By Schubert Ogden
The Notebooks of Schubert Ogden
"Systematic theology" can be used in at least three senses:
(1) in the proper sense as the second or central of the three disciplines of theology, the first being historical theology, and the third or last, practical theology;
(2) in the broad sense as one of the two main aspects of theology as a single field, i.e., its intellectual or metaphysical aspect as distinct from its practical or moral aspect, which can be distinguished as moral theology in a correspondingly broad sense of the term; and
(3) in the narrow sense as one of the two main aspects of systematic theology in the proper sense, the other being moral theology in a correspondingly narrow sense.
(N.B.: To be oriented, as theology is, by the existential question is to be oriented implicitly by the properly intellectual or metaphysical question and the properly practical or moral question respectively. "Systematic theology" in the narrow sense is "systematic theology" in the proper sense insofar as it is oriented not only implicitly but also explicitly by the intellectual or metaphysical question. Thus systematic theology in the narrow sense asks about the adequacy of witness to its content by also asking explicitly about the adequacy of the credenda that it necessarily implies. Similarly, "moral theology" in the narrow sense is "systematic theology" in the proper sense insofar as it is oriented not only implicitly but also explicitly by the practical or moral question. Thus moral theology in the narrow sense asks about the adequacy of witness by also asking explicitly about the adequacy of the agenda that it also necessarily implies.)
21 November 2004
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