Getting Started

The Reformed scholastic theologians mapped out the discipline of theology in terms of theologia archetypa and theologia ectypa. The former pertains to theological knowledge only God can possess, the latter to a creaturely theological knowledge that we human knowers can gain as we attend to God’s self-revelation. Theologia ectypa is further unpacked by distinguishing between two subspecies: theologia viatorum (theology of travelers, of saints on the way) and theologia beatorum (theology of glorified saints). So theologia viatorum denotes the kind of theology that we do in the midst of our present limitations, but it is no less exciting for that! To borrow terminology from Kevin Vanhoozer (see his Drama of Doctrine), Christian doctrine is much needed for us to know how to participate fittingly in the drama of redemption. It serves to guide the church in putting on “local productions of the kingdom of God.” In light of the high importance of Christian theology, I look forward to doing a bit of theological blogging and (hopefully) conveying something of the life-giving character of thinking theologically.

Thanks to Bobby for creating a design and setting things up!