Why Theology Is Faith Seeking Understanding

Everybody today has questions about their faith, and every one of them merits a truthful response. If Christians take the time to accurately think about what they believe and why, they will be ready to give people the responses needed to honestly seek and find God.

Many people would agree that without faith, the world would be in chaos. The book Christian Foundation by Kathleen Fischer and Thomas Hart gives an interpretation on faith in our time. Many people would question the definition of faith. Faith is a gift, which is given by God to have trust in him and belief in him. This book is a great entry in anyone's life that has speculation on his or her own faith. The book has many ways into understanding ones own religion. It discusses the Bible, Jesus, Church, God's existence and Images of God. All of these chapters helped me get a better interpretation of what my religion entailed.

As Christians we often believe certain things simply because it’s what our parents and the people around us believe. We often go about our Christian walk without ever giving thought or reason to why we believe what we do. The world of Christian Theology is a place where Christians can find answer to the ‘what and why’ of Christianity. If we are able to begin comprehending Christian Theology and the rudimental knowledge of it, then we can take it with us into more in depth books and discussions about theology, know the importance of it and how vital it is for Christians

The meaning of theology is simple; it is the study of God and religious belief. The definition is plain to see but it’s important to go beyond what is already known. On a deeper level, what is the meaning of theology in respect to a religious community and to a person trying to find themselves in God? How is everyone involved in doing theology all the time? In this paper, there will be an in depth analysis on what theology is, why it is important, and how people are engaged in theology all the time.

In this chapter, the author states that many feel that theology is unnecessary to understanding God. Most feel that they know more about God because of personal experiences. The author says he agrees with that to some degree; however, he feels that one is very limited with only the personal experience and without what he calls a map, which is what theology would be as related to the Christian religion. Without

Prior to this class, I was one of the many students who confused the terms theology and religion. I wasn’t quite certain of the true meanings of the two terms. In our book, The Sacred Quest : An Invitation to the study of Religion, I was able to find a text reading from chapter four to aid in attempting to answer this question for this assignment. “One of the most useful definitions of theology, formulated by Anselm of Canterbury in the middle ages, is “faith seeking understanding.” Note the sequence in that definition: one first believes, and then seeks understanding (not proof!)” (p. 65). To be truthful, I didn’t quite grasp the meaning of this reading. It wasn’t until I conducted some research for this assignment that I was able to discover an explanation that differentiated the two terms and which actually made sense to me. This explanation acquired from the website differencebetween.com is how it finally made sense to

Theology, on the other hand, obtains knowledge and truths based on both reason and on revealed truth and faith. As a result, Aquinas saw philosophy as a subset of theology because theology deals with both reason and revelation to obtain knowledge, while theology only uses reason. In a similar light, Aquinas also believed that all theologians are philosophers, but he did not see all philosophers as theologians. Consequently, Aquinas saw theology as superior to philosophy because of theology’s unlimited potential and means of acquiring truths/knowledge; in other words, theology encompasses subjects that reason, or philosophical studies, cannot

There are many things that go into theology. Such as certain documents like Apostles’ Creed or studying the Bible. How do we study the Bible or any theology? You can study theology by taking different approaches towards it. Historians say that the best approach to take an “historical approach”. This approach causes you to learn more about how religion worked back in the olden days. A way to make this approach more doable is breaking it down into different time frames or eras. While breaking it down into more eras also sort out what was significant

It is not good enough for Christian thought to teach about religious things or even to prescribe them; theology could do all this and still be thinking about them with a mind that has not yet been changed by Christ’s dying and rising. It is not so much thinking about theological topics that really constitutes theology, for distinguishable from this is the means by which the theological mind reflects.

Just what is theology? This question can have a wide variety of answers, from irrelevant facts about God thought up by men centuries ago, to complicated theories discussed by scholars. Typically, the average 21st century man does not consider theology as relevant. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Theology by definition has the characteristics of both expounding the truth, and impacting the believer with that truth (Himes, 2011). Therefore, theology and the church are intricately combined, in that the church embodies the revelation of God, and is reality, not theory (Himes, 2011). A personal practical theology must begin with revelation, not the individual (Himes, 2011), and proclaim

What is theology? What does it explain if anything? According to the encyclopedia, it is related to the Greek Religion. In Christianity, the systematic study of the nature of God and God's relationship with humanity and with the world. Although other religions may be said to have theologies, this is a matter of controversy within, for instance, Judaism , which holds that God is unknowable. This article will therefore confine itself to Christian theology. The development of theology in Christendom arose from the need for educated Christians of the ancient world to express their ideas in terminology familiar in current thought. Hence arose the close relation of Christian theology with Greek philosophy formulated by the Greek and Latin

Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties

Christian faith has an implication of love. It is strictly a personal act. The "agape" that exists between the lord and all of his creations is manifested into each religion's faith. This agape is the respect, connection, and intellectual virtue that exist between men and women and their belief in God. Faith can also be thought of as a perception. It is not a conclusion or a proof; "it is not an explanation of the world, an argument from causality, an apologetic of creation," (Chenu 2). Faith is neither black or

By definition, these two fields cover different horizons, with the exception of a few topics. Theology refers to

The concepts of religious faith, theology, belief and spirituality are all interconnected and very easy to get mixed up. This is because they all have something to do with the other. Richard P. Mcbrien explains how religious faith, theology, beliefs, and spirituality are all connected. Theology follows faith and belief follows Theology. Faith is our personal knowledge of God through human experiences and our openness to his love. Theology is our understanding of faith as revealed by God and our articulation of it. Beliefs are accepting these theological conclusions as true even without clear and convincing evidence. Spirituality is the practice of these beliefs, letting the spirit guide ones life. Although it’s easy to mix up the meaning of faith and belief or get confused the difference in understanding faith in Theology and being filled by God in your spirituality it’s pretty easy to grasp once you see how each influences the other.