The term 'Theology' literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical (c. 5th–4th centuries BC), and Hellenistic (c. 3rd century BC–6th century AD) periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek. Its Hellenistic phase is known as Koine word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "the character of one who speaks or treats of [a certain subject]", or simply "the study of a certain subject". It now means the science of God or of religion, typically as it is practised in a systematic and reasoned or philosophical manner. Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo (Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis;) (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin , was a Berber philosopher and theologian defined theology as 'reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity'. ^[1]

Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument (philosophical Most academic subjects have a philosophy, for example the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of history. In addition, a range of academic subjects have emerged to deal with areas which would have historically been the subject of philosophy. These include, ethnographic Ethnography is a methodological strategy used to provide descriptions of human societies, which as a methodology does not prescribe any particular method (e.g. observation, interview, questionnaire), but instead prescribes the nature of the study (i.e. to describe people through writing) . In the biological sciences, this type of study might be, historical History is the study of the past, with special attention to the written record of the activities of human beings over time. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause, spiritual Spirituality is matters of the spirit, a concept often but not necessarily tied to to a spirit world, a multidimensional reality and one or more deities. Spiritual matters regard humankind's ultimate nature and purpose, not as material biological organisms, but as spirits or energy with an eternal relationship beyond the bodily senses, time and and others) to help understand Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object, explain An explanation is a set of statements constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts, test, critique The word critic comes from the Greek κριτικός , "able to discern", which in turn derives from the word κριτής (krités), meaning a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis, value judgment, interpretation, or observation. The term can be used to describe an adherent of a position disagreeing with or opposing the, defend or promote any of myriad religious topics Many Wikipedia articles on religious topics are not yet listed on this page. If you cannot find the topic you are interested in on this page, it still may already exist; you can try to find it using the "Search" box. If you find that it exists, you can edit this page to add a link to it, discussing such issues by applying reason and perception to dogma Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from. The term derives from Greek δόγμα "that which seems to one, opinion or belief" and that from δοκέω , "to think, to suppose, to imagine". The plural (divine or ecclesistical authority). It might be undertaken to help the theologian:

• understand more truly his or her own religious tradition However, on a more basic theoretical level, tradition can be seen as information or composed of information. For that which is brought into the present from the past, in a particular societal context, is information. This is even more fundamental than particular acts or practices even if repeated over a long sequence of time,^[2]
• understand more truly another religious tradition,^[3]
• make comparisons Comparative religion is a field of religious study that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions. Religion can be defined as the human notions regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine between religious traditions,^[4]
• defend or justify Apologists are authors, writers, editors of scientific logs or academic journals, and leaders known for taking on the points in arguments, conflicts or positions that are either placed under popular scrutinies or viewed under persecutory examinations. The term comes from the Greek word apologia , meaning a speaking in defense a religious tradition,
• facilitate reform of a particular tradition,^[5]
• assist in the propagation Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix 'πρός' and the verb 'έρχομαι' (I come). Historically in the New Testament, the word proselyte denoted a person who had converted to Judaism. Though the of a religious tradition,^[6] or
• draw on the resources of a tradition to address some present situation or need,^[7]

among other things.

History of the term

See the main article on the History of theology This is an overview of the history of theology in Greek thought, Christianity, Judaism and Islam from the time of Jesus to the present, particularly for the history of Jewish, Christian and Islamic theology.

The English word theology comes from Greek Greek , an Indo-European language native to the southern Balkan peninsula, is the language of the Greeks. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical Ancient Greek literature θεολογία, theologia, from θεός, theos or God God is most often conceived of as the supernatural creator and overseer of the universe. Theologians have ascribed a variety of attributes to the many different conceptions of God. The most common among these include omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence , divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God has also been + λόγος or logos, "words A word is the smallest free form in a language, in contrast to a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning. A word may consist of only one morpheme (e.g. cat), but a single morpheme may not be able to exist as a free form (e.g. the English plural morpheme -s)," "sayings," "discourse Discourse means either "written or spoken communication or debate" or "a formal discussion or debate." The term is often used in semantics and discourse analysis," or "reason Reason, as used in this article, refers to mental faculties that generate or affirm propositions, by activities of the mind such as judging, predicting, inferring, generalizing, and comparing" ( + suffix ια, ia, "state of," "property of," "place of"), and thence into Latin theologia, late middle English, and French théologie. * The term θεολογια theologia is used in classical Greek literature, with the meaning "discourse on the gods or cosmology Cosmology is study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanity's place in it. Though the word cosmology is recent (first used in 1730 in Christian Wolff's Cosmologia Generalis), study of the Universe has a long history involving science, philosophy, esotericism, and religion." The first known use is by Plato Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "broad") (428/427 BC[a] – 348/347 BC), was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped in The Republic The Republic is a Socratic dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 380 BC. It is one of the most influential works of philosophy and political theory, and Plato's best known work. In Plato's fictional dialogues the characters of Socrates as well as various Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and examine whether the just man, Book ii, Ch. 18.^[8] * Aristotle Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology divided theoretical philosophy into mathematike, physike and theologike, with the latter corresponding roughly to metaphysics Metaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. Someone who studies metaphysics can be called either a "metaphysician" or a "metaphysicist", which, for Aristotle, included discussion of the nature of the divine.^[9]

Drawing on Greek sources, the Latin Latin is an Italic language historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, Spanish, and Portuguese are descended from Latin, while many others, especially European languages, including writer Varro Marcus Terentius Varro , also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer distinguished three forms of such discourse: mythical (concerning the myths of the Greek gods), rational (philosophical analysis of the gods and of cosmology) and civil (concerning the rites and duties of public religious observance).^[10]

Each of the two Greek words, θεός, theos, (God) and λόγος, Logos,(the Word)^[11] separately is of fundamental Christian significance. Early Christian theology evolved in Greek, the language of the Christian Bible. The composite word θεολογία, theologia, can be literally translated as "talk about God or the divine" or "about the Word of God", but the meaning of the word shifted as it was used (first in Greek and then in Latin) in European Christian thought in the Patristic period, the Middle Ages The Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christianity in the Reformation, the rise of humanism in the Italian and Enlightenment Developing more or less simultaneously in Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal the movement spread through much of Europe, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia and Scandinavia as well as in America. It could be argued that the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, the United, and then taken up more widely.

"Theology" can also now be used in a derived sense to mean "a system of theoretical principles; an (impractical or rigid) ideology."^[12]

Christian Theology

See main article on Christian Theology Christian theology is discourse concerning Christian faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument to understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote Christianity. Theology might be undertaken to help the theologian understand Christianity more truly, make comparisons between Christianity and other.

Christian The first known usage of the term Χριστιανός can be found in the New Testament in Acts 11:26: "the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch." They were disciples and followers of Jesus Christ. The other two New Testament uses of the word also refer to the public identity of those who follow Jesus. The Jewish king said writers, influenced by the Hellenistic Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BC to about 146 BC . It was immediately preceded by the Classical Greece period, and immediately followed by the rule of Rome over the areas Greece had earlier dominated – although much of Greek culture, art and literature permeated Roman society, tradition, began to use the term theology to describe their studies. Theologos, closely related to theologia, appears once in some biblical manuscripts A Biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblion ; manuscript comes from Latin manu (hand) and scriptum (written). Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see Tefillin) to huge polyglot codices (multi-, in the heading to the book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also called Revelation to John, Apocalypse of John , and Revelation of Jesus Christ is the last canonical book of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. It is the only biblical book that is wholly composed of apocalyptic literature: apokalypsis ioannoy toy theologoy, "the revelation of John the theologos." There, however, the word refers not to John the "theologian" in the modern English sense of the word but—using a slightly different sense of the root logos, meaning not "rational discourse" but "word" or "message,"—one who speaks the words of God, logoi toy theoy.^[13]

Other Christian writers used this term with several different ranges of meaning.

• Some Latin authors, such as Tertullian Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy and Augustine Augustine of Hippo (Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis;) (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin , was a Berber philosopher and theologian, followed Varro's threefold usage, described above.^[14]
• In Patristic The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The term is used of writers and teachers of the Church, not necessarily saints. Teachers particularly are also known as doctors of the Greek sources, theologia could refer narrowly to devout and inspired knowledge of, and teaching about, the essential nature of God.^[15]
• In some medieval The Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christianity in the Reformation, the rise of humanism in the Italian Greek and Latin sources, theologia (in the sense of "an account or record of the ways of God") could refer simply to the Bible Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew or Jewish Bible. It comprises three parts: the Torah , the Prophets, and the Writings. It was primarily written in Hebrew with some small portions in Aramaic.[citation needed] In Christian religions, the Tanakh is known as the Old Testament.^[16]
• In scholastic Scholasticism is derived from the Latin word scholasticus , which means "that [which] belongs to the school", and was a method of learning taught by the academics (or school people) of medieval universities circa 1100–1500. Scholasticism originally started to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Latin sources, the term came to denote the rational study of the doctrines Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system. The Greek analogy is the etymology of catechism of the Christian religion, or (more precisely) the academic discipline which investigated the coherence and implications of the language and claims of the Bible and of the theological tradition (the latter often as represented in Peter Lombard Peter Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; was a scholastic theologian and bishop and author of Four Books of Sentences, which became the standard textbook of theology, for which he is also known as Magister Sententiarum's Sentences The Four Books of Sentences is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the twelfth century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the 'sententia' or opinions on Biblical passages that it gathered together.http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/button_sig.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/, a book of extracts from the Church Fathers).^[17]
• It is the last of these senses (theology as the rational study of the teachings of a religion or of several religions) that lies behind most modern uses (though the second—theology as a discussion specifically of a religion's or several religions' teachings about God—is also found in some academic and ecclesiastical contexts; see the article on Theology Proper Theology Proper is the study of God in a Christian Trinitarian system, and includes the study of the Holy Spirit and the study of Jesus Christ (Christology). The term Theology (lit. 'God-word') is popularly described as 'talk about God' or God-talk, but is usually used in the generic sense to describe religious studies. Theology Proper may thus be).

Religions other than Christianity

In academic theological circles, there is some debate as to whether theology is an activity peculiar to the Christian religion, such that the word "theology" should be reserved for Christian theology Christian theology is discourse concerning Christian faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument to understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote Christianity. Theology might be undertaken to help the theologian understand Christianity more truly, make comparisons between Christianity and other, and other words used to name analogous discourses within other religious traditions.^[18] It is seen by some to be a term only appropriate to the study of religions that worship a deity (a theos), and to presuppose belief in the ability to speak and reason about this deity (in logia)—and so to be less appropriate in religious contexts that are organized differently (religions without a deity, or that deny that such subjects can be studied logically). ("Hierology" has been proposed as an alternative, more generic term.^[19])

Analogous discourses

• Some academic inquiries within Buddhism, dedicated to the rational investigation of a Buddhist understanding of the world, prefer the designation Buddhist philosophy to the term Buddhist theology, since Buddhism lacks the same conception of a theos. Jose Ignacio Cabezon, who argues that the use of "theology" is appropriate, can only do so, he says, because "I take theology not to be restricted to discourse on God ... I take 'theology' not to be restricted to its etymological meaning. In that latter sense, Buddhism is of course atheological, rejecting as it does the notion of God."^[20]
• Within Hindu philosophy, there is a solid and ancient tradition of philosophical speculation on the nature of the universe, of God (termed "Brahman" in some schools of Hindu thought) and of the Atman (soul). The Sanskrit word for the various schools of Hindu philosophy is Darshana (meaning "view" or "viewpoint"). Vaishnava theology has been a subject of study for many devotees, philosophers and scholars in India for centuries, and in recent decades also has been taken on by a number of academic institutions in Europe, such as the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and Bhaktivedanta College.^[21] See also: Krishnology
• Islamic theological discussion that parallels Christian theological discussion is named "Kalam"; the Islamic analogue of Christian theological discussion would more properly be the investigation and elaboration of Islamic law, or "Fiqh." "Kalam ... does not hold the leading place in Muslim thought that theology does in Christianity. To find an equivalent for 'theology' in the Christian sense it is necessary to have recourse to several disciplines, and to the usul al-fiqh as much as to kalam." (L. Gardet)^[22] A number of Muslim theologians, such as Alkindus, Alfarabi, Avicenna (see Avicennism) and Averroes (see Averroism), have influenced the development of Christian theology significantly.^{[citation needed]}
• In Judaism, the historical absence of political authority has meant that most theological reflection has happened within the context of the Jewish community and synagogue, rather than within specialized academic institutions. Nevertheless, Jewish theology historically has been very active and highly significant for Christian and Islamic theology. It is sometimes claimed, however, that the Jewish analogue of Christian theological discussion would more properly be Rabbinical discussion of Jewish law and Jewish Biblical commentaries.^[23]

Theology as an academic discipline

The history of the study of theology in institutions of higher education is as old as the history of such institutions themselves. For example, Taxila was an early centre of Vedic learning, possible from the 6th century BC or earlier;^[24] the Platonic Academy founded in Athens in the 4th century BC seems to have included theological themes in its subject matter;^[25] the Chinese Taixue delivered Confucian teaching from the 2nd century BC;^[26] the School of Nisibis was a centre of Christian learning from the 4th century AD;^[27] Nalanda in India was a site of Buddhist higher learning from at least the 5th or 6th century AD;^[28] and the Moroccan University of Al-Karaouine was a centre of Islamic learning from the 10th century,^[29] as was Al-Azhar University in Cairo.^[30]

Modern Western universities evolved from the monastic institutions and (especially) cathedral schools of Western Europe during the High Middle Ages (see, for instance, the University of Bologna, Paris University and Oxford University).^[31] From the beginning, Christian theological learning was therefore a central component in these institutions, as was the study of Church or Canon law): universities played an important role in training people for ecclesiastical offices, in helping the church pursue the clarification and defence of its teaching, and in supporting the legal rights of the church over against secular rulers.^[32] At such universities, theological study was initially closely tied to the life of faith and of the church: it fed, and was fed by, practices of preaching, prayer and celebration of the Mass.^[33]

During the High Middle Ages, theology was therefore the ultimate subject at universities, being named "The Queen of the Sciences" and serving as the capstone to the Trivium and Quadrivium that young men were expected to study. This meant that the other subjects (including Philosophy) existed primarily to help with theological thought.^[34]

Christian theology’s preeminent place in the university began to be challenged during the European Enlightenment, especially in Germany.^[35] other subjects gained in independence and prestige, and questions were raised about the place in institutions that were increasingly understood to be devoted to independent reason of a discipline that seemed to involve commitment to the authority of particular religious traditions.^[36]

Since the early nineteenth century, various different approaches have emerged in the West to theology as an academic discipline. Much of the debate concerning theology's place in the university or within a general higher education curriculum centres on whether theology's methods are appropriately theoretical and (broadly speaking) scientific or, on the other hand, whether theology requires a pre-commitment of faith by its practitioners, and whether such a commitment conflicts with academic freedom.^[37]

Theology and ministerial training

In some contexts, theology has been held to belong in institutions of Higher Education primarily as a form of professional training for Christian ministry. This was the basis on which Friedrich Schleiermacher, a liberal theologian, argued for the inclusion of theology in the new University of Berlin in 1810.^[38]

For instance, in Germany, theological faculties at State universities are typically tied to particular denominations, Protestant or Catholic, and those faculties will offer denominationally-bound (konfessionsgebundenes) degrees, and have denominationally-bound public posts amongst their faculty; as well as contributing ‘to the development and growth of Christian knowledge’ they ‘provide the academic training for the future clergy and teachers of religious instruction at German schools.’^[39]

In Britain the first universities in the country, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, began as federations of theological colleges founded by clergy and members of religious orders in the late 12th and early 13th centuries; as late as the 19th century, all college fellows in any subject, and consequently most schoolmasters, were required to take holy orders. Similarly, in the U.S.A. several prominent colleges and universities were started in order to train Christian ministers in the U.S. Harvard, ^[40] Georgetown University, ^[41] Boston,^[42] Yale,^[43] Princeton,^[44], Brown University^[45], and Mercer University all had the theological training of clergy as a primary purpose at their foundation.

Seminaries and Bible colleges have continued this alliance between the academic study of theology and training for Christian ministry. The Chicago Theological Union, Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Creighton University of Omaha, University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, the University of San Francisco, Criswell College in Dallas, Southern Seminary in Louisville, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, Wheaton College and Graduate School in Wheaton, Illinois, Dallas Theological Seminary, and many other schools have influenced higher education in theology.

Theology and religious studies

In some contexts, following the Enlightenment challenge to its legitimacy, theology has evolved into (or been replaced by) religious studies. In such contexts, the primary forms of study are likely to include:

• Anthropology of religion
• Comparative religion/Religious studies
• History of religions
• Philosophy of religion
• Psychology of religion
• Sociology of religion

These studies normally involve studying the historical or contemporary practices or ideas of one or more religious traditions using intellectual tools and frameworks that are not themselves specifically tied to any religious tradition, but that are (normally) understood to be neutral or secular.

See also

Footnotes

1. ^ City of God Book VII. i. [1] "de divinitate rationem sive sermonem"
2. ^ See, e.g., Daniel L. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology 2nd ed.(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004)
3. ^ See, e.g., Michael S. Kogan, 'Toward a Jewish Theology of Christianity' in The Journal of Ecumenical Studies 32.1 (Winter 1995), 89-106; available online at [2]
4. ^ See, e.g., David Burrell, Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994)
5. ^ See, e.g., John Shelby Spong, Why Christianity Must Change or Die (New York: Harper Collins, 2001)
6. ^ See, e.g., Duncan Dormor et al (eds), Anglicanism, the Answer to Modernity (London: Continuum, 2003)
7. ^ See, e.g., Timothy Gorringe, Crime, Changing Society and the Churches Series (London:SPCK, 2004)
8. ^ Lidell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon''.
9. ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book Epsilon.
10. ^ As cited by Augustine, City of God, Book 6, ch.5.
11. ^ John I v.1
12. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1989 edition, 'Theology' sense 1(d), and 'Theological' sense A.3; the earliest reference given is from the 1959 Times Literary Supplement 5 June 329/4: "The 'theological' approach to Soviet Marxism ... proves in the long run unsatisfactory."
13. ^ This title appears quite late in the manuscript tradition for the Book of Revelation: the two earliest citations provided in David Aune's Word Biblical Commentary 52: Revelation 1-5 (Dallas: Word Books, 1997) are both 11th century - Gregory 325/Hoskier 9 and Gregory 1006/Hoskier 215; the title was however in circulation by the 6th century - see Allen Brent ‘John as theologos: the imperial mysteries and the Apocalypse’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999), 87-102.
14. ^ See Augustine reference above, and Tertullian, Ad Nationes, Book 2, ch.1.
15. ^ Gregory of Nazianzus uses the word in this sense in his fourth-century Theological Orations; after his death, he was called "the Theologian" at the Council of Chalcedon and thereafter in Eastern Orthodoxy—either because his Orations were seen as crucial examples of this kind of theology, or in the sense that he was (like the author of the Book of Revelation) seen as one who was an inspired preacher of the words of God. (It is unlikely to mean, as claimed in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers introduction to his Theological Orations, that he was a defender of the divinity of Christ the Word.) See John McGukin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001), p.278.
16. ^ Albert the Great, patron saint of Roman Catholic Theologians See e.g., Hugh of St. Victor, Commentariorum in Hierarchiam Coelestem, Expositio to Book 9: "theologia, id est, divina Scriptura" (in Migne's Patrologia Latina vol.175, 1091C).
17. ^ See the title of Peter Abelard's Theologia Christiana, and, perhaps most famously, of Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica
18. ^ See, for example, the initial reaction of Dharmachari Nagapriya in his review of Jackson and Makrasnky's Buddhist Theology (London: Curzon, 2000) in Western Buddhist Review 3
19. ^ E.g., by Count E. Goblet d'Alviella in 1908; see Alan H. Jones, Independence and Exegesis: The Study of Early Christianity in the Work of Alfred Loisy (1857-1940), Charles Guignebert (1857 [i.e. 1867]-1939), and Maurice Goguel (1880-1955) (Mohr Siebeck, 1983), p.194.
20. ^ Jose Ignacio Cabezon, 'Buddhist Theology in the Academy' in Roger Jackson and John J. Makransky's Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars (London: Routledge, 1999), pp.25-52.
21. ^ See Anna S. King, 'For Love of Krishna: Forty Years of Chanting' in Graham Dwyer and Richard J. Cole, The Hare Krishna Movement: Forty Years of Chant and Change (London/New York: I.B. Tauris, 2006), pp.134-167: p.163, which describes developments in both institutions, and speaks of Hare Krishna devotees 'studying Vaishnava theology and practice in mainstream universities.'
22. ^ L. Gardet, 'Ilm al-kalam' in The Encyclopedia of Islam, ed. P.J. Bearman et al (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 1999).
23. ^ Randi Rashkover, 'A Call for Jewish Theology', Crosscurrents, Winter 1999, starts by saying, "Frequently the claim is made that, unlike Christianity, Judaism is a tradition of deeds and maintains no strict theological tradition. Judaism's fundamental beliefs are inextricable from their halakhic observance (that set of laws revealed to Jews by God), embedded and presupposed by that way of life as it is lived and learned."
24. ^ Timothy Reagan, Non-Western Educational Traditions: Alternative Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice, 3rd edition (Lawrence Erlbaum: 2004), p.185 and Sunna Chitnis, 'Higher Education' in Veena Das (ed), The Oxford India Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp.1032-1056: p.1036 suggest an early date; a more cautious appraisal is given in Hartmut Scharfe, Education in Ancient India (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp.140-142.
25. ^ John Dillon, The Heirs of Plato: A Study in the Old Academy, 347-274BC (Oxford: OUP, 2003)
26. ^ Xinzhong Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism (Cambridge: CUP, 2000), p.50.
27. ^ Adam H. Becker, The Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom: The School of Nisibis and the Development of Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006); see also The School of Nisibis at Nestorian.org
28. ^ Hartmut Scharfe, Education in Ancient India (Leiden: Brill, 2002), p.149.
29. ^ The Al-Qarawiyyin mosque was founded in 859 AD, but 'While instruction at the mosque must have begun almost from the beginning, it is only ... by the end of the tenth-century that its reputation as a center of learning in both religious and secular sciences ... must have begun to wax.' Y. G-M. Lulat, A History of African Higher Education from Antiquity to the Present: A Critical Synthesis (Greenwood, 2005), p.71
30. ^ Andrew Beattie, Cairo: A Cultural History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p.101.
31. ^ Walter Rüegg, A History of the University in Europe, vol.1, ed. H. de Ridder-Symoens, Universities in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
32. ^ Walter Rüegg, “Themes” in Walter Rüegg, A History of the University in Europe, vol.1, ed. H. de Ridder-Symoens, Universities in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp.3–34:pp.15-16.
33. ^ See Gavin D’Costa, Theology in the Public Square: Church, Academy and Nation (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), ch.1.
34. ^ Thomas Albert Howard, Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p.56: '[P]hilosophy, the scientia scientarum in one sense, was, in another, portrayed as the humble "handmaid of theology".'
35. ^ See Thomas Albert Howard, Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006):
36. ^ See Thomas Albert Howard’s work already cited, and his discussion of, for instance, Immanuel Kant’s Conflict of the Faculties (1798), and J.G. Fichte’s Deduzierter Plan einer zu Berlin errichtenden höheren Lehranstalt (1807).
37. ^ See Thomas Albert Howard, Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006); Hans W. Frei, Types of Christian Theology, ed. William C. Placher and George Hunsinger (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992); Gavin D’Costa, Theology in the Public Square: Church, Academy and Nation (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005); James W. McClendon, Systematic Theology 3: Witness (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2000), ch.10: 'Theology and the University'.
38. ^ Friedrich Schleiermacher, Brief Outline of Theology as a Field of Study, 2nd edition, tr. Terrence N. Tice (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1990); Thomas Albert Howard, Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), ch.14.
39. ^ Reinhard G. Kratz, 'Academic Theology in Germany', Religion 32.2 (2002): pp.113–116.
40. ^ 'The primary purpose of Harvard College was, accordingly, the training of clergy.’ But ‘the school served a dual purpose, training men for other professions as well.’ George M. Marsden, The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p.41.
41. ^ Georgetown was a Jesuit institution founded in significant part to provide a pool of educated Catholics some of whom who could go on to full seminary training for the priesthood. See Robert Emmett Curran, Leo J. O’Donovan, The Bicentennial History of Georgetown University: From Academy to University 1789-1889 (Georgetown: Georgetown University Press, 1961), Part One.
42. ^ Boston University emerged from the Boston School of Theology, a Methodist seminary. Boston University Information Center, 'History - The Early Years' [3]
43. ^ Yale’s original 1701 charter speaks of the purpose being 'Sincere Regard & Zeal for upholding & Propagating of the Christian Protestant Religion by a succession of Learned & Orthodox' and that 'Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences (and) through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State.' 'The Charter of the Collegiate School, October 1701' in Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Documentary History of Yale University, Under the Original Charter of the Collegiate School of Connecticut 1701-1745 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1916); available online at [4]
44. ^ At Princeton, one of the founders (probably Ebeneezer Pemberton) wrote in c.1750, ‘Though our great Intention was to erect a seminary for educating Ministers of the Gospel, yet we hope it will be useful in other learned professions - Ornaments of the State as Well as the Church. Therefore we propose to make the plan of Education as extensive as our Circumstances will admit.’ Quoted in Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion (Princeton University Press, 1978).
45. ^ 'Brown was the Baptist answer to Congregationalist Yale and Harvard, Presbyterian Princeton, and Episcopalian Penn and Columbia', 'History of Brown', accessed 8 March 2009.

External links

• The Emptiness of Theology - by Richard Dawkins
• Pictures of Seminary in Namur (Belgium) - Features by Jean-Michel Clajot, Belgian photographer
• Conservative Theological Research
• The Theologian: the internet journal for integrated theology
• Christian Classics Library
• University course: Entheogens — Sacramentals or Sacrilege?
• Intuitive Knowledge of God in Medieval Jewish Theology by Jose Faur, contrasting the intuitive theology of the medieval Rabbanites with the hyper-rationalism of the Karaites

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