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Wednesday, 15 May 2024, 11:19 PM
Site: Birmingham Theological Seminary
Course: Building Systematic Theology (Building Systematic Theology)
Glossary: Glossary for Lessons 1-3

Systematic Theology

A systematic presentation of all the doctrinal truths of the Christian religion.

Bibliology

The study of the Bible

Theology Proper

The doctrine of God

Anthropology

In theology, it is the doctrine of man.

Soteriology

The doctrine of salvation

Ecclesiology

The doctrine of the Church

Eschatology

The doctrine of the last things

Patristic Theology

Theology during the period of 150-600 A.D.

Neo-Platonism

A philosophical school rooted in Plato, but including new ideas by philosophers such as Plotinus.

Syncretism

The practice of mixing religions or mixing philosophy with religion.

Dualism

Belief that the spiritual world is good, but the material world is evil

Rationalism

Belief system that emphasizes the uses of reason and human reflection

Mysticism

Belief system that emphasizes the need to go beyond reason to receive revelation through spiritual ecstasy

Scholasticism

School of theology during the medieval period, that put great emphasis on the use of Aristotelian logic

Orthodoxy

Correct thinking

Orthopraxis

Correct living

Orthopathos

Correct feeling

Justification

It sometimes means a person is declared righteous when he believes in Christ, as in Romans 3:28, and it sometimes means a person is shown to be righteous in his way of life, as in James 2:24.

Sanctification

This term can refer to several different aspects of righteousness: a. first righteousness, or definitive righteousness for Christians, b. progressive ongoing holiness in Christians, and c. being set apart from the rest of the world, even though a person is not a Christian.

Proposition

A meaningful sentence that declares something which can be evaluated either as true or as false.

Syllogism

A logical argument in which two or more premises lead to a conclusion. For example, "1. All men are mortal. 2. Socrates is a man. Conclusion: Socrates is mortal." 

Premise

In a syllogism, this is one of the first statements that lead to a conclusion. For example, in the following syllogism, "1. All men are mortal. 2. Socrates is a man. Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.", there are two: "All men are mortal" and "Socrates is a man."

Compositional collation

Process of using several different arguments to defend a point of view.

Factual reduction

Process of focusing on only one point of a Bible passage that has the purpose of communicating other points as well

Repetitive collation

The process of using a series of Bible passages with similar content to present an argument for a theological point of view

Theological Proposition

An indicative sentence that asserts as directly as possible at least one factual theological claim