Theology

Many friends of mine disdain any talk of theology.  Yet they quickly share thoughts about God, Jesus Christ, the Church, or at least, spirituality - all which involves, or at least touches upon issues of, theology.

Yet, since its origins, the Church, then composed of early Christians, discussed and developed theology.  In one sense, any talk about God, Jesus Christ, etc., usually involves theological issues.  It might not involve what might be called formal theology - like what you might find taught at a seminary - but it still involves what some might call an informal, or practical, theology (some might call it an undisciplined theology).

Catechism

On a simple level, theology involves the study of God.  So early on, the Church saw the preparation of candidates for baptism as involving theology, which it called catechism, based on a Greek word which means to teach orally (though many catechisms are now written down in the form of questions and answers).  These truths often developed into the sermons and homilies of the early church.

All orthodox Christian traditions agree Holy Scriptures provides the supreme authority for all Christian teachings, while tradition often, or usually, provides the means for interpretive understanding of Scripture - the two work hand in hand. However, all agree Scripture does not set forth teaching in any sort of systematic manner.  Instead, Scripture usually sets revealed truth within the context of the historical, or of prophecy, or of poetry, or of allegorical story-telling, or of parables, or of letter-writing in a non-systematic manner.  Thus, one of the important role of Christian theology involves taking the revealed teachings of Scripture, and then organizing it in a systematic manner of stating revealed truths.  As such, it stands as the organizer of Christian thought.

We best understand the role of theology as a good attempt to get as close to the thoughts of God as possible.  Another way we can understand it involves the hidden structure of Christianity.  Much as we cannot see the hidden structure of the steel beams of skyscraper, we often might not see the hidden theological structure which supports the faith that provides our spiritual life.

In another analogy, theology often provides the backstory of our faith and beliefs, much as Tolkein wrote an extensive backstory in the Silmarillion, starting long before he wrote The Hobbit, or The Lord Of The Ring trilogy, or like George Lucas wrote a back story to the Star Wars story.  The backstory provides the structure and form for the story we so much enjoy.  If we remove that structure and form, much like the building falls apart, so does the story falls apart, and so does our Christian beliefs fall apart.  We then become vulnerable to many beliefs, including non-Christian beliefs. Historically, bad theological beliefs leads to false beliefs and eventually a false Christian faith.

In general, I encourage study of solid Christian theology - it provides structure and backbone to our beliefs.