Theology - the study of nature of divine

Theology 

Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine, or more broadly of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. 

It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the supernatural, but also deals with religious epistemology, asks and seeks to answer the question of revelation. 

Revelation pertains to the acceptance of God, gods, or deities, as not only transcendent or above the natural world but also willing and able to interact with the natural world and to reveal themselves to humankind.

Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument (experiential, philosophical, ethnographic, historical, and others) to help understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote any myriad of religious topics.

 As in the philosophy of ethics and case law, arguments often assume the existence of previously resolved questions and develop by making analogies from them to draw new inferences in new situations.

The study of theology may help a theologian more deeply understand their own religious tradition or another religious tradition, or it may enable them to explore the nature of divinity without reference to any specific tradition.

 Theology may be used to propagate, reform, or justify a religious tradition; or it may be used to compare, challenge (e.g. biblical criticism), or oppose (e.g. irreligion) a religious tradition or worldview.

 Theology might also help a theologian address some present situation or need through a religious tradition, or explore possible ways of interpreting the world.

Since it is a systemic approach, systematic theology organizes truth under different headings and there are ten basic areas (or categories), although the exact list may vary slightly. These are:

• Angelology – The study of angels

• Bibliology – The study of the Bible

• Christology – The study of Christ

• Demonology – The study of demons

• Ecclesiology – The study of the church

• Eschatology – The study of the end times

• Hamartiology – The study of sin

• Josephology — the study of all things pertaining to Joseph, the putative father of Jesus

• Mariology – the study of all things pertaining to Mary, the mother of Jesus

• Missiology – The study of missionary work

• Paterology – The study of God the Father

• Pneumatology – The study of the Holy Spirit

• Soteriology – The study of salvation

• Teleology – The study of God’s design and purpose for the world and all He created in it

• Theological anthropology – The study of the nature of humanity

• Theology proper – The study of the character of God

• Theology of the Body – The study of being created in God's image

Sources of Theology

• Scripture.

• Nature.

• Experience.

• Tradition.

• Reason. 

Formal Principle – the Bible is the sole standard of all truth (sola scriptura). Material Principle – sinful man is justified by faith alone (sola fide).

The three Theological Virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith is the virtue that enables us to believe in God and believe what He has revealed to us as truth because He is Truth Himself.

History of the term

The term theologia is used in Classical Greek literature, with the meaning “discourse on the Gods or cosmology” (see Lidell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon for references). Aristotle divided theoretical philosophy into mathematice, phusike and theologike, with the latter corresponding roughly to metaphysics, which for Aristotle included discussion of the nature of the divine.

Drawing on Greek sources, the Latin writer Varro influentially distinguished three forms of such discourse: mythical (concerning the myths of the Greek gods), rational (philosophical analysis of the gods and of cosmology) and civil (concerning the rites and duties of public religious observance).

The term was taken up by Christian writers. It appears once in some biblical manuscripts, in the heading to the book of Revelation: apokalupsis ioannou tou theologou, “the revelation of John the theologos“. There, however, we are probably dealing with a slightly different sense of the root logos, to mean not “rational discourse” but “word” or “message”: ho theologos here is probably meant to tell us that the author of Revelation has presented God’s revealed messages – words of God, logoi tou theou – not that he was a “theologian” in the modern English sense of the word.