BYT-02 Exploring Christian Theology

When young couples marry, they often have to deal with differences that stem from their family backgrounds. They may love each other deeply, but they also need to acknowledge how much their families have shaped their priorities and expectations. If they don’t recognize this fact, it can be difficult to build the kind of loving and respectful marital relationship to which Christ has called us.

In many ways, the same is true as followers of Christ explore theology. Christians have different priorities and expectations that stem from the influences of their cultures, their sub-cultures and from the traditions of various branches of the church. These backgrounds deeply shape the priorities and expectations we have as we study and live Christian theology. But if we don’t acknowledge how much these influences impact us, it will be difficult to build the kinds of loving and respectful theological outlooks to which Christ has called us.

This is the second lesson in our series on Building Your Theology. In this lesson, we’ll lay out the basic orientations that will guide this entire study. We’ve entitled this lesson, “Exploring Christian Theology,” and we’ll set forth some of the more important presuppositions that will guide us as we explore how to develop a distinctively Christian theology.

We’ll look at this subject in three ways, moving from broader to narrower concerns. First, we’ll define our perspective on Christian theology — what kind of theology is Christian? Second, we’ll explore how specific Christian traditions give shape to Christian theology. And third, we’ll look into some of the basic tenets of the Reformed tradition — the specific branch of Christian faith that undergirds these lessons. Let’s turn first to the general idea of a Christian theology. What will we mean in these lessons when we use this terminology?

Although we often speak of “Christian theology,” the meaning of this expression isn’t altogether clear. Some people refer to Christian theology as what Christians actually believe. But we all know that many Christians believe things that are not genuinely Christian. Others speak of Christian theology as what Christians ought to believe. But we have to admit that we don’t always agree on what we ought to believe. Because of these and similar complexities, we need to clarify what we’ll mean in this series when we use the term “Christian theology.”