Theology

Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine, or more broadly of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the supernatural, but also deals with religious epistemology, asks and seeks to answer the question of revelation. Revelation pertains to the acceptance of God, gods, or deities, as not only transcendent or above the natural world, but also willing and able to interact with the natural world and to reveal themselves to humankind.

Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument (experiential, philosophical, ethnographic, historical, and others) to help understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote any myriad of religious topics. As in philosophy of ethics and case law, arguments often assume the existence of previously resolved questions, and develop by making analogies from them to draw new inferences in new situations.

The study of theology may help a theologian more deeply understand their own religious tradition, another religious tradition, or it may enable them to explore the nature of divinity without reference to any specific tradition. Theology may be used to propagate, reform, or justify a religious tradition; or it may be used to compare, challenge (e.g. biblical criticism), or oppose (e.g. irreligion) a religious tradition or worldview. Theology might also help a theologian address some present situation or need through a religious tradition, or to explore possible ways of interpreting the world.

Etymology

The term derives from the Greek ''theologia'' (θεολογία), a combination of ''theos'' (Θεός, 'god') and ''logia'' (λογία, 'utterances, sayings, oracles')—the latter word relating to Greek ''logos'' (λόγος, 'word, discourse, account, reasoning'). The term would pass on to Latin as , then French as , eventually becoming the English ''theology''.

Through several variants (e.g., ''theologie'', ''teologye''), the English ''theology'' had evolved into its current form by 1362. The sense that the word has in English depends in large part on the sense that the Latin and Greek equivalents had acquired in patristic and medieval Christian usage although the English term has now spread beyond Christian contexts.

Classical philosophy

Greek ''theologia'' (θεολογία) was used with the meaning 'discourse on God' around 380 BC by Plato in '' The Republic''. Aristotle divided theoretical philosophy into ''mathematike'', ''physike'', and ''theologike'', with the latter corresponding roughly to metaphysics, which, for Aristotle, included discourse on the nature of the divine.

Drawing on Greek Stoic sources, the Latin writer Varro distinguished three forms of such discourse:Augustine
''City of God'' VI
, ch. 5.

# mythical, concerning the myths of the Greek gods;
# rational, philosophical analysis of the gods and of cosmology; and
# civil, concerning the rites and duties of public religious observance.

Later usage

Some Latin Christian authors, such as Tertullian and Augustine, followed Varro's threefold usage. However, Augustine also defined ''theologia'' as "reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity".Augustine of Hippo. '' City of God'
Book VIII. i.
: "de divinitate rationem sive sermonem."

The Latin author Boethius, writing in the early 6th century, used ''theologia'' to denote a subdivision of philosophy as a subject of academic study, dealing with the motionless, incorporeal reality; as opposed to ''physica'', which deals with corporeal, moving realities. Boethius' definition influenced medieval Latin usage.

In patristic Greek Christian sources, ''theologia'' could refer narrowly to devout and/or inspired knowledge of and teaching about the essential nature of God.

In scholastic Latin sources, the term came to denote the rational study of the doctrines of the Christian religion, or (more precisely) the academic discipline that investigated the coherence and implications of the language and claims of the Bible and of the theological tradition (the latter often as represented in Peter Lombard's ''Sentences'', a book of extracts from the Church Fathers).

In the Renaissance, especially with Florentine Platonist apologists of Dante's poetics, the distinction between 'poetic theology' (''theologia poetica'') and 'revealed' or Biblical theology serves as stepping stone for a revival of philosophy as independent of theological authority.

It is in the last sense, theology as an academic discipline involving rational study of Christian teaching, that the term passed into English in the 14th century, although it could also be used in the narrower sense found in Boethius and the Greek patristic authors, to mean rational study of the essential nature of God, a discourse now sometimes called theology proper.

From the 17th century onwards, the term ''theology'' began to be used to refer to the study of religious ideas and teachings that are not specifically Christian or correlated with Christianity (e.g., in the term ''natural theology'', which denoted theology based on reasoning from natural facts independent of specifically Christian revelation) or that are specific to another religion (such as below).

''Theology'' can also be used in a derived sense to mean "a system of theoretical principles; an (impractical or rigid) ideology".

In religion

The term ''theology'' has been deemed by some as only appropriate to the study of religions that worship a supposed deity (a ''theos''), i.e. more widely than monotheism; and presuppose a belief in the ability to speak and reason about this deity (in ''logia''). They suggest the term is less appropriate in religious contexts that are organized differently (i.e., religions without a single deity, or that deny that such subjects can be studied logically). ''Hierology'' has been proposed, by such people as Eugène Goblet d'Alviella (1908), as an alternative, more generic term.

Abrahamic religions

Christianity

As defined by Thomas Aquinas, theology is constituted by a triple aspect: what is taught by God, teaches of God, and leads to God ( la, Theologia a Deo docetur, Deum docet, et ad Deum ducit). This indicates the three distinct areas of God as theophanic revelation, the systematic study of the nature of divine and, more generally, of religious belief, and the spiritual path. Christian theology as the study of Christian belief and practice concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument. Theology might be undertaken to help the theologian better understand Christian tenets, to make comparisons between Christianity and other traditions, to defend Christianity against objections and criticism, to facilitate reforms in the Christian church, to assist in the propagation of Christianity, to draw on the resources of the Christian tradition to address some present situation or need, or for a variety of other reasons.

Islam

Islamic theological discussion that parallels Christian theological discussion is called ''Kalam''; the Islamic analogue of Christian theological discussion would more properly be the investigation and elaboration of ''Sharia'' or ''Fiqh''.

Some Universities in Germany established departments of islamic theology. (i.e. )

Judaism

In Jewish theology, the historical absence of political authority has meant that most theological reflection has happened within the context of the Jewish community and synagogue, including through rabbinical discussion of Jewish law and Midrash (rabbinic biblical commentaries). Jewish theology is also linked to ethics, as it is the case with theology in other religions, and therefore has implications for how one behaves.

Indian religions

Buddhism

Some academic inquiries within Buddhism, dedicated to the investigation of a Buddhist understanding of the world, prefer the designation Buddhist philosophy to the term ''Buddhist theology'', since Buddhism lacks the same conception of a ''theos''. Jose Ignacio Cabezon, who argues that the use of ''theology'' is in fact appropriate, can only do so, he says, because "I take theology not to be restricted to discourse on God.... I take 'theology' not to be restricted to its etymological meaning. In that latter sense, Buddhism is of course atheological, rejecting as it does the notion of God."

Hinduism

Within Hindu philosophy, there is a tradition of philosophical speculation on the nature of the universe, of God (termed Brahman, Paramatma, and/or Bhagavan in some schools of Hindu thought) and of the ''ātman'' (soul). The Sanskrit word for the various schools of Hindu philosophy is ''darśana'' ('view, viewpoint'). Vaishnava theology has been a subject of study for many devotees, philosophers and scholars in India for centuries. A large part of its study lies in classifying and organizing the manifestations of thousands of gods and their aspects. In recent decades the study of Hinduism has also been taken up by a number of academic institutions in Europe, such as the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and Bhaktivedanta College.

Other religions

Shinto

In Japan, the term ''theology'' () has been ascribed to Shinto since the Edo period with the publication of Mano Tokitsuna's (). In modern times, other terms are used to denote studies in Shinto—as well as Buddhist—belief, such as () and ().

Modern Paganism

English academic Graham Harvey has commented that Pagans "rarely indulge in theology". Nevertheless, theology has been applied in some sectors across contemporary Pagan communities, including Wicca, Heathenry, Druidry and Kemetism. As these religions have given precedence to orthopraxy, theological views often vary among adherents. The term is used by Christine Kraemer in her book ''Seeking The Mystery: An Introduction to Pagan Theologies'' and by Michael York in ''Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion''''.

Topics

Richard Hooker defines ''theology'' as "the science of things divine". The term can, however, be used for a variety of disciplines or fields of study. Theology considers whether the divine exists in some form, such as in physical, supernatural, mental, or social realities, and what evidence for and about it may be found via personal spiritual experiences or historical records of such experiences as documented by others. The study of these assumptions is not part of theology proper, but is found in the philosophy of religion, and increasingly through the psychology of religion and neurotheology. Theology's aim, then, is to record, structure and understand these experiences and concepts; and to use them to derive normative prescriptions for how to live our lives.

History of academic discipline

The history of the study of theology in institutions of higher education is as old as the history of such institutions themselves. For instance:
* Taxila was an early centre of Vedic learning, possible from the 6th-century BC or earlier;Scharfe, Hartmut. 2002. ''Education in Ancient India''. Leiden: Brill.
* the Platonic Academy founded in Athens in the 4th-century BC seems to have included theological themes in its subject matter;
* the Chinese Taixue delivered Confucian teaching from the 2nd century BC;
* the School of Nisibis was a centre of Christian learning from the 4th century AD;
* Nalanda

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