Doctrine, Theology, Stories

General Christian Theology
ken_sylvania
Posts: 3971
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 12:46 pm
Affiliation: CM

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by ken_sylvania »

I would think of theology as being a subset of doctrine. Doctrine about God.
0 x
Hats Off
Posts: 2532
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 6:42 pm
Affiliation: Plain Menno OO

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Hats Off »

Even stories can be false though.

In my opinion, doctrine is necessary to guide/establish/inform practices. Theology, in my opinion is the often convoluted reasoning that we employ as we try to understand God and doctrines. Mary Swartz wrote of applying for a college course on theology when what she wanted was a thorough study of the Bible. She was quite amazed that the course would not use the Bible in it's course materials.
0 x
KingdomBuilder
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 9:00 pm
Affiliation: church of Christ

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by KingdomBuilder »

Overall I agree with the quote of the OP. I think that theology and doctrine go hand in hand. Stories make the theology and the doctrine more authentic, relatable, and human.
0 x
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23823
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Josh »

Another area of study is essentially history of various theologies or an overview of describing different theologies. That's a bit different from "theology".

A typical course of study is not focused on telling you "This is what is true", but instead "Here is what different people have made claims is true."
0 x
MattY
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 5:36 pm
Location: Ohio
Affiliation: Beachy
Contact:

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by MattY »

Doctrine and theology are not the same thing. Doctrine is the specific teaching(s) that arise out of theology, in my opinion. So then, what is theology? Literally, it is the study of God. It is the study of God and of what He has said or done. It is attempting to think God's thoughts.

All of us do theology, it's inescapable. Whenever you explain or even think about a passage from the Bible, that is theology. Theology influences practical living, especially in hardships. Why does God allow this? What is his purpose? Does He even have a purpose for this? Does He really love me? Is He angry at me? This is theology, and directly influences how we respond in tough situations.

I'm not sure about stories. I think maybe stories are theology too - explaining how God is at work in people's lives.

A couple quotes to think about:

"Theology can be dull, or much worse, it can be ruthless. In Christianity, however, the answer to bad theology can never be no theology. It must be good theology. God gave us minds, and he surely expects us to use them in thinking about his truth...So theology is rational thought about God. It is not identical with religion. Religion is our belief in God and our effort to live by that belief. Theology is the attempt to give a rational explanation of our belief: it is thinking about religion." -Bruce Shelley

"Every­one reads, every­one hears things dis­cussed. Con­se­quently, if you do not lis­ten to The­ol­ogy, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones — bad, mud­dled, out-of-date ideas." -C.S. Lewis
0 x
Almighty, most holy God
Faithful through the ages
Almighty, most holy Lord
Glorious, almighty God
lesterb
Posts: 1160
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:41 pm
Location: Alberta
Affiliation: Western Fellowship
Contact:

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by lesterb »

buckeyematt2 wrote: Theology is the attempt to give a rational explanation of our belief: it is thinking about religion." -Bruce Shelley
We probably need a mix. And maybe my explanation is over simplified. But this is how I meant it...

Doctrine - the teachings of the Bible. What God actually said.
Theology - what man thinks about what God said.
Stories - showing how it all works out in real life. Like Jesus used parables.

But I guess it's moot. I've pulled the statement off my site, and replaced it with something generic, for now. I decided that if a group like MennoNet consists of couldn't see through what I was trying to say, it's probably not going to do what I want.
0 x
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23823
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Josh »

My observation is that the words "doctrine" and "theology" seem to mean different things to different people.
0 x
User avatar
Bootstrap
Posts: 14441
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:59 am
Affiliation: Mennonite

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Bootstrap »

Josh wrote:My observation is that the words "doctrine" and "theology" seem to mean different things to different people.
Yes, I think so. And people don't always use the terms the way they define them if asked. But both have to do with head knowledge, teachings, ways of understanding things. For instance, "Two Kingdom Theology" is not about the nature of God, but some people use that term while saying that theology is about the nature of God. And the "doctrine of the Trinity" is clearly about the nature of God, but it refers to one specific teaching about the relationship between God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus.

I tend to think of theology as a field of study in the same way that mathematics is a field of study. Webster's gives this definition:
theology (Websters) wrote:the study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially : the study of God and of God's relation to the world
And for doctrine:
doctrine (Websters) wrote:a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief
0 x
Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?
User avatar
Bootstrap
Posts: 14441
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:59 am
Affiliation: Mennonite

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Bootstrap »

I suppose if I were to write something like this, after a few days thinking about this and reading what others have written, I might say the relationship is more like this:
Theology teaches us how to think, doctrine tells us what to think, but stories teach us what it looks like in people's lives.
And on the whole, I suspect we need a lot more stories to balance out our theology and doctrine. Lester is really good at that.
0 x
Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?
silentreader
Posts: 2511
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:41 pm
Affiliation: MidWest Fellowship

Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by silentreader »

From the ISBE
I. Biblical Theology as a Science
1. Definition
Biblical theology seems best defined as the doctrine of Biblical religion. As such it works up the material contained in the Old Testament and the New Testament as the product of exegetical study. This is the modern technical sense of the term, whereby it signifies a systematic representation of Biblical religion in its primitive form.
Biblical theology has sometimes been taken to signify not alone this science of the doctrinal declarations of the Scriptures, but the whole group of sciences Concerned with the interpretation and exposition of the Scriptures. In that wider view of Biblical theology, the term exegetical theology has been used to define and include the group of sciences already referred to. But the whole weight of preference seems, in our view, to belong to the narrower use of the term Biblical theology, as more strictly scientific.
2. Relation to Dogmatics
This is not to confound the science of Biblical theology with that of dogmatics, for their characters are sharply distinguished. The science of dogmatics is a historico-philosophical one; that of Biblical theology is purely historic. Dogmatics declares what, for religious faith, must be regarded as truth; Biblical theology only discovers what the writers of the Old Testament and the New Testament adduce as truth. This latter merely ascertains the contents of the ideas put forward by the sacred writers, but is not concerned with their correctness or verification. It is the what of truth, in these documentary authorities, Biblical theology seeks to attain. The why , or with what right , it is so put forward as truth, belongs to the other science, that of dogmatics.
3. Place and Method of Biblical Theology
Biblical theology is Thus the more objective science; it has no need of dogmatics; dogmatics, on the other hand, cannot be without the aid of Biblical theology. The Biblical theologian should be a Christian philosopher, an exegete, and, above all, a historian. For it is in a manner purely historical that Biblical theology seeks to investigate the teaching, in whole, of each of the sacred writers. Each writing it studies in itself, in its relation to the others, and in its place in history taken as a whole. Its method is historical-genetic. The proper place of Biblical theology is at the head of historical theology, where it shines as a center of light. Its ideal as a science is to present a clear, complete and comprehensive survey of the Biblical teachings.
4. Relation to Scientific Exegesis
In pursuance of this end, Biblical theology is served by scientific exegesis, whose results it presents in ordered form so as to exhibit the organic unity and completeness of Biblical religion. The importance of Biblical theology lies in the way it directs, corrects and fructifies all moral and dogmatic theology by bringing it to the original founts of truth. Its spirit is one of impartial historical inquiry.
0 x
Noah was a conspiracy theorist...and then it began to rain.~Unknown
Post Reply