Basic Theology Terms

Prolegomena: Pro-le-go-mena

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before word

Introduction, preliminary remarks; It furnishes the author with the opportunity to let his readers know something of the general plan he has in his mind, both its extent and limitations, as well as some of the presuppositions of his thinking and the procedures he plans to use.

Bibliology: Doctrine of the Bible; Deals systematically with the historical conditioned progress of the self-revelation of God in the Bible.

Theology Proper: Is a study within systematic theology; It denotes the study of the nature and existence of God; The term proper is used to distinguish the study of God from theology in general; What the Bible says about God only.

Christology: Doctrine of Christ; The theme is well divided into seven positions in which Christ has been set forth by the Bible, namely:

The pre-incarnate Son of God

The incarnate Son of God

The efficacious sufferings, death, and burial of the Son of God

The resurrection of the Son of God

The ascension and session of the Son of God

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two ascensions Christ’s present ministry in heaven

One immediately after the resurrection when the return of Christ into heaven as first fruits and as priest presenting his blood occurred

Final departure from the earth when He took up His present ministry in heaven

The second coming and Kingdom of the Son of God

The conclusion and the mediation of the eternal reign of the Son of God

Pneumatology: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; Within the three persons of the Godhead, there is one person who is distinctly called “the Spirit of God” or “the Holy Spirit”

Angelology: Doctrine of angels, Satan, and demons; Includes:

Angelic spheres

The reality of the angels

Relative importance of angels and men

The personality of angels

The creation and mode of existence of the angels

The abode of the angels

The number of the angels

The classification of the angels

The ministry of the angels

The progressive discipline of the angels

The angels as spectators

Anthropology: The science of man; Anthros = man; Logos = word or discourse; Hence, anthropology is a discourse about man

Hamartiology: Deals with personal sin, transmitted sin nature, and imputed sin

Soteriology: Doctrine of salvation; Three tenses of salvation:

Moment one believes, he is saved from condemnation of sin (Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5)

Believer is also being saved from the dominion of sin and is being sanctified and preserved (Hebrew 7:25)

He will be saved from the very presence of sin in heaven forever (Romans 5:9-10)

Ecclesiology: Translated Church or Assembly; Means a called-out company; It can be used in a technical sense of the New Testament Church; Or, it can be used in a non-technical sense or any kind of group; Customarily the concept of the Church has focused on the universal and the local church

Eschatology: A theological term for the study of the end times

Biblical Theology: Deals systematically with the historical conditioned progress of the self-revelation of God in the Bible

Historical Theology: Focuses on what those who studied the Bible thought about its teachings either individually or collectively as in the pronouncements of Church councils; Traces the historical development of doctrine and is concerned as well with the distinctly sectarian variations and the heretical departures from Biblical truth

Moral Theology: Teaches what we have by the constitution of our nature, a sense of right and wrong; We perceive or judge some things to be right, and others to be wrong

Natural Theology: Two extreme positions:

The works of nature make no trustworthy revelation of the being and perfection of God

Such revelation is so clear and comprehensive as to preclude the necessity of any supernatural revelation

Systematic Theology: May include historical backgrounds, apologetics and defense, and exegetical work, but it focuses on the total structure of Biblical Doctrine

Fundamentalism: A conservative system of theology, which, historically, has held to five major tenets of the faith:

Miracles of Christ

Virgin birth of Christ

Substitutionary atonement of Christ

Bodily resurrection of Christ

Inspiration of Scripture

Fundamentalism stood opposed to Liberalism and Modernism; In recent decades Fundamentalism split into Evangelical and Separatist Fundamentalist camps

Evangelical: Is a Biblical term meaning “good news,” hence, an evangelical is one who heralds the good news of Jesus Christ; In America the term is understood to denote one who holds to the historic doctrines of the faith; Evangelical is frequently preferred to the term fundamentalist because the former is usually considered a more irenic term, whereas, the latter is frequently identified with separatism and legalism

Modernist: One of the major theological views that surfaced following the Reformation; Distinctive theologies that developed in the Church since the start of this century; Includes:

Covenant Theology

Lutheran Theology

Reformed Theology

Liberal Theology

Neo-Orthodox Theology

Liberal: Is a person favoring reform or progress; An anti-supernatural approach to Christianity and the Bible that arose because of Rationalism; Liberalism denied the miraculous element of the Scriptures, stressing the importance of reason; Whatever disagreed with reason and science was rejected.

Moderate: One holding moderate opinions within reasonable limits; Avoiding extremes

Neo-Orthodox: Twentieth century movement arising out of the theology of Karl Barth (1886-1968); It was a reaction to Liberalism; It claimed to be a new reformation that called men back to the Bible; Views the Bible as a human book not given by divine inspiration, and it teaches that supernatural elements in the Bible can be explained rationally

Neo-Evangelical: Term coined by Dr. Harold John Ockenga; Accepts the authority of the Bible; Embraces the full orthodox system of doctrine against that which the modernist has accepted; Believes that the Biblical teaching, the Bible doctrine and ethics, must apply to the social science; That there must be an application of this to society as much as there is an application of it to the individual man

Reconstructionist: Dominion theology; Recent development; Emphasis is on the applicability of Old Testament Law to today’s society; This includes slavery as an alternative to prisons and capital punishment for a variety of offenses; This view wants to reconstruct society as a theocracy and is heavily post-millennial

Dispensationalist: Dispensation = Stewardship

One who accepts/promotes these two concepts:

The Church is distinct from Israel

The Purpose of God’s program is doxological, that is, to bring glory to himself (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14)

Deals with separate periods of time throughout history in which there are differing rules of life governing God’s people.

Covenant Theologian: Believes in a system of theology that God entered into a covenant of works with Adam, who failed, whereupon, God entered into a covenant of grace, promising eternal life to those who believe; Covenant Theology affirms there is one people of God called true Israel, the Church (in contrast to Dispensationalism, which teaches there are two people of God, called Israel and the Church)

Arminianism: A doctrinal system formed by Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) as a reaction to Calvinism in the Netherlands; These beliefs were later affirmed in the five points of the Remonstrance:

Conditional election based on God’s foreknowledge;

Unlimited atonement

Although man has a free will he cannot save himself

Prevenient grace, which enables man to cooperate with God in salvation

Conditional perseverance – believers can be lost

Calvinism: A doctrinal system expressed in the following five points formulated by John Calvin:

Total depravity of man

Unconditional election

Limited atonement

Irresistible grace

Perseverance of the Saints;

The sovereignty of God is central in Calvinism

Pelagianism: The view taught by Pelagios that every soul was created directly by God and therefore innocent; Man, therefore, had the ability to initiate salvation by himself

Creed: A brief statement of religious belief, one accepted as authoritative by a church; With the advent of heretical groups and teachers, particularly Marcion, it became necessary to determine what was true doctrine and which books were inspired Scripture and which were not; Prior to the recognition of the New Testament Canon the early Christians were forced to develop a “rule of faith” (Lat. Regulafidei) to determine true doctrine and recognize and reject false doctrine

Exegesis: A word derived from the Greek term exegesis meaning “to draw out” or “to explain;” Hence, the explaining of a passage of Scripture; The actual interpretation of the Bible; Exegesis is applied Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics: Ultimately derived from Hermes, the Greek god who brought the messages of the gods to the mortals; The study of the principles of interpretation; Establishes the principles by which exegesis is practiced; Hermeneutics is the science of correct interpretation of the Bible

Homiletics: The science and art by which the meaning and relevance of the Biblical text are communicated in a preaching situation

Apologetics: The logical defense and proof of Christianity; One who defends or attempts to justify a doctrine, faith, action, etc.

Cosmology: The study of the form, evolution, etc. of the universe

Cosmogony: The study of the origin of the universe

Epistemology: The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge; It attempts to answer the basic question: What distinguishes true knowledge from false knowledge?

Catechism: A handbook of questions and answers for teaching the principles of a religion

Axiology: The science of human values

Metaphysics: The branch of philosophy that seeks to explain the nature of being and reality

Canon: The collection of books that met certain tests and thus were considered authoritative and are our rule of life

Heresy: A doctrine or sect representing a departure from sound doctrine; Adherence to a religious belief that is contrary to Church dogma; Opposite of Orthodoxy

Heterodoxy: Opposed to the usual beliefs, especially in religion

Orthodoxy: Adherence to the accepted teachings in Christianity

Apostasy: The deliberate repudiation and abandonment of the faith; A turning away from the faith

Blasphemy: Literally a “raising accusation” against anyone. It is more often used in the sense of any speech directly dishonoring God

Missiology: The study of the Church’s mission especially with respect to missionary activity

Ontology: The metaphysical study of the nature of being and existence

Orthopraxis: A theological term for “correct practice;” Most people would probably say “lifestyle”

Teleology: The teaching that attempts to explain the universe; In Christian theology, Teleology represents a basic argument for the existence of God; If the world’s design is intelligent, an ultimate designer must exist

Total Depravity: A term used to refer to the corruption of sin extending to all people and affecting the entire person – his intellect, emotions, and will – so that nothing in that person can commend him to God; It does not mean that there is nothing good in any unregenerate person as seen by himself or by other people; It means that there is nothing in fallen man which God can find pleasure in or accept; The term depravity actually refers to that which God sees when He looks at fallen man and not what man sees when he looks at himself or his fellow men