Program / Course 25: Theological Synthesis / Lesson 2.1
What you will learn
- Describe what systematic theology does and the standard topics it covers.
- Explain how one doctrine constrains the others.
- Compare three ways of organizing doctrine: the creed, the catechism and the topical system.
- Test a small set of doctrines for coherence and spot where they strain against each other.
The big idea
Systematic theology arranges Christian teaching by topic and asks how the topics fit. What a person believes about God shapes what can be said about creation, and what is said about humanity shapes what can be said about salvation. A change in one doctrine ripples through the rest. This is why theology is often described as a web and not a list. Coherence is a good sign but not a proof, because a tidy system can still be mistaken.
Key terms
- Systematic theology
- The ordered presentation of Christian doctrine by topic, with attention to how the topics relate.
- Coherence
- The quality of fitting together without contradiction, so that the parts support rather than undermine each other.
- Dogmatics
- A term, common in European and Orthodox usage, for the systematic study of the dogmas (the official teachings) of the church.
- Catechism
- A summary of Christian teaching, often in question and answer form, used for teaching. Examples include Luther’s Small Catechism and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
- Loci
- A Latin word meaning places or topics. Older systematic theologies are often arranged by loci such as God, creation, sin, Christ and church.
- Entailment
- A logical consequence: if one claim is true, another must be true. Systematic theology asks what each doctrine entails.
- Analogy of faith
- The principle that Scripture should be read in agreement with the whole of the faith, with obscure texts interpreted in the light of clearer ones.
Background
Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, Calvin’s Institutes and the Catechism of the Catholic Church are very different books, but each tries to show that Christian teaching has an order. Orthodox theologians such as John of Damascus in the eighth century wrote similar summaries. The order differs from one work to the next, but each assumes that the doctrines are not a heap of separate items.
Some Christians distrust systems. They hold that the Bible is a story and not a textbook and that systems force the text into a mold. Others reply that every reader already has a system, whether stated or not, and that it is better to examine it. This lesson takes a middle course: a system is a tool that organizes what is received and helps to find mistakes, and it must itself be tested against the text and the tradition.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Learn the standard topics
The usual topics, in the order many textbooks follow, are: Scripture and revelation; the doctrine of God, including the Trinity; creation and providence; humanity and sin; Christ; salvation; the Holy Spirit; the church and the sacraments; and the last things. Some traditions add Mary and the saints, or the doctrine of the church earlier.
The order itself says something. A book that begins with Scripture treats knowledge as the first question. One that begins with God places the doctrine of God at the center, as Aquinas does.
Step 2: See how doctrines constrain each other
If God is the sole source of all that exists, then creation cannot be a rival power to God. If Christ is fully divine and fully human, then salvation cannot be only a matter of moral example. If humanity is made in God’s image, then human life has a dignity that affects ethics. Each of these is a constraint: a statement in one area limits what can be said in another.
A useful exercise is to ask, of any doctrine, what it assumes and what follows from it. A view that the material world is evil, for instance, would conflict with the doctrines of creation, incarnation and resurrection, which is one reason the early church rejected it.
Step 3: Compare ways of organizing
The creed organizes doctrine around the persons of the Trinity: Father and creation, Son and redemption, Spirit and the church. A catechism organizes it around what to believe, how to pray, how to live and how to worship, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church does with the Creed, the sacraments, the commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. The topical system, common in Protestant textbooks, arranges chapters by subject.
Each way of organizing highlights some connections and hides others. Comparing them is one way to see what a particular tradition treats as central.
Step 4: Test for coherence, and then test the coherence
A system is coherent when its parts do not contradict one another and when they support one another. Test it by asking whether any two claims conflict, whether the system explains the biblical data or ignores part of it, and whether it makes sense of Christian experience and worship.
Coherence is necessary but not enough. A false system can be consistent. This is why the other disciplines remain necessary. Coherence tells a student that a position hangs together. It does not say that the position is true.
Step 5: Watch for the pressure points
Systems often strain at the same points: the relation of God’s action to human freedom, the relation of divine unity to the three persons, the relation of faith to works, and the relation of divine goodness to evil. These are the tensions studied in the fifth module. Seeing them as pressure points, not as failures, prepares the student to state them precisely.
- What does my account of God entail for my account of creation?
- Which of my doctrines depends most heavily on another?
- If I changed my view on one doctrine, which others would have to change?
- Where do my beliefs strain against one another?
- Have I fitted the Bible to my system, or my system to the Bible?
- What does the order in which I arrange my beliefs say about what I treat as central?
Examples
Creation and resurrection
If the material world is good, as Genesis 1 teaches, then it makes sense that the Christian hope is the resurrection of the body (1 Corinthians 15) and not an escape from the body. The two doctrines support each other.
A conflict that shows a system’s limits
A view holds both that God determines everything in exact detail and that God is in no way the author of evil. A critic asks how both can be true. The question is a coherence test, and different traditions have given different answers.
Ordering as a statement
Aquinas begins the Summa with God and treats creation and humanity as coming from God and returning to God. Many later textbooks begin with the knowledge of God and Scripture. The ordering reflects different views of where theology starts. (This is a general description, not a full account of either work.)
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic theology has a strong tradition of systematic work, from Aquinas to the Catechism. It holds that the truths of faith form an organic whole, which the Catechism calls the hierarchy of truths: some doctrines stand closer to the foundation than others.
Orthodox
Orthodox theologians are often cautious about systems, preferring to speak of the faith as a living tradition in which doctrine, worship and holiness cannot be separated. They do accept the creeds and councils as a coherent expression of the faith. Writers such as Lossky stress that the limits of concepts must be acknowledged.
Protestant
Protestants have produced many systems, from Calvin’s Institutes to the Westminster Confession and modern textbooks. The Reformed tradition especially values a systematic structure. Other Protestants, including many Baptists and Pentecostals, are more wary of elaborate systems and prefer to stay close to the text.
Critical and secular views
Some scholars argue that systems impose a tidiness not found in the Bible. Philosophers, on the other hand, often value coherence as a test of any set of beliefs. The disagreement is partly over whether a religious tradition should be expected to be fully consistent.
Why it matters
The fifth and sixth modules ask the student to state a worldview as a whole. That is not possible without understanding how doctrines depend on each other. Systematic thinking also protects against borrowing a single attractive doctrine from a tradition without noticing what else it brings with it.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: A system is always the enemy of the Bible.
Correction: A system can distort the Bible, but it can also help a reader see connections. The test is whether it stays answerable to the text.
Misunderstanding: If a system is consistent, it must be true.
Correction: Consistency is necessary but not sufficient. A false set of beliefs can be internally consistent.
Misunderstanding: Mystery means that logic does not apply to doctrine.
Correction: Most traditions hold that doctrine may go beyond reason but should not contradict it. Calling something a mystery does not excuse a plain contradiction, and a precise statement of what is mysterious is part of the task.
Misunderstanding: Choosing one doctrine does not affect the others.
Correction: Doctrines constrain each other. A change in one area often forces a change elsewhere.
Knowledge check
What does it mean to say that doctrines constrain one another?
It means that what is affirmed in one area limits what can be said in another. If God is the only source of all things, creation cannot be an equal rival to him. If Christ is fully divine and human, salvation cannot be merely an example. Constraint helps to detect hidden conflicts in a set of beliefs.
Why is coherence not enough to show a system is true?
A system can be consistent and still be wrong, if its starting claims are mistaken. Coherence shows that a position hangs together, but truth also requires support from Scripture, history, experience and sound argument. This is why the disciplines must check each other.
Name three ways of organizing doctrine.
The creed arranges it around the Father, the Son and the Spirit. The catechism arranges it around belief, worship, conduct and prayer, as in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The topical system arranges it by subject, as in many Protestant textbooks, from God and creation to the last things.
Why do some Christians distrust systematic theology?
They worry that systems force the varied text of the Bible into a single mold and substitute neatness for fidelity. Others reply that everyone has a system whether stated or not, so it is better to state and examine it. A fair view asks that any system remain answerable to the text.
Think it through
- Pick two doctrines you hold. Does either one depend on the other? What would happen to the second if you gave up the first?
- Have you ever held two beliefs that you later found to conflict? How did you resolve it?
- What are the advantages and risks of trusting a system?
Independent assignment
A small map of doctrines
In your own notebook, draw or list a map (about 300 to 500 words with a simple diagram) of six doctrines you hold: for example God, creation, humanity, Christ, salvation, the last things. For each pair that depend on one another, write a sentence saying how. Mark any place where two of your beliefs may strain against each other, and note what you would need to find out to settle it.
Further study
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Look at how the Summa orders topics from God to creation to humanity to Christ.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion A Protestant systematic work. Compare its order with Aquinas’s.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Notice the four parts: creed, sacraments, conduct and prayer.
- John of Damascus, An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith An eighth-century Eastern summary of doctrine.
- Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology A nineteenth-century Protestant systematic theology.
- Colossians 1:17 In Christ all things hold together.
- Romans 12:6 Prophecy in proportion to faith, a text used for the analogy of faith.