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                                                                                         What Is Christian Theology?

Christian theology is critical reflection on Christian witness so as to validate the twofold claim to validity necessarily implied by any instance of such witness.

This summary answer may be further explained as follows:

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2. On the one hand, there is the "what" of the witness, in the sense of the content it conveys either explicitly or by implication, while on the other hand, there is the "that" of the witness, in the sense of the act of witneasingwitnessing. (Thus "witness" may be analyzed in much the same way in which "tradition" = traditio has often been analyzed, the "what" or content of witness paralleling the "tradition being traditioned" = traditum tradendum, and the "that" or act of witnessing paralleling the "act of traditioning" = actus tradendi.)

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4. But, clearly, both parts of this claim are problematic insofar as witness may fail to be either adequate or fitting; and either part of the claim is in fact disclosed to be problematic insofar as it is called into question -- as question—as it is, for example, simply by certain other instances of Christian witness, either in existence or in prospect.

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7. As such Christian theology allows for division into the three main disciplines of systematic, practical, and historical theology -- the theology—the first being the critical reflection required to validate the claim of Christian witness to be adequate to its content, the second being the critical reflection required to validate its claim to be fitting to its situation.

8. The third discipline of historical theology is also allowed for because, in validating the claim of Christian witness to be adequate to its
content, systematic theology has an essential historical aspect -- namelyaspect—namely, insofar as this claim comprises the claim that the witness is appropriate to normative Christian witness. (Thus, although it is not historical theology but systematic theology in its historical aspect that is critical reflection on the claim of Christian witness to be appropriate, systematic theology cannot validate this claim without the critical reflection on the entire history of Christian witness that constitutes historical theology.)

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1.2 The first part of this claim itself involves a further twofold claim to validity: on the one hand, that what is expressed or implied by the witness is appropriate to its content because it is in agreement with normative Christian witness;   on the other hand, that what is expressed or implied by the witness is credible to human existence because it is in agreement with common human experience and reason.

1.3 Theology in general may be said to be either the process or the product of critical reflection on the twofold validity claim of any instance of Christian witness to be both adequate to its content and fitting to its situation. As such, however, theology allows for division into the three main disciplines of systematic, practical, and historical theology – systematic theology being the critical reflection required to validate the claim of Christian witness to be adequate to its content and, therefore, both appropriate to this content and credible to human existence, practical theology being the critical reflection required to validate the claim of Christian witness to be fitting to its situation. The third discipline of historical theology is also allowed for because, in validating the claim of Christian witness to be adequate to its content, systematic theology has an essential historical aspect -- insofaraspect—insofar, namely, as this claim involves the further claim that the witness is appropriate because it is in agreement with normative Christian witness. Although it is not historical theology but systematic theology in its historical aspect that is critical reflection on this further claim to be appropriate, systematic theology cannot validate this claim without the critical reflection on the entire history of Christian witness that is the task of historical theology.

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3.2.2 Similarly, there are two different levels of ministry: general and special; and there are two different forms of special ministry: generalized and specialized.

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Schubert M. Ogden Spring, 1985-86

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The first part of this claim itself involves a further twofold claim: on the one hand,   it is the claim that what is expressed or implied by the witness is appropriate to the constitutive christological assertion because it is in agreement with normative Christian witness;  on the other hand, it is the claim that what is expressed or implied by the witness is credible to human existence because it is in agreement with common huMan human experience.

Both ministry and theology admit of a similar analysis in terms of both levels and forms.

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