The Four Disciplines of Theology - Systematic, Biblical, Historical, Philosophical

The Relationship Between The Four Disciplines of Theological Studies

Systematic theology deals with the “development of doctrine in the Church’s history, the totality of biblical revelation and extra-biblical truth, and draws out the teachings of Scripture via sound grammatical, historical and cultural exegesis”[1]. Practically speaking, Systematic theology is a discipline that contextualizes theology to make it palatable for every generation. It pulls together other branches of theology to create a more coherent means of knowing God’s truth. 

According to Elwell[2]Biblical theology “explores the truth and message of biblical books by a grouping mechanism”, Historical theology “traces the church’s faith topically through the various eras of its history”, and Philosophical theology seeks to provide a thinking mechanism for the defense of the faith. While Systematic theology is considered a science, it is more accurately concerned with “God’s salvation history with His people, the utterances of divinely ordained prophets and apostles and the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ”[3]. 

These four disciplines serve each other, sometimes overlapping in application and content: 

Biblical Theology gained prominence during a 20-year stint on the 1940’s – 1960’s in what was called the Biblical Theology Movement. Its aim was to “develop a purely descriptive approach of simply presenting the theological teachings of biblical writers of the New Testament”[4]. A better definition of Biblical Theology is “the study of the Bible that seeks to discover what the biblical writers, under divine guidance, believed, described and taught in the context of their own times”[5]. This systematic approach is used to accurately “describe the religious beliefs of the first century”[6]. Biblical theologians conduct the hard work of drilling for “the faithful teachings of the Bible”. The benefit to systematic theology is the work gained through the effort of the Biblical theologian becomes “the raw-material upon which systematic theology works”[7]. Broadly speaking, Biblical theology as a discipline seeks to provide “a wholistic approach to Bible studies, calling for unity while diachronically unfolding the continuing story of God’s person, work and plan disclosed through Israel for all the nations of the world”[8]. While Systematic theology gathers topics together into a whole, Biblical theology provides this diachronic study in “literary blocks of revelatory material unique to specific periods of revelation”[9].

 Historical Theology “studies systematic theologies held and taught by various theologians throughout Church history”[10] . It benefits systematic theology through its two forms of application: (1) Synchronically – investigating the key doctrines of theologians and schools of thought over periods of time sequentially, and (2) Diachronically – tracing “the history of thought regarding doctrine down through the periods of the church’s life”[11]. New ideas, philosophies, dogmas, concepts will always be considered in the life of the church; what historical theology provides is a laboratory of sorts in which Erickson defines as providing a platform to “assess ideas that it espouses or considers espousing”[12]. On this basis, Erickson suggests three values that Historical Theology brings to the Systematic table – (1) Historical theology provides a means of evaluating ideas if for nothing more than preventing the present from repeating the mistakes of the past and providing a guide for the future; (2) Historical theology provides instructive data from which the theology of the past can be learned; and (3) Historical theology reduces the tendency to bring presuppositions and biases to the table by studying “various interpretations held and statements made in the life of the church that provides alternative ways of viewing a matter”[13]. More importantly, if there is ever a concern for orthopraxy and orthodoxy in this 21^st century, then the historical investigative method can provide needed advantage.

Philosophical Theology brings a whole different perspective to the Systematic discipline. Initially, Christian philosophers sought to contribute to the discipline by providing “ interpretation of divine revelation in nature, Christ and Scripture for a culture built upon a Greek framework” (Elwell, 920). It is Biblical and Systematic theology working through philosophy that combats the onslaught of secular philosophical attacks upon the Christian worldview.  Elwell[14], aptly describes the Apostle Paul as using Scripture and divine revelation to combat  “deceptive philosophy which depends upon human tradition and the principles of the world rather than Christ” (Colossians 2:8). It is important for the Christian community to engage the secular world, if only for the provision of the Christian worldview with intent for the salvation of all nations. The great benefit of Philosophical theology is the opportunity to “critically scrutinize discoveries, insights and theories that have increased our knowledge of God’s universe, and coherently weave this knowledge into an adequate whole consistent with Scripture”[15]. Christians should remain engaged in all areas of the secular marketplace – government, education, business, medicine, law and the arts. History has shown time and time again that when the Christian perspective is missing, the secular worldview is not shy in promoting their agenda; this is why Scripture encourages the Christian to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). This is especially true since Philosophy seeks to answer, “the most important questions all humans seek answer for, regarding social order and origin, nature, and the development of the natural world”[16]. While the “distinction between philosophy and the Christian religion is very sharp”[17], Christian apologetics/theology contributes to Systematic theology in three (3) main functions – (1) Supply content for theology, (2) Defend theology or establish its truth and (3) Scrutinize its concepts and arguments[18].

The most important of these four approaches in my current ministry context is Biblical Theology. Our present culture is awash with liberal and pluralistic worldviews. Biblical theology done correctly, will provide “theology that comes from the Bible”[19]. Over these next few years my focus will be to became a very proficient interpreter of the Bible, “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). If I am to be grounded in Scripture, then it will not be on the philosophies of man, rather it will be a commitment to a systematic, biblical approach to the truths of God, which include His Word, His revelation and the study of history.

                                             Bibliography

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[1] Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 1162

[2] Ibid., 1163-1164

[3] Ibid., 1163

[4] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 11

[5] Walter C. Kaiser, Moises Silva, Introduction To Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search For Meaning, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 68

[6] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 11

[7] Ibid., 12

[8] Walter C. Kaiser, Moises Silva, Introduction To Biblical Hermeneutics, 69

[9] Ibid., 69

[10] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 12

[11] Ibid., 12

[12] Ibid.,13

[13] Ibid., 12

[14] Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 920

[15] Ibid., 921

[16] Ibid., 919

[17] Ibid., 922

[18] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 14

[19] Walter C. Kaiser, Moises Silva, Introduction To Biblical Hermeneutics, 73

Written by Kevin A. Hall    (05.26.18)