessarily translate into religious conviction.
The desire to worship God does not necessarily follow from the fact that we
give intellectual assent to the idea of a perfect being.
THINKERS
Ralph Cudworth (1617–88): one of the so-called Cambridge Platonists.
He probably coined the term ‘theism’.
Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) argued that ‘we should stop thinking about
God as someone, over there, way up there, transcendent, and, what is more …
capable, more than any satellite orbiting in space, of seeing into the most
secret of the most interior of places’ (The Gift of Death). Instead, we should
see God as ‘the structure of conscience’.
Georg W. F. Hegel (1770–1831) believed that God was a ‘mind’ or
‘spirit’ guiding history towards a rational future.
David Hume (1711–76) argued in The Dialogues Concerning Natural
Religion that belief in God is not rational.
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) held the theistic view that God is a
necessary (or ‘regulative’) ‘idea’, but could find no value in arguments for
God’s existence.
John Locke (1632–1704) argued in The Reasonableness of Christianity
that the religious truths revealed in Scripture could also be verified by using
human reason.
Isaac Newton (1642–1727) believed that the mind of God could be
glimpsed through the logical scientific laws of the universe.
Alvin Plantinga (1932– ) argues that theism is ‘warranted’ because it is ‘a
properly basic belief’. If God created us in such a way that we should believe
in him, then belief in God would be rational, even if there were no evidence
for it and our arguments were not very good.
Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) held the monist view that God (or Nature) is
the one substance out of which the universe is made.

---

Richard Swinburne (1934– ) argues that belief in the Christian God
provides the best possible explanation for our experience of the world.
IDEAS
Agnosticism: the belief that it is not possible to say whether God is real
or not.
Atheism: the belief that there is no God of any kind. Socrates (470–399
bc) was arguably the first thinker to be accused of ‘atheism’. (See ‘Atheism’.)
Deism: the belief (dominant in the Enlightenment) that the reality of God
as the ‘author of nature’ or ‘supreme being’ can be demonstrated by reason.
The Deist God sets up the laws of the universe but does not interfere with
human affairs.
Dystheism: the belief that God exists but is malevolent.
Eutheism: the belief that God exists and is good.
God of the gaps: the use of God to fill the gaps in the scientific
explanation of the cosmos.
God of the philosophers: a phrase used to describe a purely intellectual
belief in God without any living religious faith.
Monotheism: the belief that there is only one God.
Nihilism: the atheistic belief that there are no ultimate meanings. (See
‘The Death of God’.)
Ontological argument: a rational argument for God’s existence which was
first suggested by St Anselm. (See ‘Proofs for the Existence of God’.)
Open theism: the view, developed by Clark H. Pinnock (1940– ) and
others, that God is open and responsive to his creation.
Panentheism (literally ‘everything in God’): the belief that God is infused
in the cosmos.
Pantheism: the belief that God is the same thing as the universe.
Polytheism: the belief that there is more than one god.
BOOKS
M. Diamond and T. Litzenburg (eds.), The Logic of God: Theology and
Verification (Macmillan, 1975)
Paul Copan and Paul K. Moser (eds.),