Editing Systematic theology (section)

==History==

The establishment and integration of varied Christian ideas and Christianity-related notions, including diverse topics and themes of the Bible, in a single, coherent and well-ordered presentation is a relatively late development.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheldrake |first=Philip |title=Christian Spirituality and Social Transformation |publisher=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |year=2016}}</ref> The first known church father who referred to the notion of devising a comprehensive understanding of the principles of Christianity was [[Clement of Alexandria]] in the 3rd century, who stated thus: "Faith is then, so to speak, a comprehensive knowledge of the essentials."<ref>Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'', book 7, ch. 10</ref> Clement himself, along with his follower [[Origen]], attempted to create some systematic theology in their numerous surviving writings. The first systematic theology in Latin was Lactantius's ''Divine Institutes,'' and the term ''Intitutio'' would set a precedence for works of systematic theology in the western tradition.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lactantius |title=The Divine Institutes |publisher=The Catholic University of America Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0813215679 |translator-last=McDonald |translator-first=Mary Francis}}</ref> In [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]], an early example is provided by [[John of Damascus]]'s 8th-century ''Exposition of the Orthodox Faith'', in which he attempts to set in order and demonstrate the coherence of the theology of the classic texts of the Eastern theological tradition.

In the West, [[Peter Lombard]]'s 12th-century ''[[Sentences]]'', wherein he thematically collected a great series of quotations of the [[Church Fathers]], became the basis of a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] tradition of thematic commentary and explanation. [[Thomas Aquinas]]'s ''[[Summa Theologiae]]'' best exemplifies this scholastic tradition. The [[Lutheran scholasticism|Lutheran scholastic]] tradition of a thematic, ordered exposition of Christian theology emerged in the 16th century with [[Philipp Melanchthon]]'s ''[[Loci Communes]]'', and was countered by a Calvinist scholasticism, which is exemplified by [[John Calvin]]'s ''[[Institutes of the Christian Religion]]''.

The 17th century saw a boom in focused systematic theologies within a renaissance of [[Scholasticism|the scholastic method]]. [[Francis Turretin]]'s ''Institutes of Elenctic Theology'' (1696) and [[Petrus van Mastricht]]'s ''Theoretical-Practical Theology'' (1680) became touchstone works in the field, profoundly influencing later theologians like [[William Cunningham (theologian)|William Cunningham]], [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]], [[Charles Hodge]], and [[Herman Bavinck]]. Similarly, [[William Ames]]'s systematic treatise, ''The Marrow of Theology'' (1629)'','' would become the standard textbook for Harvard and Yale in their nascent years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marsden |first=George |title=The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |pages=39–44}}</ref>

In the 19th century, primarily in [[Protestant]] groups, varieties of systematic theology arose that attempted to demonstrate that Christian doctrine formed a more coherent system premised on one or more fundamental [[axiom]]s, often reasoned out as a form of [[dogmatic theology]]. Such theologies often involved a more drastic pruning and reinterpretation of traditional belief in order to cohere with the axiom or axioms, and continental theology divided between various schools of [[dogmatic theology]], e.g. [[Neo-Lutheranism|Erlangen Theology]] ( e.g. [[Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann|F.C.K. Hoffman]], [[Gottfried Thomasius|Thomasius]], and [[Gisle Johnson]]), Mediating Theology (e.g. [[Isaak August Dorner|Isaak Dorner]]), classical confessionalism (e.g. [[Hans Lassen Martensen]] and [[Herman Bavinck]]), and liberal theology (e.g. [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] and [[Albrecht Ritschl|Albrecht Ritschle]]). In the United States, [[Charles Hodge]]'s ''Systematic Theology'' became a popular text in conjunction with his work at Princeton Theological Seminary. Significant for this period, [[Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher]]'s ''Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsätzen der evangelischen Kirche'' (''The Christian Faith According to the Principles of the Protestant Church'' [1821-1822]) espoused the fundamental idea of a universal presence among humanity, sometimes more hidden, sometimes more explicit, of a feeling or awareness of 'absolute dependence,' and this became a focal point of either acceptation, integration, or rejection among theologians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brock |first=Cory |title=Orthodox yet Modern: Herman Bavinck's Use of Friedrich Schleiermacher |publisher=Lexham Press |year=2020 |location=Bellingham, WA}}</ref> As such, systematic theology in the 19th century became a sophisticated endeavor of developing and articulating theology from certain assumed first principles, often on the back of the philosophical conversations inherited from Hegel, Kant, and Schleiermacher.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Ritschl Dorothea Sattler |first1=Dietrich |title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity |last2=Sattler |first2=Dorothea |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2005 |volume=5 |location=Grand Rapids |at=Systematic Theology}}</ref>

Systematic theology likewise saw a great variety of development into the 20th century, most notably with the advancement of [[Neo-orthodoxy|Neo-Orthodoxy]] and the multivolume ''Church Dogmatics'' of [[Karl Barth]]. [[Helmut Thielicke|Helmuth Thielicke]] wrote his three-volume work, ''The Evangelical Faith,'' as a confessionally-Lutheran theology with existentialist emphases, and [[Wolfhart Pannenberg]]'s three-volume ''Systematic Theology'' is an eclectic example of modernist systematics that attempts to integrate faith and science. [[Robert Jenson]]'s two-volume ''Systematic Theology,'' stands as a final installment of 20th century systematic theology, looking to questions of postmodernity from a Barthian perspective. Several popular-level textbook-style works emerged during this period within Evangelical theology, from [[Lewis Sperry Chafer]]'s eight-volume ''Systematic Theology'' to [[Wayne Grudem]]'s stand-alone title ''Systematic Theology,'' a particularly sophisticated non-textbook example being the epistemological worldview theology of [[Carl F. H. Henry|Carl F.H. Henry]], contained in his six-volume ''God, Revelation and Authority.'' [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed theology]] also saw considerable contributions in the twentieth century, including [[Louis Berkhof]]'s popular ''Systematic Theology'' and [[G. C. Berkouwer|G.C. Berkouwer]]'s multivolume ''Studies in Dogmatics.'' The latter half of the twentieth century also saw the emergence of systematic theologies dealing with critical themes from social, political, and economic perspective, including the [[Liberation theology|Liberation Theology]] of [[James H. Cone|James Cone]] and [[Gustavo Gutiérrez]], the [[Postliberal theology|Post-liberal Theology]] associated with [[Yale Divinity School]], and [[Feminist theology|Feminist Theology]] (e.g. [[Sarah Coakley]]). As such, the variety and perspectives of systematic theology in the 20th century has tracked well with both the broadening of ethical concerns post-World War II, its expansive pluralism, and the advent of postmodernism.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Grenz |first1=Stanley |title=20th Century Theology: God & the World in a Transitional Age |last2=Olson |first2=Roger |publisher=InterVarsity Press |year=1992 |location=Downers Grove, Illinois |pages=11-13, 310-315}}</ref>