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Systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology
Christian theology

Christian theology is discourse concerning Christianity faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rationality analysis and argument to understanding, explanation, test, critic#critique, defend or promote Christianity....
 that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly. Systematic theology draws on the foundations of the sacred texts of Christianity, and also looks to the development of doctrine over the course of history, philosophy, science, and ethics to produce as full a view and as versatile a philosophical approach as possible.

History of systematic theology in Christianity
The setting out the varied ideas of the Christian religion (and the various topics and themes of the diverse texts of the Bible) in a single, coherent and well-ordered presentation is a relatively late development.






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Systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology
Christian theology

Christian theology is discourse concerning Christianity faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rationality analysis and argument to understanding, explanation, test, critic#critique, defend or promote Christianity....
 that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly. Systematic theology draws on the foundations of the sacred texts of Christianity, and also looks to the development of doctrine over the course of history, philosophy, science, and ethics to produce as full a view and as versatile a philosophical approach as possible.

History of systematic theology in Christianity


The setting out the varied ideas of the Christian religion (and the various topics and themes of the diverse texts of the Bible) in a single, coherent and well-ordered presentation is a relatively late development. In Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, an early example is provided by John of Damascus's
John of Damascus

John of Damascus was a monk and Priesthood from Damascus. He was born and raised in that city, and died at his monastery Mar Saba.He was a polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music....
 8th-century Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, in which he attempts to set in order, and demonstrate the coherence of, the theology of the classic texts of the Eastern theological tradition. In the West, Peter Lombard's
Peter Lombard

Peter Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; was a scholasticism and bishop and author of Sentences, which became the standard textbook of theology, for which he is also known as Magister Sententiarum....
 12th-century Sentences
Sentences

The Four Books of Sentences is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the twelfth century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the 'sententia' or opinions on Biblical passages that it gathered together....
, in which he collected thematically a large series of quotations from the Church Fathers
Church Fathers

The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theology and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history....
, became the basis of a medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 scholastic
Scholasticism

Scholasticism was the dominant form of theology and philosophy in the Western Europe in the Middle Ages, particularly in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries....
 tradition of thematic commentary and explanation - best exemplified in Thomas Aquinas's
Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis....
 Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica

The Summa Theologica is the most famous work of Thomas Aquinas although it was never finished. It was intended as a manual for beginners as a compilation of all of the main theology teachings of that time....
. A Protestant tradition of thematic, ordered exposition of the whole of Christian theology (Protestant Orthodoxy) emerged in the 16th century, with Philipp Melanchthon's
Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon was a German professor and theologian, a significant character in the Protestant Reformation, a key leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a friend and associate of Martin Luther....
 Loci Communes
Loci Communes

Loci Communes or Loci communes rerum theologicarum seu hypotyposes theologicae was a work by the Lutheran theologian Philipp Melancthon published in 1543....
 and John Calvin's
John Calvin

John Calvin was an influential French people theology and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism....
 Institutes of the Christian Religion
Institutes of the Christian Religion

Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today, it was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French language in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 and in 1560 ....
.

In the 19th century, primarily in Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 circles, a new kind of systematic theology arose: the attempt to demonstrate that Christian doctrine formed a more tightly coherent system grounded in some core axiom or axioms. Such theologies often involved a more drastic pruning and reinterpretation of traditional belief in order to cohere with the axiom or axioms. Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher

Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher was a German theology and philosopher known for his impressive attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Age of Enlightenment with traditional Protestant orthodoxy....
, for instance, produced Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsatzen der evangelischen Kirche in the 1820s, in which the core idea is the universal presence amongst humanity (sometimes more hidden, sometimes more explicit) of a feeling or awareness of 'absolute dependence'; all theological themes are reinterpreted as descriptions or expressions of modifications of this feeling.

Contemporary usage


There are three overlapping uses of the term 'systematic theology' in contemporary Christian theology.
  • In evangelical
    Evangelicalism

    Evangelicalism is a Protestantism Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for Biblical authority; and an emphasis on the death and resurrection of Jesus....
     circles, it is used to refer to the topical collection and exploration of the content of the Bible
    Bible

    The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
    , in which a different perspective is provided on the Bible's message than that garnered simply by reading the biblical narratives, poems, proverbs, and letters as a story of redemption or as a manual for how to live a godly life. One advantage of this approach is that it allows one to see all that the Bible says regarding some subject (e.g. the attributes of God), and one danger is a tendency to assign technical definitions to terms based on a few passages and then read that meaning everywhere the term is used in the Bible (e.g. "justification
    Justification (theology)

    In Christian theology, justification is God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteousness before God. The concept of justification occurs in many books of the Old and New Testaments....
    " as Paul uses it in his letter to the Romans is different from how James uses it in his letter). In this view, systematic theology is complementary to biblical theology
    Biblical Theology

    Biblical theology is a discipline within Christian theology which studies the Bible from the perspective of understanding the progressive history of God revealing God's self to humanity following the The Fall of Man and throughout the Old Testament and New Testament....
    . The latter traces the themes chronologically through the Bible, while the former examines themes topically. The latter reflects the diversity of the Bible, while the former reflects its unity. NOTE: There are some contemporary systematic theologians, however, who would question this explanation of systematic theology. Their concerns are twofold. First, instead of being a systematic exploration of theological truth, when systematic theology is defined in such a way as described above, it is synonymous with biblical theology. Instead, some contemporary systematic theologians seek to use all available resources to ascertain the nature of God and God's relationship to the world, including philosophy, history, culture, etc. In sum, these theologians argue that systematic and biblical theology are two separate, though related, disciplines. Second, some systematic theologians claim that evangelicalism itself is far too diverse to describe the above approach as "the" evangelical viewpoint. Instead, these systematic theologians would note that in instances where systematic theology is defined in such a way that it solely depends on the Bible, it is a highly conservative version of evangelical theology and does not speak for evangelical theology in toto.
  • The term can also be used to refer to theology which self-avowedly seeks to perpetuate the classical traditions of thematic exploration of theology described above - often by means of commentary upon the classics of those tradition: Damascus, Aquinas, Calvin, Melanchthon and others.
  • Normally (but not exclusively) in liberal theology
    Liberal Christianity

    Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically informed religious movements and ideas within late 18th, 19th and 20th century Christianity....
    , the term can be used to refer to attempts to follow in Schleiermacher's footsteps, and reinterpret Christian theology in order to derive it from a core set of axioms or principles.


In all three senses, Christian systematic theology will often touch on some or all of the following topics: God
God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
, Trinitarianism, Revelation
Revelation

Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication with the divinity....
, Creation myths and Divine providence
Divine Providence

In theology, Divine Providence, or simply Providence, is the sovereignty, superintendence, or agency of God over events in people's lives and throughout history....
, Theodicy, Theological anthropology
Theological anthropology

Theological anthropology is the branch of theology which is concerned with the study of humankind, or anthropology, in relation to the divine. In a theological context, it is usually referred to simply as anthropology....
, Christology
Christology

Christology is a field of study within Christian theology which is concerned with the nature of Jesus the Christ, particularly with how the divine and human are related in his person....
, Soteriology
Soteriology

Christian Soteriology is the branch of Christian theology that deals with salvation. It is derived from the Greek language soterion + English -logy....
, Ecclesiology
Ecclesiology

Ecclesiology is the study of the Christian theology understanding of the Christian church. Specific areas of concern include the church's role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Jesus, its discipline, its eschatology, and its clergy....
, Eschatology
Eschatology

Eschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what is believed to be the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of All humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world....
, Bibliology, Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation theory. Traditional hermeneutics - which includes Biblical hermeneutics - refers to the study of the interpretation of written texts, especially texts in the areas of literature, religion and law....
, Sacrament
Sacrament

A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace." Examples of sacram...
, Pneumatology
Pneumatology

Pneumatology is the study of spirituality and phenomena, especially the interactions between humans and God.Pneuma is Greek language for "breath", which metaphorically describes a non-material being or influence....
, Christian life, Heaven
Heaven

Heaven may refer to the physical heavens, the atmosphere or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English, however since at least AD 1000, it is typically also used to refer to an afterlife plane of existence in various religions and spirituality philosophy, often descri...
, and interfaith
Interfaith

The terms interfaith or interfaith dialogue refer to cooperative and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional level with the aim of deriving a common ground in belief through a concentration on similarities between faiths, unde...
 statements on other religions.

Notable systematic theologians


Early Church Fathers

  • St. Augustine of Hippo
  • Origen
    Origen

    Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....


Roman Catholic

  • Maximus the Confessor
    Maximus the Confessor

    Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius....
     Reviews of his writings reveals an obvious understanding of Papal Primacy of the Bishop of Rome, even though the Great Schism of the 4 Sees from the Holy See of Rome had not yet occurred in his lifetime.
  • St. Anselm of Canterbury
  • St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Peter Lombard
    Peter Lombard

    Peter Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; was a scholasticism and bishop and author of Sentences, which became the standard textbook of theology, for which he is also known as Magister Sententiarum....
  • Bonaventure
    Bonaventure

    Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio , born John of Fidanza , was an Italian medieval Scholasticism theologian and philosopher, the eighth Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly called the Franciscans....
  • Duns Scotus
    Duns Scotus

    The Beatification John Duns Scotus, Order of Friars Minor was one of the most important theology and philosopher of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought....
  • Catherine of Sienna
  • Desiderius Erasmus
    Desiderius Erasmus

    Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Netherlands Renaissance humanist and Roman Catholic Church Christian theology. His scholarly name Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus comprises the following three elements: the Latin noun desiderium ; the Greek adjective ???s???? meaning "desired", and, in the form Erasmus, also the name of a St....
  • Francisco Suarez
    Francisco Suárez

    Francisco Su?rez was a Spain Jesuit Catholic priest, philosopher and theology, generally regarded as having been the greatest scholasticism after Thomas Aquinas....
  • Luis de Molina
  • John Henry Newman
  • Dietrich von Hildebrand
    Dietrich von Hildebrand

    Dietrich von Hildebrand was a Germany Roman Catholic Church philosopher and theology who was called by Pope Pius XII "the 20th Century Doctor of the Church."...
  • Hans Urs von Balthasar
    Hans Urs von Balthasar

    Hans Urs von Balthasar was a Switzerland theologian and priest who was nominated to be a Cardinal of the Catholic Church....
  • Frans Jozef Van Beeck
  • Yves Congar
    Yves Congar

    Yves Marie Joseph Congar was a French people Dominican Order cardinal and Theology....
  • Louis Bouyer
    Louis Bouyer

    Louis Bouyer was a France Lutheran minister who converted to Catholicism in 1939. During his religious career he was a scholar who was relied upon during the Second Vatican Council....
  • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
    Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

    Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French philosopher and Society of Jesus Catholic priesthood who trained as a Paleontology and Geology and took part in the discovery of Peking Man....
  • Bernard Lonergan
    Bernard Lonergan

    Fr. Bernard Lonergan, Order of Canada, Society of Jesus was a Canada Jesuit Priest. He was a philosopher-theology in the Thomist tradition and an economist from Buckingham, Quebec....
  • Jean Daniélou
  • Luigi Giussani
    Luigi Giussani

    Monsignor Luigi Giovanni Giussani , Italian Catholic priest, educator, public intellectual and founder of the international Catholic movement Comunione e Liberazione ....
  • Edward Schillebeeckx
    Edward Schillebeeckx

    Edward Cornelis Florentius Alfonsus Schillebeeckx is a Belgium Roman Catholic theologian. He is a member of the Dominican Order. His books on theology have been translated into many languages, and his contributions to the Second Vatican Council have made him known throughout the world....
  • Hans Küng
    Hans Küng

    Reverend Father Hans K?ng , is a Roman Catholic Church priest, a Switzerland theologian, and a prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic ....
  • Karl Rahner
    Karl Rahner

    Karl Rahner, Society of Jesus was a Germany theologian, one of the most influential Roman Catholic Church Theology of the 20th century.He was born in Freiburg, Germany, and died in Innsbruck, Austria....
  • Avery Cardinal Dulles
    Avery Cardinal Dulles

    Avery Robert Dulles was a Jesuit priest, theologian, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and served as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University from 1988 to 2008....
  • Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope
    Pope

    The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
     Benedict XVI)


Protestant

  • John MacQuarrie
    John Macquarrie

    John Macquarrie British Academy Territorial Decoration was a Scottish-born theology and philosophy. Timothy Bradshaw has described Macquarrie as "unquestionably Anglicanism's most distinguished systematic theologian in the second half of the twentieth century."...
    , Anglican (originally Reformed, Church of Scotland)
  • Oliver O'Donovan
    Oliver O'Donovan

    Oliver O'Donovan FBA is a prominent scholar in the field of Christian ethics and is considered one of the most prominent working theologians in the world....
    , Anglican
  • Hans Wilhelm Frei
    Hans Wilhelm Frei

    Hans Wilhelm Frei is best known for work on biblical hermeneutics, especially on the interpretation of narrative. His 1974 book, The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative is an influential history of eighteenth- and nineteenth century biblical hermeneutics in England and Germany; The Identity of Jesus Christ tried to show what kind of the...
    , Lutheran, later Anglican
  • Rowan Williams
    Rowan Williams

    Rowan Douglas Williams is an Anglican Communion bishop and theologian. He is the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003....
    , Anglican
  • Paul S. Fiddes
    Paul S. Fiddes

    Paul S. Fiddes is Title of Distinction of Systematic Theology at the University of Oxford and Colleges of the University of Oxford#Head_of_House and Professorial Research Fellow of Regent's Park College, Oxford....
    , Baptist
  • Wayne Grudem
    Wayne Grudem

    Wayne A. Grudem is a Protestant theology and author.Grudem holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge....
    , Baptist (Reformed, Charismatic)
  • Norman Geisler
    Norman Geisler

    Norman L. Geisler is a Christian apologist and the co-founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary outside Charlotte, North Carolina, where he no longer teaches....
    , Baptist (American fundamentalist)
  • Augustus H. Strong, Baptist
  • J. Rodman Williams
    J. Rodman Williams

    J. Rodman Williams , regarded as the father of modern Renewal Theology, was a charismatic movement theology and Professor of Renewal Theology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia....
    , Charismatic
  • Stanley M. Horton
    Stanley M. Horton

    Stanley M. Horton, Th.D., is a Renewal Theologians within the Pentecostal movement and the author of numerous books. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible and Theology at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, Missouri....
    , Pentecostal
  • Dick Gaffin, Reformed
  • Lewis Sperry Chafer
    Lewis Sperry Chafer

    Lewis Sperry Chafer was the founder and first president of Dallas Theological Seminary, and an influential founding member of modern Christian Dispensationalism....
    , Presbyterian (Dispensational)
  • Martin Luther
    Martin Luther

    Martin Luther was a Germans monk, theology, university professor, priest, father of Protestantism, and Protestant Reformers whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western culture....
    , Lutheran
  • Gustaf Aulén
    Gustaf Aulén

    Gustaf Emanuel Hildebrand Aul?n , was the Bishop of Diocese of Str?ngn?s in the Church of Sweden from 1933 to 1952.Aul?n was born to Rev....
    , Lutheran
  • John Murray
    John Murray

    | |}John Murray is the name of quite a few people in various fields:...
    , Reformed
  • Robert Jenson
    Robert Jenson

    Robert W. Jenson is a leading American Lutheran and ecumenical theologian....
    , Lutheran
  • Wolfhart Pannenberg
    Wolfhart Pannenberg

    Wolfhart Pannenberg is a Germany Christian Theology....
    , Lutheran
  • Paul Tillich
    Paul Tillich

    Paul Johannes Tillich was a Germany-United States theology and Christian existentialism philosopher. Tillich was, along with his contemporaries Rudolf Bultmann , Karl Barth , and Reinhold Niebuhr , one of the four most influential Protestant theologians of the twentieth century....
    , Lutheran
  • Johann Gerhard
    Johann Gerhard

    Johann Gerhard , was a Lutheran church leader and theologian.He was born in the German city of Quedlinburg. At the age of fourteen, during a dangerous illness, he came under the personal influence of Johann Arndt, author of Das wahre Christenthum, and resolved to study for the church....
    , Lutheran
  • Sinclair Ferguson
    Sinclair Ferguson

    Sinclair Ferguson is a Scotland Theology known in Reformed churches circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He received his Ph.D....
    , Reformed
  • Martin Chemnitz
    Martin Chemnitz

    Martin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation Lutheranism Christian theology, Protestant Reformers, churchman, and confessor. In the Lutheran tradition he is known as Alter Martinus, the "Second Martin": Si Martinus non fuisset, Martinus vix stetisset goes a common saying concerning him....
    , Lutheran
  • John Frame
    John Frame

    John M. Frame is an United States philosopher and Calvinist theology especially noted for his work in epistemology and presuppositional apologetics, systematic theology, and ethics....
    , Reformed
  • James Hal Cone
    James Hal Cone

    James Hal Cone is an advocate of Black liberation theology, a theology grounded in the experience of African Americans, and related to other Christian liberation theology....
    , Methodist
  • John Gill
    John Gill

    John Gill may refer to:* John Gill , English Baptist minister and Calvinist theologian* John Gill , Irish trade unionist and Labour TD* John Gill , Manx Deemster...
    , Particular Baptist
  • Charles Hodge
    Charles Hodge

    Charles Hodge was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He is considered to be one of the greatest exponents and defenders of historical Calvinism in United States during the 19th century....
    , Presbyterian
  • Karl Barth
    Karl Barth

    Karl Barth was a Switzerland Reformed theologian whom some critics held to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas....
    , Reformed
  • Louis Berkhof
    Louis Berkhof

    Louis Berkhof was a Reformed systematic theology whose written works have been influential in seminary and Bible colleges in the United States and Canada and with individual Christians in general throughout the 20th century....
    , Reformed
  • Donald G. Bloesch
    Donald G. Bloesch

    Donald G. Bloesch is a noted American evangelicalism theologian. For more than 40 years, he has published scholarly yet accessible works that generally defend traditional Protestant beliefs and practices while seeking to remain in the mainstream of modern Protestant theological thought....
    , Evangelical Protestant
  • Emil Brunner
    Emil Brunner

    Heinrich Emil Brunner was an eminent and highly influential Switzerland Protestant theology. Along with Karl Barth , he is commonly associated with neo-orthodoxy or the dialectical theology movement....
    , Reformed
  • Jonathan Edwards
    Jonathan Edwards

    This article is about the theologian , for other uses of Jonathan Edwards see Jonathan Edwards.Jonathan Edwards was a Thirteen Colonies Congregational church preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans in the United States....
    , Reformed
  • Charles Hodge
    Charles Hodge

    Charles Hodge was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He is considered to be one of the greatest exponents and defenders of historical Calvinism in United States during the 19th century....
    , Reformed
  • Kevin Vanhoozer
    Kevin Vanhoozer

    Kevin J. Vanhoozer is a Research Professor of systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and the author of several books on theology, hermeneutics, and culture....
     Reformed
  • John Calvin
    John Calvin

    John Calvin was an influential French people theology and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism....
    , Reformed
  • Colin Gunton
    Colin Gunton

    Colin Ewart Gunton was a British systematic theology. As a theologian he made contributions to the doctrine of Creation and the doctrine of the trinity....
    , Reformed
  • Gordon Clark
    Gordon Clark

    Gordon Haddon Clark was an United States philosopher and Calvinist theology. He was a primary advocate for the idea of presuppositional apologetics and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at Butler University for 28 years....
    , Reformed
  • Cornelius Van Til
    Cornelius Van Til

    Cornelius Van Til , born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theology, and Presuppositional apologetics....
    , Reformed
  • Albrecht Ritschl
    Albrecht Ritschl

    Albrecht Ritschl was a Germany theology.Starting in 1852, Ritschl lectured on "Systematic Theology." According to this system, faith was understood to be irreducible to other experiences, beyond the scope of reason....
    , Evangelische Kirche
  • Adolf von Harnack
    Adolf von Harnack

    Adolf von Harnack , was a Germany theology and prominent church historian.He produced many religious publications from 1873-1912.Harnack traced the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on early Christian writing and called on Christians to question the authenticity of doctrines that arose in the early Christian church....
    , Evangelische Kirche
  • Jürgen Moltmann
    Jürgen Moltmann

    J?rgen Moltmann is a Germany Protestant theology....
    , Evangelische Kirche
  • Friedrich Schleiermacher, Evangelische Kirche
  • Theodore Beza
    Theodore Beza

    Theodore Beza was a French people Protestant Christian theologian and scholar who played an important role in the early Protestant Reformation....
    ], Reformed
  • John Knox
    John Knox

    John Knox was a Scotland clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterianism denomination....
    , Reformed
  • Thomas F. Torrance, Reformed - Church of Scotland
  • John Wesley
    John Wesley

    John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian Christian theologian who founded the Arminianism Methodism. The Wesley Methodist Movement began when Wesley took over open-air preaching started by George Whitefield at Hanham, Kingswood, and Bristol....
    , Wesleyan Arminian
  • Thomas Oden, Wesleyan
  • Iain Paul
    Iain Paul

    Iain Paul is a theologian and reverend. He retired from the Church of Scotland in 1991. ...
    , Reformed - Church of Scotland


Orthodox

  • John of Damascus
    John of Damascus

    John of Damascus was a monk and Priesthood from Damascus. He was born and raised in that city, and died at his monastery Mar Saba.He was a polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music....
  • Symeon the New Theologian
    Symeon the New Theologian

    Symeon the New Theologian is the latest of three saints of the Eastern Orthodox church to have been given the title of Theologian thus, although his title of "new" was likely to distinguish him from another contemporary Symeon ....
  • Gregory Palamas
    Gregory Palamas

    Saint Gregory Palamas was a monasticism of Mount Athos in Greece and later the Archbishop of Thessalonica known as a preeminent theologian of Hesychasm....
  • Sergei Bulgakov
    Sergei Bulgakov

    Fr. Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov was a Russian Orthodox theologian, philosopher and economist....
  • John Meyendorff
    John Meyendorff

    John Meyendorff was a modern Eastern Orthodox Church scholar, writer, and teacher. He was born into the Russian nobility as Ivan Feofilovich Baron von Meyendorff , but was known as Jean Meyendorff during his life in France....
  • Georges Florovsky
    Georges Florovsky

    Georges Vasilievich Florovsky was an Eastern Orthodox theologian, historian and pioneering ecumenist. He is considered, along with Sergei Bulgakov, Vladimir Lossky and Dumitru Staniloae, to be one of the most important Eastern Orthodox theologians of the 20th Century....
  • Dumitru Staniloae
    Dumitru Staniloae

    Dumitru Staniloae was a Romanian Eastern Orthodoxy priest, theologian, academic and professor. Father Staniloae worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian language translation of the Philokalia, a collection of writings by the Church Fathers, together with the hieromonk Arsenie Boca, who brought manuscripts from Mount Athos....
  • Alexander Schmemann
    Alexander Schmemann

    Alexander Schmemann was a prominent 20th century Eastern Orthodoxy priest, theology, and writer.Schmemann was born in Tallinn Estonia to Russian ?migr?s....
  • John Zizioulas
    John Zizioulas

    John Zizioulas is the Eastern Orthodoxy metropolitan bishop of Pergamon. He is the Chairman of the Academy of Athens and a noted theologian....
  • Vladimir Lossky
    Vladimir Lossky

    Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky was an influential Eastern Orthodox Church theologian in exile from Russia. He emphasized theosis as the main principle of Orthodox Christianity....


Other

  • Emanuel Swedenborg
    Emanuel Swedenborg

    was a Sweden scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and theologian. Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. At the age of fifty-six he entered into a spiritual phase in which he experienced dreams and visions....
    , New Church
  • J. Rodman Williams
    J. Rodman Williams

    J. Rodman Williams , regarded as the father of modern Renewal Theology, was a charismatic movement theology and Professor of Renewal Theology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia....
    , Renewal Theology (charismatic)


See also

Category:Systematic theologians


Resources

  • St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). De Civitate Dei
  • Barth, Karl
    Karl Barth

    Karl Barth was a Switzerland Reformed theologian whom some critics held to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas....
     (1956-1975). Church Dogmatics. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
  • Berkhof, Hendrikus
    Hendrikus Berkhof

    Hendrikus Berkhof was a professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Leiden....
     (1979). Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  • Berkhof, Louis
    Louis Berkhof

    Louis Berkhof was a Reformed systematic theology whose written works have been influential in seminary and Bible colleges in the United States and Canada and with individual Christians in general throughout the 20th century....
     (1996). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
  • Calvin, John
    John Calvin

    John Calvin was an influential French people theology and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism....
     (1559). Institutes of the Christian Religion
    Institutes of the Christian Religion

    Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today, it was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French language in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 and in 1560 ....
    .
  • Chafer, Lewis Sperry
    Lewis Sperry Chafer

    Lewis Sperry Chafer was the founder and first president of Dallas Theological Seminary, and an influential founding member of modern Christian Dispensationalism....
     (1948). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Kregel
  • Chemnitz, Martin
    Martin Chemnitz

    Martin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation Lutheranism Christian theology, Protestant Reformers, churchman, and confessor. In the Lutheran tradition he is known as Alter Martinus, the "Second Martin": Si Martinus non fuisset, Martinus vix stetisset goes a common saying concerning him....
     (1591). Loci Theologici. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989.
  • Erickson, Millard
    Millard Erickson

    Millard J. Erickson is a Christian theology, professor of theology, and author. He has written the widely acclaimed systematics work Christian Theology as well as over 20 other books....
     (1998). Christian Theology (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.
  • Fruchtenbaum, Arnold
    Arnold Fruchtenbaum

    Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum is the founder and director of Ariel Ministries, an organization which prioritizes evangelization of Jews in the effort to bring them to the view that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah....
     (1989). Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology. Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries
  • Fruchtenbaum, Arnold
    Arnold Fruchtenbaum

    Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum is the founder and director of Ariel Ministries, an organization which prioritizes evangelization of Jews in the effort to bring them to the view that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah....
     (1998). Messianic Christology. Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries
  • Geisler, Norman L.
    Norman Geisler

    Norman L. Geisler is a Christian apologist and the co-founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary outside Charlotte, North Carolina, where he no longer teaches....
     (2002-2004). Systematic Theology (four volumes). Minneapolis: Bethany House.
  • Bloesch, Donald G.
    Donald G. Bloesch

    Donald G. Bloesch is a noted American evangelicalism theologian. For more than 40 years, he has published scholarly yet accessible works that generally defend traditional Protestant beliefs and practices while seeking to remain in the mainstream of modern Protestant theological thought....
     (2002-2004). Christian Foundations (seven volumes). Inter-varsity Press.
  • Frame, John.
    John Frame

    John M. Frame is an United States philosopher and Calvinist theology especially noted for his work in epistemology and presuppositional apologetics, systematic theology, and ethics....
     Theology of Lordship
  • Grenz, Stanley J.
    Stanley Grenz

    Stanley James Grenz was an United States Christian theology and ethicist in the Baptist tradition....
     (1994). Theology for the Community of God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  • Grider, J. Kenneth
    J. Kenneth Grider

    J. Kenneth Grider is a Nazarene Christianity theologian and former seminary professor primarily associated with the followers of John Wesley who are part of the Holiness movement....
     (1994). A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology (ISBN 0-8341-1512-3)
  • Grudem, Wayne
    Wayne Grudem

    Wayne A. Grudem is a Protestant theology and author.Grudem holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge....
     (1995). Systematic Theology. Zondervan.
  • Hodge, Charles
    Charles Hodge

    Charles Hodge was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He is considered to be one of the greatest exponents and defenders of historical Calvinism in United States during the 19th century....
     (1960). . Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
  • Jenson, Robert W.
    Robert Jenson

    Robert W. Jenson is a leading American Lutheran and ecumenical theologian....
     (1997-1999). Systematic Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Melanchthon, Philipp
    Philipp Melanchthon

    Philipp Melanchthon was a German professor and theologian, a significant character in the Protestant Reformation, a key leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a friend and associate of Martin Luther....
     (1543). Loci Communes. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1992.
  • Miley, John
    John Miley

    John Miley was an United States Christian theologian in the Methodism tradition who was one of the major Methodist theological voices of the 19th century....
    . Systematic Theology. 1892.
  • Newlands, George
    George Newlands

    George McLeod Newlands is Emeritus Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow....
     (1994). God in Christian Perspective. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
  • Oden, Thomas C. (1987-1992). Systematic Theology (3 volumes). Peabody, MA: Prince Press.
  • Pannenberg, Wolfhart
    Wolfhart Pannenberg

    Wolfhart Pannenberg is a Germany Christian Theology....
     (1988-1993). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
  • Pieper, Francis (1917-1924). Christian Dogmatics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
  • Reymond, Robert L.
    Robert L. Reymond

    Robert L. Reymond is a Christian theologian of the Protestant Calvinist tradition. He is best known for his New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith ....
     (1998). A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (2nd ed.). Word Publishing.
  • Schleiermacher, Friedrich (1928). The Christian Faith. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
  • Thielicke, Helmut
    Helmut Thielicke

    Helmut Thielicke was a Germany theologian and rector of the University of Hamburg from 1960 to 1978.Thielicke grew up in Wuppertal, where he went to a humanistic Gymnasium and took his Abitur in 1928....
     (1974-1982). The Evangelical Faith. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
  • Thiessen, Henry C. (1949). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: William B. Erdsmans Publishing Co.
  • Tillich, Paul
    Paul Tillich

    Paul Johannes Tillich was a Germany-United States theology and Christian existentialism philosopher. Tillich was, along with his contemporaries Rudolf Bultmann , Karl Barth , and Reinhold Niebuhr , one of the four most influential Protestant theologians of the twentieth century....
    . Systematic Theology. (3 volumes).
  • Turretin, Francis
    Francis Turretin

    Francis Turretin was a Swiss-Italian Protestant theologian.Turretin is especially known as a zealous opponent of the theology of the Academy of Saumur , as an earnest defender of the Calvinism orthodoxy represented by the Synod of Dort, and as one of the authors of the Helvetic Consensus, which defended the formulation of double pred...
     (3 parts, 1679-1685). Institutes of Elenctic Theology.
  • Van Til, Cornelius
    Cornelius Van Til

    Cornelius Van Til , born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theology, and Presuppositional apologetics....
     (1974). An Introduction to Systematic Theology. P & R Press.
  • Watson, Richard
    Richard Watson

    Richard Watson was a United Kingdom Methodism theologian who was one of the most important figures in 19th century Methodism.Watson was born in Lincolnshire and entered the Methodist itinerancy in 1796, serving as President of Conference in Britain in 1826 and as secretary to the Wesleyan Missionary Society from 1821 to 1825....
    . Theological Institutes. 1823.
  • Weber, Otto
    Otto Weber

    Otto-Ernest Weber was a Romanian politician who served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1990 to 2000....
    . (1981-1983) Foundations of Dogmatics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.


See also

  • Biblical exegesis
  • Biblical theology
    Biblical Theology

    Biblical theology is a discipline within Christian theology which studies the Bible from the perspective of understanding the progressive history of God revealing God's self to humanity following the The Fall of Man and throughout the Old Testament and New Testament....
  • Christian apologetics
    Christian apologetics

    Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a reason basis for the Christianity, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views....
  • Christian theology
    Christian theology

    Christian theology is discourse concerning Christianity faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rationality analysis and argument to understanding, explanation, test, critic#critique, defend or promote Christianity....
  • Conservative Christianity
    Conservative Christianity

    Conservative Christianity is a term applied to a number of groups or movements seen as giving priority to perceived traditional Christianity beliefs and practices....
  • Constructive theology
    Constructive Theology

    Constructive theology is the re-definition of what has historically been known as systematic theology. The reason for this reevaluation stems from the idea that, in systematic theology, the theologian attempts to develop a coherent theory running through the various doctrines within the tradition ....
  • Feminist theology
    Feminist theology

    Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religions from a feminism perspective....
  • Hermeneutics
    Hermeneutics

    Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation theory. Traditional hermeneutics - which includes Biblical hermeneutics - refers to the study of the interpretation of written texts, especially texts in the areas of literature, religion and law....
  • Liberal Christianity
    Liberal Christianity

    Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically informed religious movements and ideas within late 18th, 19th and 20th century Christianity....
  • Liberation theology
    Liberation theology

    Liberation theology is a school of theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism....
  • Philosophical theology
    Philosophical Theology

    Philosophical theology is the disciplined employment of philosophy methods in developing or analyzing theology concepts. It therefore includes natural theology as well as philosophical treatments of Orthodoxy and heterodox theology....
  • Philosophy of religion
    Philosophy of religion

    Philosophy of religion' is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the philosophical study of religion, including arguments over the nature and existence of God, religious language, miracles, prayer, the problem of evil, and the relationship between religion and other value-systems such as ethics.'...
  • Political theology
    Political theology

    Political theology is a branch of both political philosophy and theology that investigates the ways in which theological concepts or ways of thinking underlie politics, society, economics and culture discourses....
  • Process theology
    Process theology

    Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead . While there are process theologies that are similar, but unrelated to the work of Whitehead the term is generally applied to the Whiteheadian school....
  • Queer theology
    Queer theology

    Queer theology refers to the application of queer studies to theology. It emerged from the development of "queer theory" in the 1990s, which sought to explore a multiplicity of human sexualities and sexual identities....


External links

  • (academic, ecumenical)
  • , maintained by Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, PhD, Tyndale Seminary
  • (Studies in Systematic Theology featuring audio and video aids)
  • (academic, ecumenical)
  • (British, Protestant)
  • (systematic theology weblog)
  • (conservative Calvinist)