Someone recently told me that their Church is against Seminary trained preachers, and against theologians. I replied that this was incredible. A preacher without theology is like a pilot without map and compass. A casual glance at history reveals these great leaders, Paul, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Finney, and others, all theologians. And, Spurgeon didn't go to Seminary, but he had theology that was rigorous because he was a rigorous self-learner all his life. In order to condemn bad theology, you must need good theology in the first place. Or, else you're worse than an existentialist. A theologian without the Bible, however, is like a plane that has lost contact with the ground -- it can't land!
Published in REVIVE, May 2012 (Malayalam Edition) A simple and literal definition of “theology” would be “the science of divine things”. It comes from two Greek words theos meaning “God” and logia meaning “discourse or speech”. In modern times, it is the stream of knowledge that differentiates the secular pursuit of knowledge from the sacred one because of its starting point: all secular studies begin with reason and experience while theology begins with faith. The starting point for all extra-theological studies is the world (Latin: saeculum); the starting point for theology is the Word of God. So, while one may say that theology is the study of God, the factual definition would be that theology is the science that rationally pursues the understanding of the self-revelation of God in the Scriptures. It would be interesting to note that many of the universities had originally begun as seminaries and theology was once known as the Queen of Sciences. However, with the dawn of theAge of E...
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