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So, too, with systematic theology's using or following the hermeneutical method that is specific to its second, hermeneutical phase. It uses or follows the hermeneutical method in order to carry out its distinctive task of critically validating the claims of witness to be both appropriate and credible, whereas historical theology uses or follows the same hermeneutical method to carry out its different task of critically interpreting witness.

Wiki MarkupThe same holds good of systematic theology's using or following the philosophical method in its third, philosophical phase or aspect. As I have put it elsewhere, "even in taking account of all that humans beings think and say, secular as well as religious, \ [Christian theology\] does so only in pursuit of its own constitutive task of determining the meaning and truth of specifically Christian thinking and speaking about God" (_OT:_ 128). In other words, systematic theology uses or follows the philosophical method to carry out its distinctive task of criticaly validating the claim of witness to be adequate to its content and, specifically, to be credible to human existence as we all experience it.

Fall 1991