Theological Method E-Book

Graham A. Cole

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Short Studies in Systematic Theology
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 162

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

How to Be Certain That Your Understanding of God Reflects the Truth of Scripture If we want to know the truth about God, we need a sound approach to incorporating what the whole Bible teaches. In this concise introduction to systematic theology, theologian Graham A. Cole explores how we move from Scripture to doctrine in order to shape what we believe, what we value, and how we live. He shows us the importance of having the right method: rooted in the word of God, consistent with church history, in the context of a broken world, dependent on divine wisdom, and ultimately aiming at pure worship. The first volume in the Short Studies in Systematic Theology series, this book explores what it means to do theology, why theology matters, and what it looks like to derive doctrine from God's word—helping us understand what to believe, what to value, and how to live. Each chapter looks at 1 of 5 crucial components for constructing good theology: revelation from God, tradition from the past, worship, wisdom, and experience of brokenness, with case studies illustrating how doctrine is developed from each of these important sources. Readers will be left with a deeper understanding of how to make sure their theology faithfully reflects the truth of God's word. - 5 Crucial Elements of Constructing Good Theology: Explores revelation from God, tradition from the past, worship, wisdom, and experience of brokenness - Practical: Explains how to move from Scripture to doctrine - Accessible: Uses case studies to demonstrate the importance and elements of good theology - Replaces ISBN 978-1-4335-5911-2: Formerly titled Faithful Theology

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“Theological Method seeks to help new theologians get started on a sound basis. Graham Cole sets forth a theological method that is meant to be good theology—a method that, first and foremost, is itself true to the Bible and, second, shows how theologians throughout history have best used the Bible to edify the church. I am impressed with the conciseness of Theological Method. Cole has done an excellent job summarizing the basics in this short volume.”

John M. Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy Emeritus, Reformed Theological Seminary

“Graham Cole has enviable gifts of clarity and wisdom, combined with an ability to identify significant themes in theology. Theological Method is as fresh, bright, and crisp as a sun-drenched spring morning. It is as helpful for connecting the dots in Christian discipleship in the church as it is for pastoral formation in the seminary context. It is profound in its simplicity.”

C. Ben Mitchell, author, Ethics and Moral Reasoning: A Student’s Guide

“We are all theologians, and we all practice theology, good or bad. Ministers and lay people need to learn how to do theology, to think theologically, to increase our theological awareness and theological ability, and to think God’s thoughts after him. We need to do this not only to understand our past but also to work through new issues of today and tomorrow. Graham Cole writes with his usual clarity and has provided a resource that is short, deep, vivid, and thoughtful! He shows us a method of doing faithful theology. This method requires honoring and using the Bible and the insights of the past, as well as clarity of thought, an understanding of sin and frustration, humility, patience, faith, prayer, and worship. We see these features reflected in this book.”

Peter Adam, Vicar Emeritus, St. Jude’s Carlton; Former Principal, Ridley College, Melbourne

“This helpful primer provides the common sense, plain speech, biblical perspective, and evangelical commitment we’ve come to expect from Graham Cole.”

Daniel J. Treier, Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Theology, Wheaton College; author, Introducing Evangelical Theology

“Drawing from his years of teaching, Graham A. Cole guides the reader like a pastoral sage. Theological Method offers much insightful discussion about how to wed the demand for contextual affirmation and a commitment to scriptural authority. Cole is to be thanked for illustrating how we need to do theology as pilgrims heading home.”

Andrew J. Schmutzer, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Moody Bible Institute; coauthor, Between Pain and Grace

Theological Method

Short Studies in Systematic Theology

Edited by Graham A. Cole and Oren R. Martin

The Atonement: An Introduction, Jeremy Treat (2023)

The Attributes of God: An Introduction, Gerald Bray (2021)

The Church: An Introduction, Gregg R. Allison (2021)

The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction, Mark D. Thompson (2022)

Glorification: An Introduction, Graham A. Cole (2022)

The Holy Spirit: An Introduction, Fred Sanders (2023)

Justification: An Introduction, Thomas R. Schreiner (2023)

The Person of Christ: An Introduction, Stephen J. Wellum (2021)

Predestination: An Introduction, Andrew David Naselli (2024)

Theological Method: An Introduction, Graham A. Cole (2020)

The Trinity: An Introduction, Scott R. Swain (2020)

Theological Method

An Introduction

Graham A. Cole

Theological Method: An Introduction

Formerly published as Faithful Theology: An Introduction

© 2020, 2025 by Graham A. Cole

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2020

Reprinted with new title 2025

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8081-9ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8084-0PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8082-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cole, Graham A. (Graham Arthur), 1949- author.

Title: Theological method : an introduction / Graham A. Cole.

Other titles: Faithful theology

Description: Wheato, Illinois : Crossway, 2025. | Series: Short studies in

systematic theology | Previously published: Faithful theology, 2020. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2024035609 (print) | LCCN 2024035610 (ebook) | ISBN

9781433580819 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433580826 (pdf) | ISBN

9781433580840 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible—Hermeneutics. | Theology.

Classification: LCC BS476 .C57 2025 (print) | LCC BS476 (ebook) | DDC

230.01—dc23/eng/20240912

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024035609

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024035610

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2025-01-29 11:21:11 AM

To the many, many students

I have taught this method to

on three continents

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction

 1  The Word of Revelation

 2  The Witness of Christian Thought and Practice: Past and Present

 3  The World of Human Brokenness

 4  The Work of Wisdom

 5  The Way of Worship: Putting It All Together in Thought and Life

Conclusion

Further Reading

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

The ancient Greek thinker Heraclitus reputedly said that the thinker has to listen to the essence of things. A series of theological studies dealing with the traditional topics that make up systematic theology needs to do just that. Accordingly, in these studies, theologians address the essence of a doctrine. This series thus aims to present short studies in theology that are attuned to both the Christian tradition and contemporary theology in order to equip the church to faithfully understand, love, teach, and apply what God has revealed in Scripture about a variety of topics. What may be lost in comprehensiveness can be gained through what Calvin, in the dedicatory epistle of his commentary on Romans, called “lucid brevity.”

Of course, a thorough study of any doctrine will be longer rather than shorter, as there are two millennia of confession, discussion, and debate with which to interact. As a result, a short study needs to be more selective, but deftly so. Thankfully, the contributors to this series have the ability to be brief yet accurate. The key aim is that the simpler is not to morph into the simplistic. The test is whether the topic of a short study, when further studied in depth, requires some unlearning to take place. The simple can be amplified. The simplistic needs to be corrected. As editors, we believe that the volumes in this series pass that test.

While the specific focus will vary, each volume will (1) introduce the doctrine, (2) set it in context, (3) develop it from Scripture, (4) draw the various threads together, and (5) bring it to bear on the Christian life. It is our prayer, then, that this series will assist the church to delight in her triune God by thinking his thoughts—which he has graciously revealed in his written word, which testifies to his living Word, Jesus Christ—after him in the powerful working of his Spirit.

Graham A. Cole and Oren R. Martin

Introduction

The case can be made that every Christian is a theologian because every Christian has a theology, whether well thought out or not.1 After all, the word “theology” clearly has to do with God (theos, Greek for “God”), and since the third century at least, theology has been understood to refer to “talking about God” (theos, “God”; logos, “word”).2 When that talk is organized, we have a body of teaching, or doctrine. Some become highly trained in talking about God and in thinking about him in a systematic way. Others, because of calling or life circumstance, never have much chance to develop that level of expertise. Whether trained or not, Christians talk and think about God. In that light, there is a sense in which every Christian is a theologian. The question is, How are we to get better at talking and thinking about God? That question brings us to the matter of method. But what is a method? Theologian Robert W. Jenson explains it well: “A method, of course, is a self-conscious way of going about doing something.”3This book is about the method to use in doing faithful theology: faithful to God, faithful to God’s word.

When I was a lad, my uncle Gordon showed me how to catch more fish with a rod and reel. Before he tied the hook on the line, he attached a much smaller hook that was free. The big hook was put through the bait or hidden in it. Next, the little hook was placed through the tail of the shrimp or other bait. He called it the keeper hook. Over the years, I have caught some really big fish on that little hook alone. My uncle gave me a way of being better at fishing. He gave me a technique, a better fishing method. He taught me how to improve my fishing success. What he did reminds me of an old piece of wisdom: It is better to teach someone how to fish than simply to give that person a fish. The difference is satisfying the hunger of the day versus having a way to satisfy hunger over a lifetime. Method matters, and not only for practical things like fishing, but also for finding out the truth of things, especially the things of God.4

When it comes to the truth of the things of God, Scripture plays the pivotal role as God’s self-revelation. (I shall argue this at length in chapter 1.) Indeed, faithful theology is a human project that arises from wise reflection on the self-revelation of God.5 Because it is our reflection on God’s revelation, it is always open to be reformed and corrected by that revelation. This is the truth of the Reformers’ slogan semper reformanda (always reforming). However, it is one thing to have an evangelical’s high view of Scripture. It is quite another to know how to derive teaching (doctrine or theology) from Scripture.6

We need guidance just as I needed guidance from Uncle Gordon. The need to do so is easily illustrated. I was taught as a new Christian that when Jesus slept in the boat during the storm on the Sea of Galilee, his human side was showing itself. But when he rose up and commanded the storm to cease, his divine side was expressing itself. It was as though Jesus’s two natures oscillated, first the human and then the divine, taking turns. Later, when I was taught some theology and how to evaluate theological proposals, I saw that this was very much like the ancient heresy of Nestorianism. On this view, Jesus was both a human person and a divine person. The Father had, in effect, two sons in one physical body.7 However, if Scripture is compared with Scripture, and if the witness of the early church fathers is taken into account, then Jesus is clearly one person and not two. As one person, he had both a truly human nature and a truly divine one at all times.

This brief work especially explores how such a move from Scripture to doctrine is made. But why does doctrine matter? The importance of doctrine lies in that it answers three normative questions vital to us all: (1) What ought we to believe (orthodoxy, right opinion)? This is the truth question. (2) What ought we to value (orthokardia, right-heartedness)? This is the spirituality question. (3) How ought we to live (orthopraxy, right practice of life)? This is the existential or practical question. Put another way, the head (orthodoxy), the heart (orthokardia), and the hands (orthopraxy) all count as concerns of theology. For example, what ought we to believe about the identity of Jesus? Does our answer matter? How are we to live in the light of Jesus’s identity? If you believed, as many do, that Jesus was merely human, then worshiping him would be idolatry. But if Jesus is a member of the Holy Trinity, then worship is entirely fitting.8

To answer thoroughly the above questions, five key elements are involved.9 In this work, a chapter is devoted to each. Chapter 1 explores the foundation of theology in the self-witness of God in Scripture. This element is “The Word of Revelation.” However, God has been providentially at work in the history of theological debate and discussion. As German theologian Gerhard Ebeling says, Scripture construed as the word of God has been central to that conversation. He argues that the history of the church is the history of the exposition of the Bible in the church.10Knowledge of that conversation is another important element in doing theology, as chapter 2, “The Witness of Christian Thought and Practice,” seeks to show. The third chapter recognizes that we do theology in a context. We live outside of Eden in the new normal, or abnormal. There is brokenness about us and in us. This element is “The World of Human Brokenness.” Bringing these elements together requires wisdom from God. Chapter 4 investigates the role of wisdom in doing theology. This element is “The Work of Wisdom.”11 Finally, chapter 5 tackles the question of how the various elements are to be put together. It summarizes the discussion and affirms the doxological dimension in doing theology. This element can be summed up as “The Way of Worship.” That is to say, our doing theology ought to be an offering to God.

Is it worth the effort? Does method matter? Gregory Boyd and Paul Eddy rightly state: “A central debate among evangelical theologians concerns the question of theological method. In other words, how should we ‘do’ theology?”12 To get our idea of God right we need the right method of doing theology. As we have seen, “theology” is a term made up of two others: theos (for “God”) and logos (for “word” or “discourse”).

Doing theology aright matters. But that does not mean that this work is written to the academic guild. I write as a church scholar. Such a work may be of use to the guild, but in the first instance it is addressed to pastors, theological students, college students, and interested layfolk. I have written simply but, I hope, not simplistically. What’s the difference? A simple work is more accessible for a wider readership than a highly technical one would be. Yet the technically proficient may still be able to flesh out its ideas and run with them. A simplistic work keeps breaking down in logic and usefulness the more one knows about the field and, above all, the text of Scripture.

1. For an example of an attempt to make that case, see Stanley J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson, Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996). Their first chapter is titled “Everyone Is a Theologian.” In my view, they paint with too broad a brush. They contend, “Anyone who reflects on life’s ultimate questions—including questions about God and our relationship to God—is a theologian” (13). For them, filmmaker and actor Woody Allen qualifies as one (14). Given their definitions, it is hard to see the difference between a theologian and a philosopher.

2. See Alister E. McGrath, Theology: The Basics, 3rd ed. (Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), xii.

3. Robert W. Jenson, A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live? (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2016), 111.

4. The philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) knew that method matters and that the mind needs direction. He had twenty-one rules. Here is his fourth: “We need a method if we are to investigate the truth of things.” Descartes, “Rules for the Direction of the Mind,” Wikisource (website), https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Rules_for_the_Direction_of_the_Mind, accessed March 16, 2017.

5. I take a different view than do Grenz and Olson on the question of the object of theologizing. They argue in Who Needs Theology?, 49, that “Christian theology is reflecting on and articulating the God-centered life and beliefs that Christians share as followers of Jesus Christ, and it is done in order that God may be glorified in all Christians are to do.” This is far too anthropocentric in my view. The primary object of theological reflection is God, not our beliefs per se.

6. I am using “doctrine,” “teaching,” and “theology” as synonyms.

7. Nestorianism is a wrong view (heresy) of Jesus named after Nestorius (386–451), bishop of Constantinople. Nestorius allegedly taught that the incarnate Christ was two persons: one human and one divine. Whether he actually held the view associated with his name is still debated. See H. D. McDonald, “Nestorius (fl. 428–c. 451),” in New Dictionary of Theology Historical and Systematic, 2nd ed., ed. Martin Davie, Tim Grass, Stephen R. Holmes, John McDowell, and T. A. Noble (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016), 609–10. Chap. 2 of the book before you aims to show the value of knowing facts like these.

8. The doctrine of the Trinity will be the key case in point to which I shall return at numerous places throughout this book. I completed a first draft of this work before I read Grenz and Olson, Who Needs Theology? In that work they also make frequent reference to the doctrine of the Trinity to support many of their points.

9. In one sense every believer is a theologian with thoughts about God and God’s relation to the world. Some believers have an unreflective theology. Some have a reflective theology. Hopefully, a college course necessitates reflection. Others have a mission-informed theology and want to be able to teach the church as trained pastors and theologians.

10. Gerhard Ebeling, The Word of God and Tradition: Historical Studies Interpreting the Divisions of Christianity, trans. S. H. Hooke (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968), 11.

11. Some of these elements appear in Albert Outler’s famous formulation of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. His formulation gave the impression that, for John Wesley, Scripture stood on an equal footing with tradition, reason, and experience. However, as Outler later made clear, this was an unfortunate way of characterizing Wesley’s theology: “The term ‘quadrilateral’ does not occur in the Wesley corpus—and more than once I have regretted having coined it for contemporary use since it has been so widely misconstrued.” Quoted in Jonathan Andersen, “The Myth of the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral,’” http://www.jonathanandersen.com/the-myth-of-the-wesleyan-quadrilateral/, accessed November 6, 2017. For Wesley, Scripture was the supreme authority, and the other three were subordinate to the Bible. The original formulation is found in Albert Outler, “The Wesleyan Quadrilateral—in John Wesley,” in The Wesleyan Theological Heritage: Essays of Albert C. Outler, ed. Thomas C. Oden and Leicester R. Longden (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991), 26.

12. Gregory A. Boyd and Paul R. Eddy, Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 293.