What Does the Word "Theology" Mean?

Theology is the study of faith and belief from the point of view of a particular religion or spiritual tradition. The word "theology" can be traced back through Old French and Latin to the Greek "theologos," meaning "one who discourses on the gods," from "theos" god and "logos" words. According to Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott's "A Greek-English Lexicon," the first recorded use of the word came in Plato's "Republic," where he used it to mean "a science of things divine."

Significance

In theology, the attributes of God or gods are examined with the aim of creating, strengthening or questioning a system of belief, and arriving at an understanding of how the divine interacts with and relates to humanity and the universe. The key difference between theology and religious studies is that theology examines a religion or belief from within, taking the existence of its God or gods as its foundation, while religious studies examine a religion or belief from an external, secular perspective, without taking the belief as a given.

Christian Theology

Christian theology has a long, rich, and complex history.

Today, the word "theology" is used most often in a Christian context. The history of Christian theology stretches back through medieval times, to Christian scholars such as Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas, who made it their life's work to study Christian doctrines and examine the implications of the Bible's claims. One of the most prominent modern Christian scholars, Paul Tillich, described the task of theology in this way: "Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundations and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received." In other words, the study of theology must take into account both the timeless nature of religious belief and the day-to-day realities in which those beliefs are acted out and reflected upon.

Jewish Theology

Jewish theology involves the study of religious belief as well as Rabbinic law.

However, the word "theology" is also used in the context of religions other than Christianity. Jewish theology, for instance, is a very active discipline, stretching back to include luminaries such as the 13th-century Spanish rabbi Maimonides, whose "Thirteen Principles of Faith" have become a cornerstone of Orthodox Jewish belief.

Islamic Theology

Islamic theology involves the study of the Quran and of the hadith, the oral traditions concerning the life and statements of the Prophet Muhammad. Both Jewish and Islamic theology also heavily incorporate the discussion and interpretation of religious laws as laid out by the Torah and the Quran, as well as their respective commentaries.

Buddhist Theology vs. Buddhist Philosophy

Buddhist scholars have debated over the years whether the word theology can properly apply to Buddhism, because Buddhism is not a theistic, or God-based, religion. The term Buddhist philosophy is often used instead. As such, Buddhist philosophy is an examination of the central Buddhist doctrines, which hold that the main cause of human suffering is our attachment to the idea of a permanent, unchanging self.

Resources

• Jewish Theology at BecomingJewish.org