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I have argued that, in the nature of the case, there are three "basic problems of [Christian] systematic theology" corresponding to the three phases of systematic theological reflection: historical, hermeneutical, and philosophical. I have further argued that the first and third of the three problems are, in their different ways, "criteriological," whereas the second, is "hermeneutical."

But I have also argued that all three problems are alike in that each has two parts: an "in principle" part and an "in fact" part. Thus the first problem, or the problem of the first, historical phase, is to determine what is to count both in principle and in fact as formally normative Christian witness, whereas the third problem, or the problem of the third, philosophical phase, is to determine what is to count both in principle and in fact as the truth about human existence. But even in the case of the second problem, or the problem of the second, hermeneutical phase, there is, in a way, both an in principle and an in fact part. Whereas the "in principle" part has to do with analyzing the "deep structure," or logical kind of meaning, of formally normative Christian witness and then specifying the hermeneutical principle or method appropriate for interpreting it as well as providing the conceptuality/ terminology necessary to doing so, the "in fact" part has to do with actually interpreting its "surface meaning," and so reformulating it accordingly.

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