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swasti.verma@gmail.com, 10 June 2012
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As the cultural ground shifts under
our feet, the church often gets caught up in these tectonic quakes — unnecessarily
so. Much of our stress is due to
an inadequate theology. Not that
our theology is wrong as far as it goes.
It’s just that it has further to go.
Most Christians I talk to define theology as, “The study of God.” While I affirm this definition, it
leaves out the cultural and historical context in which we study God. A broader, more comprehensive
definition is, “The application of God’s Word by persons in every area of
life.” (Dr. John Frame) This
includes the study of God.
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| By Khalid Aziz |
In our Western context, several valuable
methods of doing theology have developed such as Exegetical theology and
Systematic theology. However too
often I have seen a tendency to think that all theology that can
be done has been done. This is a short step from relying on
theology more than on the Word of God itself.
The scope of the Bible covers all of reality while the scope of theology
is limited. If the Bible can be
compared to a movie, our theology would be one frame from it.
Theology can be approached from at
least two perspectives. In terms
of epistemology — what we should know about God, and in terms of ethics
— how we should obey God. Theology
can also be done on both sides of human intelligence. The cognitive side — involving
conceptual knowledge and the intuitive side — involving perceptual
knowledge. If the
epistemological approach is ‘Side Alpha,’ * then the ethical approach is ‘Side Beta.’ * Similarly, the cognitive would be ‘Side
Alpha’ and the intuitive, ‘Side Beta.’