The Reason Why We Do Theology?

[N/A Gone]

Yes this is a debate mom.


St. Hilary, who suffered exile for resisting an emperor favoring Arianism, was deeply aware of the difficulty and hazards of any attempt at dogmatic forumlation as he was of the depth of meaning of the mystery to which he bpre such faithful witness.

"[i]We are forced by the blasphemous errors of heretics to do what is forbidden: to scale the heights, to express the ineffable, to dare to touch the unattainable...we are forced to imprison indescribable things within the weakness of our language...and in expressing it, to surrender to the dangers of the human word what should have been kept and worshipped in our hearts[/i]." (De trinitate)

Is this the reason we do theology? Or is it an academic game? It is a quest to somehow capture God in words? Or invoke ourselves on others?

[CatherineM]

I'd like to think that I am studying theology to expand myself. It makes me think about things that I normally wouldn't. It is also preparation. You never know when and where you are going to be called on to educate others. I'd like to see adult religious education (not just RCIA) in every parish. If every pew warmer was trained as an apologist, we'd have to sell tickets to keep the churches from exceeding fire limits on occupancy.

[N/A Gone]

Is catechistics the same as theology?

I think teaching what is already dogmatic might be different. I dunno, we could just be playing into the thing Hilary is warning us about.

I agree with your point. i have always seen theology as our way of loving God. For to love we must know and theology is the study of the Divine. I always feel a nearness when I am doing good theology or reading good works.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1384174' date='Sep 12 2007, 11:46 AM']Is catechistics the same as theology?[/quote]

Nope.

[quote]I think teaching what is already dogmatic might be different. I dunno, we could just be playing into the thing Hilary is warning us about.

I agree with your point. i have always seen theology as our way of loving God. For to love we must know and theology is the study of the Divine. I always feel a nearness when I am doing good theology or reading good works.[/quote]

I think we have a tendency perhaps to make theology about an academic pursuit. It should be about understanding God. I do not think that it should be solely against heresy, because it is important to understand certain attributes of God. If it weren't for theology, no one would express in human words, as Hilary puts it, their beliefs, and we would never know whether our beliefs were authentic or heretical. I think it is important to engage in understanding God, so long as we do not actually think that we fully can.

That said, I would say that the vast majority of orthodox theology has been a response to heterodox theology proposed previously.