Lecture One:- What is Theology?
Some little questions to get your brains working.
1) What does the word theology mean to you?
2) Can you study theology as an Atheist/Agnostic or do you have to be Christian?
3) Why should we even think about the subject of theology?
I will post my own responses to these questions in due course but for now it's all yours.
Discuss
7 comments:
well your blog is being used well already Laura.... I personally think anyone can study theology as it is an academic discipline. If you do believe in God or a god, there will be a bias there, that may or may not prevent you from 'hearing' new ways of understanding. If you are open to being challenged fantastic, if you are not, why are you studying....
1) Trying to understand to understand God, or some greater being/prescence... depends what you believe really...
2) Of course! Just because you don't believe in God or completely unsure about whether God exists, doesn't mean you can't try and understand other people's beliefs.
3) Because religion has and will always play an important role in society, so we should attempt to understand it further!
Erm yeah... Hope that helps. By the way Laura... Me and Anna are going to Chester uni this Saturday... Might see you there :D
1) hmmm methinks theology is the study of human ideas, facts, opinions and concepts of a supreme force, being or nature.
2)Of course anybody can study theology, just because you might not believe in it doesnt mean to say people wouldnt study it, although i would find it unusual for someone to study theology who didnt already have a belief or faith in a god or something like it. a possible reason for studing it might be to understand believers of god, in the same way a christian might read the Qu'ran to understand Islam better.(oh dear thats not how you spell the Islamic book is it!)
3) hmmm tough one. we should think about theology probarbly because it leads us to think about what the meaning of life is and who we are, where we come from and most importantly where were going, you could argue that science deals with these issues but i think the piont of theology is that it goes much deeper into human thought and feeling.
1)Theology: The study/knowledge of the divine. It seems to be more structured than the philosophical pursuit of such. Using the micro scale to then grant an understanding of the marco, whereas philosphy tends to just dive straight into the larger questions.
2)From a purely Academic stance the agnostic would not only be able to study theology but they would also have an advantage over the religous. As in it's study as they are coming from a less biased stand point. I can see no reason why an atheist couldn't except possibly lack of motivation.
3) Overall I would state very useful, although for very different reasons for different groups.
For the religous, Theology helps to develop ones faith and bring it beyond meer blind faith. It also allows them to learn aspects of their faith they didn't before.
For Agnostics, the best way to move from Ignorance (The latin translation of the greek) is generally considered to be study of which theology is one of the most appropriate
As for Atheists religon is far less absolute than many express it aqs being able to unbderstand both where these point of views come from, that and the ability to persuade someone using the religous perspective can be very useful in such a diverse society. That and it is actually fairly interesting topic.
Thank you Everyone! this is really great...i'm really enjoying reading all you're responses and now i know that i've can get responses i can post a few more controversial questions in the future....what do you think of that? up for some debate?
my response to the questions is pretty much similar to most of yours.
theology to me is the talking of or studying of the divine. Christian theology is slightly different because it centers around the christian idea and traditions about God.
I dont think that it matters if you are an Atheist, Agnostic or Theist when it comes to this subject. the most important thing to me is a genuine interest and willingness to be challenged by other ideas. in this way i think it is important for all kinds of people to study theology, together. in this way we can learn from and challenge each others ideas.
i think that theology is a good subject to study because it helps you in many ways by encouraging you to assess what you believe and to enter into a deeper understanding. it also encourages discussion which is very important in a society that feels that it's not good to talk about things. in the 'Politically correct' world that surrounds us theology gives us the chance to talk openly no matter what the belief without fear because of that understanding which comes through study.
I'll stop rambling now but i'm just really interested in this at the moment...ask me at christmas and i might say something different but....
Thanks again.
Don't forget the 'Logos' bit of the word! real fun when you start to look into Jesus as 'the word'.
Anyhoo..It is primarily all words about the divine and essentially a human creation-therefore all fallible. It is peculiarly prone to professional hi-jacking, namely by the chaps in black garnished with little bits of rerversed washing up liquid bottle...and I do mean chaps, in the main.
As it is a human endeavour it can certainly be studied by those who profess no faith whatsoever, their ends in doing so are their own. It is an expression of how humanity has developed its understanding of the nature of existence. It is human beings trying to cope with the awful bigness of the universe and make it manageable and therefore prone to attracting the small minded.
Studied with an openess to challenge and question, with an optimism which leads to new discovery it can be ennervating and supportive. I hope that this will be the case for you as you begin your studies. Hold tight..........
Post a Comment