How To Think Theologically Chapter 2 Summary

So, what is theology? “The word "theology" comes from two Greek words, Theos meaning 'God' and logos meaning 'the word about (or the study of) God' as He is revealed in the Scriptures.” According to the authors of How to Think Theologically, anyone who claims to be a Christian there is a high likelihood that you are a theologian. “It is a simple fact of life for Christians; their faith makes them theologians. Deliberately or not, think—and act—out of a theological understanding of existence, and their faith calls them to become the best theologians they can be.” Looking at the first three chapters of How to Think Theologically, we will review what the authors have to say and look at some of their theories.
Chapter One: “Faith, Understanding, and Reflection” begins with an illustration of the complexity of theology. The authors use an art professor, post-it notes, and an anonymous visitor as an example. The anonymous visitor leaves two cryptic messages. One message says “…everything is really very simple” and the other message says “…nothing is ever simple.” This scenario or illustration is used to explain theology and its diversity. Stone and Duke also warn that if a task is
This time they use craft as a way to explain theology. They contend that theology is learned and developed or crafted through practice and growth. Theology is meant to interpret life when viewed through faith. It is our embedded theological reflections that interact with deliberative theological reflections. In other words, our life experiences interact with Christian theological categories and truth. “Theological reflection is in many respects comparable to a craft…The central operations they perform are three: (1) interpreting the meaning of Christian faith; (2) correlating those interpretations with other interpretations; and (3) assessing the adequacy of the interpretations and their