ST 101 Theological Method And Bibliology

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A Paper

Presented to

Dr. Kreider

Dallas Theological Seminary

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In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course

ST 101 Theological Method and Bibliology

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by

Dustin Brady Sandbak

September 2016

File 570

The first portion of my paper will cover a variety of definitions. These definitions will be essential to understand before I proceed to the next section of the paper. The rest of this paper will focus on my interaction with the content in the book Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God by Grenz and Olson. I will concentrate that interaction on the main thesis of the book, the spectrum of theology, three essential tools of theology,

As the book has the word theology in the title, this is a very important term to understand. Theology is a system or theory concerning the nature of God and His relationships to His works. One can also think of theology as simply faith seeking understanding. This term will be discussed frequently within the book interaction, so it is important to clearly understand what it is. The second term that needs to be defined is biblical theology. Biblical theology is a theology based largely or wholly on Scripture. It is important to note that often in folk theology this term refers to theology that is limited to only the Bible as a source. The idea of folk theology will be unpacked later within the context of the book response. Another term that I shall define is historical theology. Historical theology is the study of the development and history of Christian doctrine. This differs from that of just biblical theology in that it is not limited to only the Bible. This theology looks at a variety of sources that would apply to Christian doctrine over the period of time being

As the book describes, there seems to be a very negative connotation to the word theologian. I feel that this aspect is very important to understand moving forward, because it impacts everyone in the Christian community in one form or another. One reason is this view of theologians as wise and condescending people, whether warranted or not, that can break apart churches and their traditions. This view point has led to a polarization of the word. Many people will react negatively to just the mention of the word, not wanting to associate with theologians and their preconceived notions. I want to stand alongside the authors and helps readers look beyond that perspective. It is completely acceptable to have a faith that seeks understanding, and if a simple word is an issue then I would say just avoid using the term. However, one should not avoid seeking understanding of their faith. If that were to happen, then no Christian would ever truly understand what it means to be a