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A. What is doing Theology?

1. Etymological meaning of Theology

a. Derived from the Greek words:
i. theos = god; goth
ii. Logos = word; study; to speak about
iii. Thus: theology means "the study of god"; "to talk about God"

Essentially, the term theology, particularly Christian Theology means a discourse

concerning Christian Faith. Faith in God is the subject matter of Theology. So,
without Faith, there is no sense in studying Theology. Without God, there is no
faith. Without our faith-response there is no sense in studying God in the context of
faith. So, both Faith and the object of our faith who is God are essential in
Theology.

2. Definition of Theology

a. Theology is the process of understanding God and one's own faith. For
Catholics, doing theology means the effort to understand their faith in the God
revealed in Jesus Christ who is present with us through his Church.

b. Theology, according to St. Anselm is, "faith seeking understanding."

i. To seek to understand one's faith

c. The subject matter of theology is faith, specifically Christian faith which refers to the
following:

i. the object of our faith: God and his saving truths, as revealed in Judaeo-
Christian history and traditions, and
ii. the personal act of believing

3. In a college context, doing theology is, like physics, history and psychology,

a. Theology is a science, i.e., a methodical and systematic inquiry into a significant

question or phenomenon of human experience using the faculty of critical reason. At
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the same time, we do theology within the faith. Thus, in doing theology, one has to
be both faithful and critical.

i. Being faithful. There can be no theology without faith, for as defined earlier,
theology is "faith seeking understanding." Theology presupposes faith in
the one doing theology. Theology is not the interpretation of someone
else's faith, but of our own, or, more properly, of our community's faith.
Theology is not just talk about God. To do theology is to understand our own
faith in God.
ii. Being critical. Many of us have the mistaken notion that reason and faith are
not in good terms with each other: reason is said to make realities clear and
lucid; faith is supposedly for obscure realities that are impenetrable to reason.
On the contrary Catholic theology has always taken faith and reason as
friends.

There can be no real disagreement between faith and reason, since the same God
who reveals the mysteries and infuses faith has also endowed the human mind with
the light of reason. (Vatican 1, Dei Filius, DS 3017)

b. According to Gerald O'Collins, reason has the task of checking, scrutinizing, and
systematically reflecting on the content of faith and the practice of faith. This is
what it means for theology to be "critical" (not in the sense of "finding fault”).
Critical reasoning is demanded by faith itself in order to distinguish from our religious
traditions what is truly of God and what is mindless piety, bizarre enthusiasm,
sick superstition and blind dogmatism. In the course of its history, the Church as
a believing community used reason to articulate, defend, communicate, and deepen
its faith by giving confirmation and reinforcement what we already believe, and can
enable faith to respond to ever new environments and challenges by showing faith
new horizons and possibilities.

c. Thus, faith and reason are both indispensable partners in the task of doing theology,
interacting in creative tension towards the truth that is God:

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the
contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know
the truth - in a word to know himself or herself - so that, by knowing and loving
God, men and women may also come to a fullness of truth about themselves." -
Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio 1
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